Crown Princess still battling Norovirus

[Pier Pressure 53]

Will the Norovirus on the Crown ever go away? Critter Chick disembarked the Crown earlier today and posted the below message. This is also on top of those sailing the Crown today, not being allowed to board until 6:00pm at the earliest today. Hasn't the Crown been battling the Norovirus issue since last spring????

This ship truly seems to have issues, and I am seriously contemplating cancelling my March cruise on her.

 

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Today, 11:49 AM

critterchick's Avatar critterchick critterchick is offline

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We are just off the ship. There were no more than 15 people under confinement at any given time (according to the Captain, who bombarded us with vomiting/diarrhea reports daily at lunchtime), but I bet that there were

a ton of unreported cases. I'm sorry to report that the ship is a mess. No self service all week, lines like I've never seen at all of the food venues and people coughing and hacking up a storm. I suspect that they are short of crew, whether due to illness or bad staffing.

 

We were scheduled to disembark at 9:45 and left shortly after 11. It was a cluster**** of monumental proportions; there were at least 25 groups after us.

 

My recommendation: room service for breakfast and lunch and either traditional dining or specialties for dinner (both are sublime). And touch NOTHING that you can avoid - Good luck!

__________________

-Jean>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[DrivesLikeMario]

Sure hope they get it under control SOON and keep it that way.

[shastatroy]

Don't know if it was the Crown's fault or immigrations fault but the Grand was also delayed 1hr 15 min this morning.

 

Sounds like every member of the crew needs to be tested and isolated in order to get the virus neutralized . It's going to keep going around if they don't do something about it.

[Pier Pressure 53]

With the percentages of Noro on the Crown compared to the other ships in the Princess Cruise Line being through the ceiling, I would think it would be obvious to Princess as it is to everyone else, the Noro is not being brought onto the Crown by passengers, but is rather a ship specific problem that just seems to not be going away.

 

Boarding on the Crown today was delayed 6 hours for another "deep cleaning", but isn't this like the 3rd or 4th "deep cleaning" she has had in the past 6 months???

[Loonbeam]

The answer is probably in the middle. They have not had a major breakout recently, just ongoing small levels (15-20 pax it seems). The most likely scenario is through either oversight or possibly neglect there is one area not getting cleaned properly and that is hitting passengers who frequent that area (could be a section of stairwell, or the library, etc).

 

Crewborne mass illness tends to affect a much larger swath of people, depending on where the crewperson is stationed. If it is a specific server, I could see the rolling groups though.

 

And of course, as noted, there were more than a few people going around with symptoms, which never helps.

 

Very concerned with the subject since we are booked to sail on her in March. That along with reading reports from those disembarking today about more noro on her, along with her disembarkation today delayed by 6 hours for a deep cleaning, that was scheduled even before the reports from those disembarking today.

 

I suppose you to be like many others on here and will defend Princess to the end. I am just concerned about the obvious. There is an issue with this specific ship with noro, and it doesn't seem to be going away. Yes, you didn't get noro on your recent cruise on the Crown. But for those that did, I would guess it to be a bad experience that they paid a lot of money to contract. And again my concern....... as time goes on and noro continues to be an issue with the Crown, is it a passenger issue (meaning being brought onto the ship by passengers), or....wait for it....wait for it.... is there possibly the very small miniscule tiny chance that the CREW is maybe responsible for the noro and thus Princess is being negligent in dealing with the issue????

 

Okay, all the Princess lovers are now welcome to come riding to Princess' defense and pile on.

 

John

[gooch47]

how long can Norovirus live on surfaces?

 

Are you immune if you've had it before?

[yukongold]

With the percentages of Noro on the Crown compared to the other ships in the Princess Cruise Line being through the ceiling, I would think it would be obvious to Princess as it is to everyone else, the Noro is not being brought onto the Crown by passengers, but is rather a ship specific problem that just seems to not be going away.

 

Boarding on the Crown today was delayed 6 hours for another "deep cleaning", but isn't this like the 3rd or 4th "deep cleaning" she has had in the past 6 months???

 

I was thinking the same thing - it can't always be the passengers that bring it aboard. If so, we would be hearing about similar repetitive outbreaks on other ships.

[Snow cat]

Will the Norovirus on the Crown ever go away? This is also on top of those sailing the Crown today, not being allowed to board until 6:00pm at the earliest today. Hasn't the Crown been battling the Norovirus issue since last spring????

This ship truly seems to have issues, and I am seriously contemplating cancelling my March cruise on her.

 

If you are that concerned, I think you'd probably be happier if you cancelled and booked something else.

 

I can only speak for 4 cruises on the Crown, including November, and no Noro for us, and overall a great cruise. However, we also took precautions, wiped down the cabin, washed our hands like crazy, used hand sanitizer, avoided handrails etc. I didn't let the outbreak, or extra cleaning ruin my vacation (which was fabulous).

[Working 2 Cruise]

You have choices. You're not within final payment, so I suggest you cancel.... you'd be happier. There are other choices out here... I know nothing ever happens to Carnival ships ;):confused: so that might be as better choices for you?

[GandM-nq]

how long can Norovirus live on surfaces?

 

Are you immune if you've had it before?

The problem with norovirus is that it is hard to study. Laboratories have a difficult time producing the virus in house for study, so the following is generalisations:

 

There seems to be some debate over how long it can last outside a host. On hard surfaces, it can be from several days to weeks! In a water source, we are talking months or even years.

 

Once you have had noro, your immune system has only a brief protection of perhaps a few months. Most likely the virus evolves in new ways to evade your immune system (like how we get a new flu strain each year).

[dbasta]

We just are off the Crown Princess New Years "mini" noro-cruise (less than two dozen cabins quarantined.)

 

It seems to be very difficult to lab test norovirus elimination. All product claims seem to really hedge their bets when claiming norovirus effectiveness.

 

For the last half dozen cruises we have done the following:

 

1) Upon arrival, blast all hard surfaces in the new cabin until damp with Lysol (Brand 3) spray. Based on what I have read only "Brand 3" Lysol products have norovirus effectiveness. It is only effective if the surface remains damp with Lysol for several minutes. Give the toilet area a real spray down.

 

2) We have had great "luck" with the Zylast brand of anti-virus soap and lotion. You can Google it and read their claims. We wash our hands 4-6 times a day with the soap which claims 6 hour protection and use the Zylast lotion instead of the Purell they squirt out at the dining rooms. From my reading, the normal Purell alcohol based gel has zero effect on norovirus. I had an email conversation with an executive from Zylast who recommended the Zylast Lotion as opposed to the Zylast Alcohol Gel for cruising purposes. I got the impression they make the Alcohol Gel for industrial clients who insist on an alcohol base, even though it doesn't work.

 

I think battling norovirus is a black art so read up on your own and come up with your best plan of action.

 

 

Good luck!

[cruiselvr1]

Will the Norovirus on the Crown ever go away? Critter Chick disembarked the Crown earlier today and posted the below message. This is also on top of those sailing the Crown today, not being allowed to board until 6:00pm at the earliest today. Hasn't the Crown been battling the Norovirus issue since last spring????

This ship truly seems to have issues, and I am seriously contemplating cancelling my March cruise on her.

 

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Today, 11:49 AM

critterchick's Avatar critterchick critterchick is offline

20,000+ Club Join Date: Jul 2004

Posts: 23,015

 

Default

 

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We are just off the ship. There were no more than 15 people under confinement at any given time (according to the Captain, who bombarded us with vomiting/diarrhea reports daily at lunchtime), but I bet that there were

a ton of unreported cases. I'm sorry to report that the ship is a mess. No self service all week, lines like I've never seen at all of the food venues and people coughing and hacking up a storm. I suspect that they are short of crew, whether due to illness or bad staffing.

 

We were scheduled to disembark at 9:45 and left shortly after 11. It was a cluster**** of monumental proportions; there were at least 25 groups after us.

 

My recommendation: room service for breakfast and lunch and either traditional dining or specialties for dinner (both are sublime). And touch NOTHING that you can avoid - Good luck!

__________________

-Jean>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

My DW and I were thinking the same thing. Were on an Alaskian in September, and this just seems so abnormal.

[Shelly97060]

We disembarked Crown today. There were numerous steps being taken to stop the spread of noro virus including no self serve at buffet, no bread baskets or butter dishes on tables - salt and pepper shakers in dining room were off the tables early on but came back on day 4. With all the kids ( Who are not always the best hand washers) on board I appreciated the extra precautions.

 

The Captain gave us an update daily on number of reported cases and reminded folks to wash their hands frequently and to report illness ASAP. We never felt our health was at risk while on Crown - we did make sure to wash frequently and use the provided hand sanitizers. I hope they can stomp out the virus fully for the cruise that starts today.

 

As for the late departure for the cruise today- that may have been related to cleaning or the really slow disembarkation of our cruise today- it was a mess- the worst I have ever seen. They were running about 2 hours late by the time we got off at noon and there were still groups left to go.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Shelly97060
Spelling error

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...As for the late departure for the cruise today- that may have been related to cleaning or the really slow disembarkation of our cruise today- it was a mess- the worst I have ever seen. They were running about 2 hours late by the time we got off at noon and there were still groups left to go.

 

Do you have a sense of why disembarkation was so slow today? San Pedro usually runs like clockwork, in my experience. I do see there were two ships in port today, but that is not too unusual.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Ryndam2002

[pablo222]

The problem with norovirus is that it is hard to study. Laboratories have a difficult time producing the virus in house for study

 

When one of the smaller 'of the seas' came out, it had

a marine lab on it. Some scientists, and a web cam

so you could watch what ever they were doing.

 

Just put a lab on some ship. There seems to be no

problem producing the virus there.

[Shelly97060]

Do you have a sense of why disembarkation was so slow today? San Pedro usually runs like clockwork, in my experience. I do see there were two ships in port today, but that is not too unusual.

 

This was the first time in San Pedro where we experienced going through customs on board the ship and that seemed to be where the snag happened. Some people didn't have their forms / passports ready which didn't help the process.

 

I agree San Pedro usually is smooth.

[cruzsnooze]

Princess is part of the noro problem since it's not part of the solution. They perpetrate the myth that their alcohol based hand sanitizer is worth while. People don't take the time to wash with soap and water before heading to a meal because they think they will be protected by this alcohol based sanitizer they insist you use. All the cruise lines push this worthless product which does not kill any virus.

All the cruise lines to emphasize and educate guests about viral spread instead of giving this false sense of security.

[Pier Pressure 53]

We disembarked Crown today. There were numerous steps being taken to stop the spread of noro virus including no self serve at buffet, no bread baskets or butter dishes on tables - salt and pepper shakers in dining room were off the tables early on but came back on day 4. With all the kids ( Who are not always the best hand washers) on board I appreciated the extra precautions.

 

The Captain gave us an update daily on number of reported cases and reminded folks to wash their hands frequently and to report illness ASAP. We never felt our health was at risk while on Crown - we did make sure to wash frequently and use the provided hand sanitizers. I hope they can stomp out the virus fully for the cruise that starts today.

 

________________________________________________________________

As for the late departure for the cruise today- that may have been related to cleaning or the really slow disembarkation of our cruise today- it was a mess- the worst I have ever seen. They were running about 2 hours late by the time we got off at noon and there were still groups left to go.

 

 

There was a looooong thread (mega thread?) on another post about the delayed boarding of the Crown yesterday. Everyone on the cruise was notified by Princess via email a couple days before the cruise that Boarding would not start until 6:00pm. Another deep cleaning of the ship was the cause, and not the slow disembarking of the previous cruise.

 

It does seem that Princess is trying to rid the Crown of the Noro virus, but it just keeps rearing its ugly head. Something that they are over looking seems to be the culprit. they just seem not to be able to find it to rid it from the ship.

[kailaann22]

The Crown is scheduled for a dry dock, 5/3-5/15. It is for a tune up and freshening but perhaps this will give them a chance to figure out why the ship has had more than it's share of noro. We will be on the 6/13 cruise, so I hope so!

[AE_Collector]

Princess is part of the noro problem since it's not part of the solution. They perpetrate the myth that their alcohol based hand sanitizer is worth while.

 

I know NOTHING about whether it is effective or not. What I do know though is that when there is a Nro problem it costs Princess a lot of money and Bad Will. Consequently I find it hard to believe that the hand sanitizer is "worthless". I am sure it usnt 100% effective but maybe 75-80% (?) makes it a reasonable part of their arsenal to fight Norovirus. If it was worthless they simply wouldn't be wasting the time and money using it.

 

Terry

Edited January 5, 2015 by AE_Collector

[Colo Cruiser]

The Crown is scheduled for a dry dock, 5/3-5/15. It is for a tune up and freshening but perhaps this will give them a chance to figure out why the ship has had more than it's share of noro. We will be on the 6/13 cruise, so I hope so!

 

 

Not something that would be done in drydock in May, it needs to be figured out now.

[rpcv77]

Not something that would be done in drydock in May, it needs to be figured out now.

 

Yes, it does need to be figured out now, but if not (as this last cruise reported noro at a relatively low level) dry dock would certainly present a good opportunity for in depth inspections. But hey, what do I know ...

[Pier Pressure 53]

Below is a post from a passenger who disembarked the Crown on Saturday. With a scheduled cruise on the Crown in March, it looks like this Noro stuff may take some fun out of the trip. I really don't want to come back a germaphobic.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<Today, 02:11 AM

pablo222 pablo222 is offline

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Join Date: Dec 2005

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpend View Post

Greetings!! -

Just off the Crown where we had a continuous code-red during a week long Mexican Rivera cruise.

While you were on your cruise, there was a hysterical thread here

about how there IS NO NORO ON CROWN, and the delayed embarcation

for 'deep cleaning' is only being done as Princess' personal insult to

a poster. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Nice to hear the truth fropm someone who was just on the Crown.

 

 

__________________

[Astro Flyer]

Below is a post from a passenger who disembarked the Crown on Saturday. With a scheduled cruise on the Crown in March, it looks like this Noro stuff may take some fun out of the trip. I really don't want to come back a germaphobic.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<Today, 02:11 AM

pablo222 pablo222 is offline

Blue Ribbon Cruiser

 

Join Date: Dec 2005

Posts: 3,280

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpend View Post

Greetings!! -

Just off the Crown where we had a continuous code-red during a week long Mexican Rivera cruise.

While you were on your cruise, there was a hysterical thread here

about how there IS NO NORO ON CROWN, and the delayed embarcation

for 'deep cleaning' is only being done as Princess' personal insult to

a poster. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Nice to hear the truth fropm someone who was just on the Crown.

 

 

__________________

 

And here's post just made by someone who is enjoying their 3 day cruise on the Crown & I'll be joining here tomorrow.

 

We are on right now and there hasn't been any reported illness but we have been code red.

[RDC1]

Just to put things into perspective. Almost all cruises during this time of year out of the US will have some Noro on board (peak Noro season in North America, just as it peaks in Australia during their winter). Princess goes to enhanced preventive measures at very low levels (around 15 cases). Other cruise lines do as well. Celebrity delayed 2 ships last month for enhanced cleaning. If you cruise during these months more often then not you will encounter enhanced measures. I have on 2/3 of my last 12 cruises on both Celebrity and Princess. Code red is the cruise lines mechanism to control the spread of an illness that is widespread in the general population and is very difficult to control is closed environments like cruise ships. The Crown's last major outbreak occurred on the way back from a 28 day cruise that included Tahiti during the time of peak incidence in the southern hemisphere and now it is peak time for the northern.

 

The US population is about 317 million, with the annual number of cases being around 20 million that means that 6.3% of the population will contract it during any given year. With the majority being in the winter months. Now someone good with statistics could figure out the probable cases of Noro in a random selection of 3000 passengers on board a cruise ship during peak season. Now the distribution is a little better then the base numbers would indicate since about half of the cases are in long term care facilities. Even if you pull those out the numbers in the general population are still pretty high.

 

From the CDC

 

Each year on average in the United States, norovirus—

 

causes 19–21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach or intestines or both)

 

You can get norovirus illness at any time during the year. But, it is most common in the winter. Also, there can be 50% more norovirus illness in years when there is a new strain of the virus going around.

Edited January 6, 2015 by RDC1