Celebrity Summit - illness on board

[Single_dreamer]

This makes me nervous! What does Celebrity consider a small percentage on such a large ship?

 

Taken from their website:

 

Celebrity Summit – October 5, 2013, sailingDuring Celebrity Summit's last sailing, a small percentage of guests experienced a gastrointestinal illness. When the ship arrives to Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on Saturday, October 5, we will conduct enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next cruise. Because of this, check in and boarding will be delayed. Space and seating in the terminal is limited. We ask that guests not arrive for check in before 2:00 p.m. Check in will take place between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

[gimletgal]

From another thread....." the CDC update for today (9/30) says 307 passengers and 14 crew have reported being sick."

 

Your cruise is 72 days away. I would not worry.

[neverbeenhere]

less than 99%

[Phxazzcruisers]

This makes me nervous! What does Celebrity consider a small percentage on such a large ship?

 

Taken from their website:

 

Celebrity Summit – October 5, 2013, sailingDuring Celebrity Summit's last sailing, a small percentage of guests experienced a gastrointestinal illness. When the ship arrives to Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on Saturday, October 5, we will conduct enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next cruise. Because of this, check in and boarding will be delayed. Space and seating in the terminal is limited. We ask that guests not arrive for check in before 2:00 p.m. Check in will take place between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

 

There is a long thread on this. We are actually on the October 5th sailing and are not at all worried. They are spending the entire morning once docked in New Jersey sanitizing the ship. We were on a cruise last year that had an outbreak and witnessed the start of the sanitation program before we disembarked. They do a very thorough cleaning. What is important is making sure you was your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water and watch what you touch.

[Keith1010]

Unfortunately this can happen. It happens across many cruise lines and ship. But the good news is that it does not happen all the time and the cruise lines have gotten very good at dealing with it.

 

Keith

[lenquixote66]

There is a long thread on this. We are actually on the October 5th sailing and are not at all worried. They are spending the entire morning once docked in New Jersey sanitizing the ship. We were on a cruise last year that had an outbreak and witnessed the start of the sanitation program before we disembarked. They do a very thorough cleaning. What is important is making sure you was your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water and watch what you touch.

 

 

We too are on this cruise .Perhaps Celebrity might want to properly clean all ships prior to new passenger boarding and not have to wait for something like this .

[fredflint]

They clean the ship all the time, all it takes is one person not cleaning up properly and they touch a serving spoon then 100 other people touch the same spoon. Best way to avoid getting sick seems to be to clean you hands after you get your food.

[CruisingChick]

We were on the September 7-21 Summit cruise.

 

My DH got sick on the morning of day 10. Luckily I did not.

 

We were surprised Celebrity was not more aggressive in cleaning once people on our sailing started to become sick.

 

Our room was "bleached" but we did not see any enhanced cleaning of public areas, the buffet was still almost totally self serve - cold as well as hot dishes and there were times when the Purell stands outside the buffet area were empty as well as there were no crew members stationed outside with the hand sanitizer. Even on the way into the MDR there was no one stationed with hand sanitizer.

 

It's too bad because now the September 21 sailing has seemed to take the brunt of it.

[Jborosara]

I would think it would be a bit like visiting a restaurant that failed a health inspection - the best time to go is right after - they'll be the most diligent. Norovirus is not just on cruise ships... it's everywhere, but it is spread easily among groups of people in confined places. I'd venture a guess that each of us has had it at some point, whether on a cruise or not.

[cruisestitch]

lenquixote66 -- the ship is cleaned on a daily basis -- the extra efforts they put out for these special cleanings mean so much extra work, not to mention the application of many chemicals, that it simply isn't practical to do them on a weekly or bi=weekly basis. Cruise after cruise proceed with no problem, so the extra measures aren't warranted normally.

 

There are many misconceptions about norovirus -- for instance, some people bring their own lysol spray with them and spray down their staterooms. Lysol spray isn't effective against noro. The hand sanitizer that is available outside all the dining venues also isn't effective against noro.

 

The best defense you can engage in is to wash your hands with soap and hot water. Frequently.

 

It's funny, but as I began to write this, a local doctor came on the news saying that most people don't use hand sanitizer properly. What timing. He demonstrated how most people put a squirt into their palms and rub their palms together, but it needs to be applied to the fingers and spread around, especially on the fingertips, to have any value at all. Good timing.

[fredflint]

Maybe I should bring some disposable gloves and put them on when getting food from the buffet :):)

[cle-guy]

The hand sanitizer that is available outside all the dining venues also isn't effective against noro.

 

 

I have watched the Info channel on the in-cabin TV's where they talk about Noro and proper sanitation techniques.

 

In it they tell you to NOT use your own Purell or other sanitizers as they do not work against Noro, and instead to use the sanitizers they provide at the dining rooms as it is specially formulated in order to combat Noro.

[lenquixote66]

Maybe I should bring some disposable gloves and put them on when getting food from the buffet :):)

 

You might want to consider wearing disposable gloves in the casino .

[ariawoman]

10/5 is now delayed until 5pm for boarding

 

Dear Travel Partner,

 

We are writing to provide you with updated information regarding your clients booked on the Saturday, October 5, 2013, sailing of Celebrity Summit. Please provide this information, as soon as possible, to your clients booked on this sailing.

During Celebrity Summit’s last sailing, a number of guests onboard experienced gastrointestinal illness. On Saturday, we will be conducting an extensive and thorough sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, to help prevent any illness from affecting your client’s cruise.

Due to the additional time needed for this sanitizing, boarding for your clients cruise will need to be delayed until 5:00 p.m. We will begin allowing guests into the terminal for check-in at 5:00 p.m. and continue until 7:00 p.m. We apologize for this delay to your client’s check-in and boarding process. We are also sanitizing guest staterooms, and they will be available to guests at approximately 6:00 p.m. Once guests board the ship, they can explore public areas, open decks and lounges and enjoy lunch, until their stateroom is ready. The sailing time is anticipated to be at 8:00 p.m., with no expected changes to the itinerary.

According to health experts, as many as 300 million people worldwide are affected by norovirus each year. Only the common cold is more prevalent. However, we would prefer if none of our guests became ill. Therefore, we ask for your assistance in communicating to your clients the advice of medical experts who tell us that the best way to prevent gastrointestinal illnesses is to simply wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after using the bathroom and before eating anything. We also recommend that they use the complimentary sanitizing gel that is available at various locations onboard. If your client has experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms within the last three days, we ask that they please consider rescheduling their cruise.

Thank you for your assistance in notifying your clients about the change in check-in and boarding time of their October 5 sailing. We hope all the information in this letter helps you and your clients understand the importance we at Celebrity Cruises place on the health and safety of every one of our guests and crew members. Like you, we want to ensure that every guest’s cruise is a fun, relaxing and healthy experience. This is why we are taking these additional measures.

[phoenix_dream]

As I have posted on similar threads, the ship uses Advanced Purell which is more effective against noro. That version is in fact available over the counter now. It has a significantly higher alcohol content than the old version.

[Kartgv]

In preparation for our Oct. 5 trip on the Summit, went looking for disinfectant wipes that might help. At CVS pharmacy, I found disinfectant wipes which claim on the label to kill Norovirus as well as many other nasty things such as flu virus, staph bacteria, etc. These are probably a formula similar to the hand santizer the ship uses onboard. So, when people claim that the sanitizers don't work - they're right that most don't, but apparently there are some that do work. We'll know in a week or so!

[phoenix_dream]

Some do work but that only helps so much. I sanitized to death on my recent cruise and still caught the nasty cold that was going around. But it couldn't hurt to try.