Your opinion on using the pools if a ship has noro onboard?

[honeymoon06]

I'm interested in your opinions/knowledge on using the pools when there's a risk of noro on a ship.

 

We're boarding the Crown next week and I was so looking forward to dipping in the pools! I know there are a lot of cases of noro on the Crown recently and so i'm keen to take the right precautions.

 

i just like to swim a few lengths head above water (I'm not someone that sticks their head under the water). And I would always shower/wash my hands after use.

 

Would you be happy doing this with the current situation on the crown? Or am I putting myself at a real risk? I don't want the noro situation to ruin the enjoyment of our cruise or make me over cautious....but I also don't want to be naive. Hopefully the ship will be noro free once we board (optimisitic).

 

I do love a good hot tub too but i'm thinking that these may be more risky!

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

[2BeOnaBoat]

I wouldn't cruise in fear. The CDC's prevention suggestions seem like common sense so it may be out of your hands so to speak.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html

[ONT-CA]

What a great poster slogan to place in or near the Horizon Court:

 

IT MAY BE OUT OF YOUR HANDS

[Zukini]

I'm interested in your opinions/knowledge on using the pools when there's a risk of noro on a ship.

 

We're boarding the Crown next week and I was so looking forward to dipping in the pools! I know there are a lot of cases of noro on the Crown recently and so i'm keen to take the right precautions.

 

i just like to swim a few lengths head above water (I'm not someone that sticks their head under the water). And I would always shower/wash my hands after use.

 

Would you be happy doing this with the current situation on the crown? Or am I putting myself at a real risk? I don't want the noro situation to ruin the enjoyment of our cruise or make me over cautious....but I also don't want to be naive. Hopefully the ship will be noro free once we board (optimisitic).

 

I do love a good hot tub too but i'm thinking that these may be more risky!

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

On Princess, I would not let the threat of Noro prevent me from using the pools. Princess has fresh-water pools which are chlorinated, and chlorine is very effective on norovirus. On other cruise lines with salt-water pools, I would avoid them during an outbreak.

 

Having come down with Noro while on a cruise last year (exactly 1 year ago today, now that I think of it :eek:) I can say that even the most careful precautions won't eliminate the risk of contracting Noro from your fellow passengers. My wife and I were scrupulous to the point of paranoia, but still came down with it.

 

I really believe the buffet is the main vector for transmission. Too many people licking their fingers and then handling the serving utensils makes it too easy to get contaminated, even with careful and frequent hand washing.

[marshhawk]

I would say no. Unless the water has been changed daily, like a salt water pool, and I'm the first one in, on a port day, I don't use the pools anyway. And yes the salt water pools do use a chlorine system. I just wouldnt want to press my luck. My DH and I got a, lets just say, "bug" and it was a living bug several years ago. Noro looks easy compared to diarhea for 55 days. Get my drift? We wash, we use handsanitizer, we rarely eat at the buffets. We got this from one simple rasberry that was placed on a plate by someone who did not wash their hands. We were reported to the CDC by our doctor, monitered for two months by the CDC and the restaurant which was expensive and fantastic was closed. It's a jungle out there!

[beachbum53]

I'm interested in your opinions/knowledge on using the pools when there's a risk of noro on a ship.

 

We're boarding the Crown next week and I was so looking forward to dipping in the pools! I know there are a lot of cases of noro on the Crown recently and so i'm keen to take the right precautions.

 

i just like to swim a few lengths head above water (I'm not someone that sticks their head under the water). And I would always shower/wash my hands after use.

 

Would you be happy doing this with the current situation on the crown? Or am I putting myself at a real risk? I don't want the noro situation to ruin the enjoyment of our cruise or make me over cautious....but I also don't want to be naive. Hopefully the ship will be noro free once we board (optimisitic).

 

I do love a good hot tub too but i'm thinking that these may be more risky!

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Norovirus, and most other contagious illnesses, seem to be more prevalent during the fall and winter months. You'd probably have a better chance of hitting a jackpot in the casino than catching the Norovirus on your cruise. As for actually swimming a few lenghts in the pool, good luck with that! Odds are, there'll be too many people in the pool to do any actual swimming. Hope you have a great cruise!:)

[6rugrats]

And yes the salt water pools do use a chlorine system.

I do not believe this to be true.

[sail7seas]

Won't catch us in a ship's pool.

Yes to sitting around the pool and even dangling our feet but we do not get in ship's pools.

 

[vivavegas]

I think I'd pass on the pool!:)

[johneeo]

I rub my hands on banisters, subject myself to anything that would have germs, I would swim in a pool infested with norovirus, I never wash my hands, never use sanitizer, and obviously, my system has built up incredible immunites, as I have not been sick in any way shape or form in the past 40 years.

 

Works for me.

[chipmaster]

+1 as the Kelly Clarkson song "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger "

 

:D

 

I rub my hands on banisters, subject myself to anything that would have germs, I would swim in a pool infested with norovirus, I never wash my hands, never use sanitizer, and obviously, my system has built up incredible immunites, as I have not been sick in any way shape or form in the past 40 years.

 

Works for me.

[NoobCruise]

I really believe the buffet is the main vector for transmission. Too many people licking their fingers and then handling the serving utensils makes it too easy to get contaminated, even with careful and frequent hand washing.

 

I hear HAL doesn't allow passengers to serve themselves in the buffet for the first 2 days. They have a crew member at each food station to dish the food onto the plate and hand it to you.

[fishywood]

I know I have read elsewhere that the two areas where sickness is most easily spread on a ship are the public toilets and the pools. This is not to say that norovirus is waterbound, just remember how it is most easily spread: your hands touch a surface that an infected person has just touched and then you put your hands to your eyes, nose or mouth without having washed them. So what do we all do after a dip in the pool? Grab onto a ladder or railing, climb out of the pool--and use our hands to brush our hair back and/or wipe the water out of our eyes. Then we grab our towel (that we had spread out on a deck chair still damp from the previous occupant) with our wet hands and rub that directly into our face. That said, I ignored my own advice when on the Queen Victoria under code red last year and used the thallasotherapy pool in the spa every day. So either I too have "incredible immunities"--or just the habit of never putting my fingers to my face.

[NoobCruise]

I do not believe this to be true.

 

Actually, the saltwater pools DO use a chlorine system. We have one in our backyard. The pump has a generator that uses the sodium chloride (table salt) to generate hypochlorus acid (chlorine) by electrolysis. So the salt pools do have chlorine, it's just not as strong as a chlorinated pool so not noticed.

 

http://www.poolcenter.com/chlorine_generator.htm