Loved the Dream-Got NoroVirus

[HappyHygienist]

The ship is just beautiful. The crew is amazing. The food was superb. Disney takes every precaution to spread any disease, so it isn't their fault, but be advised the NoroVirus is alive and well. We missed Castaway day as it has a very fast onset, stomach pain, sever nausea, flu like symptoms. It lasts about 24 hours, but on a 3 day cruise, you can miss a lot. Just letting people know that it can happen to anyone, anywhere! I hope to try and do this cruise again in the future with a better outcome!

 

 

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[Shmoo here]

The ship is just beautiful. The crew is amazing. The food was superb. Disney takes every precaution to spread any disease, so it isn't their fault, but be advised the NoroVirus is alive and well. We missed Castaway day as it has a very fast onset, stomach pain, sever nausea, flu like symptoms. It lasts about 24 hours, but on a 3 day cruise, you can miss a lot. Just letting people know that it can happen to anyone, anywhere! I hope to try and do this cruise again in the future with a better outcome!

 

 

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Sorry you were sick. You have a great attitude. Unfortunately, Noro can occur anywhere, a fact that many people don't understand. It seems that cruise ships bear the brunt of Noro horror stories.

 

Hope you get your next cruise soon.

[Lily429]

that stinks…I board in 4 days! What do they do when there is an outbreak?

[HappyHygienist]

If you have symptoms, you are quarantined to your room with no food to be delivered. That part is mute because if you have it, you won't WANT to leave your room and food is the LAST thing you want!

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

When they have noro on board, they have gloved CMs serving at the buffets and beverage station (attempt to decrease contamination), step up the cleaning even beyond the normal, send notes to cabins about good hand washing, etc. Between cruises, they will clean the cabins even more than usual (they have a sick clean protocol; they will do it in every cabin!)

 

They also step up the cleaning of railings, elevator buttons, etc. during the cruise. However, they can only do so much...best possible precaution is to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, and do it often! While the menus are wiped off after each seating, I'd still suggest that after you order, excuse yourself to the restroom for a hand washing (yes, I know you wiped before entering the restaurant). Frankly, whenever you think about it, wash.

 

Noro is usually transmitted from had to mouth. Don't give your hands a chance to carry it anywhere.

 

RCCL just had 2 ships with heavy infection. More than 10% of the guests were ill. The CDC boarded one today to take over cleaning and patient evaluation before it returned to the US.

[Host Mick]

...

Noro is usually transmitted from had to mouth. Don't give your hands a chance to carry it anywhere.

...

 

The CDC describes the mode of transmission of Norovirus as "Fecal-oral contact"

 

Wow, look at all of those people running to wash their hands.

[bear3412]

OP sorry to hear you became ill. Thanks for sharing and having a great attitude as stated.

 

This has occurred to all of our family members aboard to varying degrees individually over our sailings.

Somehow it never spread to other family members aboard or later. Ironically, no one was ever asked/required to be quarantined. :confused: Although, as if you could go anywhere. lol.

The affected pax always stayed in cabin fwiw.

 

On a couple occasions they did enter cabin in their Chemical Warfare gear and spray the whole place down with some type of solution. Then wipe it all up after an hour. We are talking walls, doors, furniture, luggage, entire bathrooms, etc. :eek: This cleaning took 4-6 hours. Wow.

 

We always found it interesting how different lines and even cabin level may affect the level of mitigation and even quarantine requirements. :rolleyes:

 

OP you are fortunate it was the 24 hour Noro. On occasion there is a 72 hour Noro too. :eek:

 

We too have missed CC and other great ports due to Noro. Well, some of us have. Did you purchase insurance. We have made claims for this, and have received monies back for the/those pax quarantined. Of course on a weird prorated basis something that benefited the insurance company. lol.

Anyway something to consider. Get documentation aboard if you have insurance so you may file a claim in the future.

 

Oh, watch out for the food menus. A notorious source of amoebas.

 

Healthy and Happy Sailing to All

Edited January 27, 2014 by bear3412

[kgreenaz]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/norovirus-vaccine-shows-early-progress

 

C'mon science! Normally don't vax but. I actually would get everyone done if this is ready by next January.

[Irene7]

Must have been a really small outbreak, since it didn't make the news, at least not in the Philly area. Noro can happen anywhere, even the cleanist ships, which I feel DCL has. I was just on the CDC website yesterday to see which cruise lines have had it the most, and it showed the last record for DCL was on the magic in 2002 when a couple hundred were infected. Maybe they only show the record of ships with an outbreak over a certain amount of infected passengers, who knows. I was suprised to see that they already had the Explorer of the Seas recent outbreak already listed.

 

I remember when we were on our Disney Dream cruise in 2013, a woman walked right by the washee washee girl and a second crew member standing and watching everyone entering a few yards behind her, stopped the woman from entering the Royal Palace and told her if she doesn't sanitize her hands, she can not enter. Way to go Disney!:) But there is never a gaurantee that it won't happen, even Disney.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Irene7

[moki'smommy]

The requirement used to be that a ship had to report an outbreak to the CDC if 3% of its population (total of guests and CMs) became ill. I have read on the boards that it is now 2%, but cannot verify this.

 

When you see no reporting, that means that the 3% threshold was not reached.

 

Yes, DCL does all it can to reduce contamination, but in reality it is up to the individual.

[SakeDad]

When I worked on DCL I was a manager. All management receives a report multiple times per day from the medical center with all gastro-distress reports whether crew or guest. If crew they are put in their cabins for 72 hours (sometimes cabin mates are as well even if not showing signs! :eek: ) and it is also listed exactly what guest in what cabin has it as well. This stays within the ship unless it reaches a certain percentage. I was very lucky in that on my contracts there was never a big outbreak and I never got ill myself. But I can assure you DCL takes it very seriously and all managers/officers know each day exactly how many cases are on board. Of course, that is if everyone is reporting it to medical and not just staying in their cabins ;)

[Ex techie]

When I worked on DCL I was a manager. All management receives a report multiple times per day from the medical center with all gastro-distress reports whether crew or guest. If crew they are put in their cabins for 72 hours (sometimes cabin mates are as well even if not showing signs! :eek: ) and it is also listed exactly what guest in what cabin has it as well. This stays within the ship unless it reaches a certain percentage. I was very lucky in that on my contracts there was never a big outbreak and I never got ill myself. But I can assure you DCL takes it very seriously and all managers/officers know each day exactly how many cases are on board. Of course, that is if everyone is reporting it to medical and not just staying in their cabins ;)

 

As above!

And second the 72 hours in a 10'x12' box, sorry "cabin" with meagre meals of dry toast, orange or apple juice (when they remember to bring it) and no visitors. Even the Medical staff can't be bothered to come down for 72 hours to check on you.

 

ex techie

 

 

ex techie

[barbaro_3003]

Dunno if it was Noro, but we were on the Fantasy June 1st sailing. My wife and I both got sick (stomach) on the fourth day (St. Maarten). My wife didn't make dinner that night. I made it through Pirate Night, and spent the rest of that night and all of the next day not 10 steps from the head (missed St Thomas completely, including the one excursion I had been looking forward to; the sail and snorkel). My wife was okay by midday, I was able to move by about 4 PM that day. Got to see the sailing out of St. Thomas, although I still wasn't feeling 100% all of the next day (Castaway Cay). My wife and I keep thinking it was the tuna salad at Flo's (we went back to the ship for lunch, and all we had time for was Flo's), but I have just begun to think it was Noro after reading the symptoms and the possibility of a 24 hr duration. DCL never sent any medical staff to our stateroom, but they did cancel and refund our shore excursion in St. Thomas, no questions asked. Now that makes me think they were trying to protect against having to acknowledge a Noro incident on their ship.

 

Rgds

[Host Mick]

The requirement used to be that a ship had to report an outbreak to the CDC if 3% of its population (total of guests and CMs) became ill. I have read on the boards that it is now 2%' date=' but cannot verify this.

 

When you see no reporting, that means that the 3% threshold was not reached.

 

Yes, DCL does all it can to reduce contamination, but in reality it is up to the individual.[/quote']

 

It's both.

The master or designated corporate representative of a vessel with an international itinerary destined for a U.S. port must submit a special report at any time during a cruise, including between two U.S. ports, when the cumulative percentage of reportable cases entered in the AGE surveillance log reaches 2% among passengers or 2% among crew and the vessel is within 15 days of expected arrival at a U.S. port.

A telephone notification to VSP must accompany the special 2% report.

A second special report must be submitted when the cumulative percentage of reportable cases entered in the AGE surveillance log reaches 3% among passengers or 3% among crew and the vessel is within 15 days of expected arrival at a U.S. port.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/operationsmanual/opsmanual2011.pdf Page 34

Edited February 4, 2014 by Host Mick

[e2011]

The CDC describes the mode of transmission of Norovirus as "Fecal-oral contact"

 

Wow, look at all of those people running to wash their hands.

 

Exactly! I cannot imaging not washing after using the toilet for anything but I wasn't brought up in a barn. Some people are just animals. All you can do is wash many time each day and use lots of hand sanitizer.

Edited February 4, 2014 by e2011

[Host Mick]

Exactly! I cannot imaging not washing after using the toilet for anything but I wasn't brought up in a barn. Some people are just animals. All you can do is wash many time each day and use lots of hand sanitizer.

 

Lots of hand sanitizer is right.

I've been reading up on Norovirus. Apparently because the virus is encapsulated, alcohol wipes and gels are barely effective. You have to have the alcohol in contact for at least a minute to begin to denature the cells and the virus. Soap and water hand washing is much more effective but it also has to be in contact for 30 seconds or more and vigorous.

[moki'smommy]

The count of ill crew members might be fairly accurate; in order to be relieved of duty, they have to go to medical.

 

However, for every reported sick guest, there are probably a couple more who don't go to medical--don't have insurance that will cover it, don't want to deal with the restrictions that DCL will/may impose, feel that they can handle it without a trip to the first floor, etc. My guess is that the number of ill guests is not calculated accurately despite DCL's best efforts.

 

I also suspect (but don't really know) that one way they track is by noting people who don't show up for dinner. I do know that we have been quizzed the next night when we have chosen to eat somewhere other than the MDR....for instance, on a 24 night cruise, we ate at Topsider's one night just because we were hungry and it was no where near our dinner time. We did ask the person at the podium to notify the dining room that we wouldn't be there, but the message wasn't relayed. Our servers were very inquisitive the next night. Of course, that could be part of the usual "excellence" issue too.

[e2011]

Lots of hand sanitizer is right.

I've been reading up on Norovirus. Apparently because the virus is encapsulated, alcohol wipes and gels are barely effective. You have to have the alcohol in contact for at least a minute to begin to denature the cells and the virus. Soap and water hand washing is much more effective but it also has to be in contact for 30 seconds or more and vigorous.

 

Check this out. Very interesting. I may try the Clorox product for out next cruise.

 

http://www.stopthestomachflu.com/Home/which-hand-sanitizers-kill-stomach-flu-viruses

[100viper]

Oh man... I've gotten the Noro Virus before. There's nothing fun about it. Sorry OP! :(

[Host Mick]

Check this out. Very interesting. I may try the Clorox product for out next cruise.

 

http://www.stopthestomachflu.com/Home/which-hand-sanitizers-kill-stomach-flu-viruses

 

That's 71% as opposed to the Purell that is 62%. The CDC material that I was reading indicates that the higher the "Proof", the better the results up to 95% where it drops off quickly.

I might try that next time.

[dinkydee718]

Great link e2011! I fell for the bs and bought 3 containers of Wet Ones for my upcoming cruise...Bummer. I just ordered the Germstar Noro, so hopefully it will come before I leave for Florida.