Norovirus on Grandeur

[reallyitsmema]

Alcohol sanitizers are pretty much worthless against Noro from everything Ive gathered. The Clorox wipes do not contain bleach and I believe a bleach/water mix is the only REAL effective ingredient for killing the virus.

 

I think I read somewhere that the wipes that contain BZK (benzalkonium chloride) are also effective and are fine for personal hygiene use. Im not sure if Clorox wipes have BZK or not. I do know they are not to be used on your skin like hand sanitizer though.

 

Correct, the alcohol wipes don't kill noro but they will at least get some of the run of the mill germs. The Clorox wipes that many use are great to sanitize their cabin, but then a cabin steward comes in with a cloth that was just used in another cabin and cleans up the cabin. Unless you sanitize constantly, noro can make it onto a surface in your cabin from a steward or room service waiter or mini bar attendant.

 

Unfortunately, unless we move into bubbles, all of us are going to end up with noro or at least a milder form of gastro virus at some point.

[ryano]

 

Unfortunately, unless we move into bubbles, all of us are going to end up with noro or at least a milder form of gastro virus at some point.

 

Exactly. I got a confirmed case of Noro a while back. I hadn't been on a ship in over a year.

[littlej]

FYI....You don't get NORO "from something you ate"....:rolleyes:

 

Of course you can. If the food handler had it on their hands and prepared your food, "something you ate" could very well have virus on it and was then transferred to your digestive system. Voila!

[chengkp75]

Of course you can. If the food handler had it on their hands and prepared your food, "something you ate" could very well have virus on it and was then transferred to your digestive system. Voila!

 

Given the hand sanitation and food safety requirements of USPH, the more common vector would be passenger with contaminated hands touches serving utensil, contaminating utensil. You then use utensil, contaminating your hand. You then touch your burger bun with your hand, contaminating your burger, which you then eat. This is why self-service at the buffet is removed when there is an outbreak. Sharing condiments, etc., at your table and then eating finger food is another way.

[md2661]

Grandeur sure has a lot of Noro issues. Seems like it's at least once or twice a year.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

Grandeur sure has a lot of Noro issues. Seems like it's at least once or twice a year.

 

 

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I have noticed this too, and was wondering if people are not getting contaminated before the board. If you look through the East Coast Depatures, you will noticed the there are 2-3 pre-cruise hotels that are most often recommended. So, if someone catches the virus on plane or in airport, then touches something in hotel, say a food utensil, elevator button, etc., and then brings it onto the ship. It spread through ship, which is then sanitized. The following week a new group of cruisers come into the same hotel, which has probably not been equally sanitized. One person picks up the virus and brings it on the ship, and it starts all over again. It only takes one of these hotels to get the virus, and then it can keep infecting a new cruise every week.

 

 

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[JB3]

Yes you can get noro from something you ate. The Norovirus is also referred to as stomach flu, gastroenteritis, and food poisoning.

 

You can read all about the Norovirus on the CDC website for correct information.

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html

 

 

FYI....You don't get NORO "from something you ate"....:rolleyes:

[Aintnofun007]

FYI....You don't get NORO "from something you ate"....:rolleyes:

 

 

guess you should read the previous post to this :rolleyes:

Edited February 5, 2015 by Aintnofun007

[cecelia0613]

Sorry that you folks had to deal with this. As for Labadee, Grandeur was scheduled to be there with our ship, Explorer of the Seas, and you didn't miss anything as it rained the entire day in Labadee. Not just passing showers, it was raining and foggy all day. Lol made for an interesting day on this senior citizen cruise where we had 57 kids and the average age of passengers was 65.

 

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[hospital]

I would have thought there would have been crew members at the doors to make sure all players used the hand sanitizer as was done at the windjammer. Lots of surfaces being touched in the casino. The amount of attention paid to casino users seemed much less than anywhere else.

 

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Have you ever seen how many people come up with excuses why they can't or won't use the hand sanitizer. We were quite shocked to see just how many refused to use it going into the windjammer so I can imagine should they have someone at the doors of the casino it would be the same. I'm sure some people have legitimate reasons for not using sanitizers such as allergies, but not the amount of people we saw refuse to use it. Unfortunately when you cruise or fly there is always the chance that you can contract noro, so it if up to us to make sure we do what we can to protect ourselves and hope for the best.

[jgnova]

Gold Bond Hand Sanitizer is one of the few consumer products that will kill noro. Available in pump bottles and pocket size tubes.

[chengkp75]

Gold Bond Hand Sanitizer is one of the few consumer products that will kill noro. Available in pump bottles and pocket size tubes.

 

Don't want to sidetrack this into the whole hand sanitizer debate, but even though this product has benzothonium chloride, I doubt it has it in sufficient concentration to actually kill noro in non-laboratory situations. It's better than nothing, but not all that effective. It is not listed on the EPA's list of noro effective agents, updated Oct 2014.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I would say that she is returning early due to the medical emergency. I can't think of any time a ship has returned early due to noro. CDC has an incident update, since the reporting level is about 10%, they will be boarding the vessel upon arrival to review procedures and reporting.

 

Yes, the Explorer returned early last year because hundreds were ill with noro. This happened a few weeks before we cruised on it. By the time we boarded, the ship was scrubbed clean, with no or few outbreaks on our cruise.

[Barb Nahoumi]

For the sake of the embarking passengers, I hope this cleaning was able to get rid of 99.9% of the virus.

 

In Dec., NCL Jewel had the hand sanitizer dispensers in many places all around the ship. Does RCI have same availibility?

 

NCL has been providing those dispensers for as long as I can remember. They also station "Washy Washy," people at the entrance of the buffet. They squirt your hands with sanitizer, while singing a "Washy Washy" song.

 

I think that NCL has fewer major outbreaks of illness aboard their ships.

[lucymorgan]

I agree about the slot machines. I carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer and before using any slot machine I use it on my hands and while my hands are still wet, I swipe the buttons with them. I feel a bit silly doing this, but it does make me feel safer!

 

I noticed on our recent cruise that there were alcohol wipes at the cashiers desk too - probably for the same purpose

Edited February 8, 2015 by jenibor

[Thetrail]

NCL has been providing those dispensers for as long as I can remember. They also station "Washy Washy," people at the entrance of the buffet. They squirt your hands with sanitizer, while singing a "Washy Washy" song.

 

I think that NCL has fewer major outbreaks of illness aboard their ships.

You think or you know?:rolleyes: