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Live from the Crown; 'Norovirus' precautions in full swing


melodyina
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Hello Cruisers,

I am currently on the Crown Princess sailing the California Coastal. First I would like to applaud Princess crewmembers who are continually hard at work taking all precautions that this outbreak of the Norovirus is combated. My posting at this time, is a reflection of what has come across my journeys on this ship, now day three.

 

Embarkation was delayed for extensive cleaning. We new something was up though I will say that 'Norovirus' was not mentioned nor 'code Red alert' but here we are in both situations.

 

Horizon Court; full service. I tend to enjoy this myself and the lines do seem to go by quicker, especially at breakfast. What this means is, at every station a Princess employee is selection your portion, and placing this on the plate. Right from pouring the milk on your oatmeal, to picking the perfect slice of bacon.:)

 

Dining Room; no bread on the table, but your Jr Waitier will come around with the breadbasket then come around with butter. Same wih the salt and pepper, everything sprinkle is done for you. This may be the reason for the very large delays with dining. We have 2nd seating and the 8:00pm dining has turned to entering the dining room around 8:30.

 

We (hubby and I) made the error of ordering room service. We should have taken heed of the announcement by the Captain that one day two again more cases have been reported. We finally cancelled our room service order of sandwiches and coffee, as it was well over an hour and headed to the Int'l Cafe.

 

Room attendants are wearing masks, or the ones that I have come across and gloves while cleaning.

 

When you are at the bar the table is immediatly wiped off and sanitized before you sit down. I actually had bubbles on my table that I thought was an elaborate piece of marble until the waiter wiped it all away. :-)

 

In short, the crew is working harder than ever, and I recognize this and applaud and appreciate them. The passengers around me are keeping upbeat and practicing cleaninlyness. I myself carry around wipes as I must use the handrails with my arthritic knee.

 

the casino is a mystery though, I don't see sanitation practice going on there (as in no hand wipes seen), and I am thankful I packed my own.

 

This is my 15th Princess cruise, and my first on a Noro outbreak ship. I will now add a few 'must-haves' to my packing list. Handwipes one of them.

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I have been picking up items to pck for my trip to Alaska in July...maybe I am to cautious but I do not want my husband nor I to get sick...not on our dream vacation!

I have clorox wipes and hand santizer for our room use plus individual santizer we will carry with us to use anytime the need.

Hopefully, this will settle down soon during the summer months... but safe than sick is always the best.

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We use all precautions to prevent catching the Norovirus such as using the stateroom restroom exclusively, washing our hands thoroughly and often, using hand sanitizer, etc. We took Clorox wipes and individual hand sanitizer with us. We also brought our own Imodium just in case; and also brought Zofran for nausea as a just in case. Our family doc wrote the script for us when I explained why we wanted to take some on our trip. Fortunately we did not need either of the medications since Norovirus stayed away. But better prepared than sorry.

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We were on the crown last year, and Noro was onboard then as well. While hand sanitizer make you feel safe/ healthier, they do not kill Noro virus. They are for bacterial elimination only, not viral.

 

I do carry a can of Lysol. It says on the label that it kills cold and flu virus. They even make a small personal sized can that will fit in your purse.

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While I use it extensively myself, it's been mentioned that hand sanitizers don't work on viruses - so my ritual is to wash hands, wash hands, wash hands, wash hands. And then sanitize after each.

 

And please, as difficult as I know it is for people to miss part of their vacation, stay in your cabin if you get sick. Norovirus is so easily spread - outbreaks on ships would be better controlled if people kept in their cabin for the duration of the illness. I like to think that people would rather miss out on something than make other people sick.

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I have been picking up items to pck for my trip to Alaska in July...maybe I am to cautious but I do not want my husband nor I to get sick...not on our dream vacation!

I have clorox wipes and hand santizer for our room use plus individual santizer we will carry with us to use anytime the need.

Hopefully, this will settle down soon during the summer months... but safe than sick is always the best.

 

Totally off-topic, but nanabananna, your signature says your next cruise is 7-5-2014 aboard the Grand Princess. You might want to double-check the details, as I believe the Grand is doing Sunday-Sunday R/T Alaska from Seattle, and therefore your cruise is on 7-6-2014 returning 7-13-2014. Or, you might be on the Golden Princess instead, which is doing Saturday-Saturday R/T Alaska from Seattle.

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Only 37 sick out of 3161 passengers on board??? I'm on the ship too and you'd think the number was a lot higher. According to the captain today the numbers continue to increase daily, despite the lockdown in the buffet and restrictions on what we can and cannot touch or do for ourselves.

 

My cabin steward said Aloha and Baja decks are the worst affected cabin areas. So far our deck is clear.

 

Looks like it's going to be Code red for the entire cruise...

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Only 37 sick out of 3161 passengers on board??? I'm on the ship too and you'd think the number was a lot higher. According to the captain today the numbers continue to increase daily, despite the lockdown in the buffet and restrictions on what we can and cannot touch or do for ourselves.

 

My cabin steward said Aloha and Baja decks are the worst affected cabin areas. So far our deck is clear.

 

Looks like it's going to be Code red for the entire cruise...

 

I was thinking of you today when I read the article. Stay well and enjoy your cruise!!

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We were on the crown last year, and Noro was onboard then as well. While hand sanitizer make you feel safe/ healthier, they do not kill Noro virus. They are for bacterial elimination only, not viral.

 

I do carry a can of Lysol. It says on the label that it kills cold and flu virus. They even make a small personal sized can that will fit in your purse.

 

 

Can this, I wonder be carried on a plane? Mybe I could put it in my checked lugage?

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Totally off-topic, but nanabananna, your signature says your next cruise is 7-5-2014 aboard the Grand Princess. You might want to double-check the details, as I believe the Grand is doing Sunday-Sunday R/T Alaska from Seattle, and therefore your cruise is on 7-6-2014 returning 7-13-2014. Or, you might be on the Golden Princess instead, which is doing Saturday-Saturday R/T Alaska from Seattle.

 

yep...it was wrong....Golden Princess July 5

Thanks

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We don't cruise without hand wipes and foaming Dial Complete hand soap for our cabin bathroom (which we use immediately after entering our cabin and removing our shoes, and again before we leave). It kept us healthy last year during Code Red on the Emerald Princess and this year when our assistant waiter came down with noro.

 

Good luck on the Crown. I hate Code Red on a cruise.

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Can this, I wonder be carried on a plane? Mybe I could put it in my checked lugage?

We put the big spray can of Lysol#3 in our checked luggage. As soon as our steward opened the door to our mini suite, we started spraying everything! I mean remote control, telephone, every knob and handle in the place, as well as the entire bathroom.

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Something I've gotten in the habit of doing lately is using hand wipes AFTER I go through the buffet and before I eat. Those stupid hand sanitizers don't work half the time, over-squirt the other half of the time and you also have to believe that every person is using it correctly and spreading it all throughout their hands and in between their fingers.

 

Nothing is really fool-proof, but it eases my mind. :cool:

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Something I've gotten in the habit of doing lately is using hand wipes AFTER I go through the buffet and before I eat. Those stupid hand sanitizers don't work half the time, over-squirt the other half of the time and you also have to believe that every person is using it correctly and spreading it all throughout their hands and in between their fingers.

 

Nothing is really fool-proof, but it eases my mind. :cool:

 

We wash our hands before entering a dining venue, and then use a Wet One before actually eating. If our ship's at Codes Yellow or Red, we eat nothing with our fingers (and I do miss my bedtime popcorn).

 

I never use the sanitizers (allergic to them) and have never caught noro on board.

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We wash our hands before entering a dining venue, and then use a Wet One before actually eating. If our ship's at Codes Yellow or Red, we eat nothing with our fingers (and I do miss my bedtime popcorn).

 

I never use the sanitizers (allergic to them) and have never caught noro on board.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

Me too, always clean hands again after going through buffet line and touching all the serving utensils.

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Only 37 sick out of 3161 passengers on board??? I'm on the ship too and you'd think the number was a lot higher. According to the captain today the numbers continue to increase daily, despite the lockdown in the buffet and restrictions on what we can and cannot touch or do for ourselves.

 

My cabin steward said Aloha and Baja decks are the worst affected cabin areas. So far our deck is clear.

 

Looks like it's going to be Code red for the entire cruise...

 

There has not been an outbreak report to the CDC yet, so the number of cases has not reached the magic 2% of passengers and crew. 37 cases would be 1.1%, plus whatever crew, so it seems that the crew are taking a preventative action to try to keep from having a reportable outbreak.

 

For those who wish to bring wipes, alcohol based hand sanitizer, and Lysol III, etc, please don't let me dissuade you, but they are not effective against noro. While Lysol claims their Lysol III to be "effective" against noro, and while the active ingredient is on the EPA list of registered effective agents against noro, it is not in sufficient concentration to be truly effective. Manufacturers' claims without government or third party testing/certification are everywhere. Most of the effective agents against noro, like Vircon, a common ship sanitizing agent, require a license to purchase, store, and handle the chemicals (all the ships do).

 

One poster questioned the casino. This will generally be sanitized at night using a fogging agent like Vircon on all hard surfaces, including all of the chips. Should there be sanitizer stations there, probably, at least as a reminder.

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