Food poisoning

[JPR]

Read the New York Times article linked above. Mayonnaise as a cause of food poisoning is not borne out by medical science. And ketchup and mustard are no risk either...in fact, Dijon mustard can be an antidote for some!

 

The comments regarding uncooked or undercooked chicken are spot on. But I agree with those who argue that Regent takes its food safety very seriously. The most likely cause of norovirus and other such outbreaks on cruise ships is PASSENGERS WHO FAIL TO WASH THEIR HANDS THOROUGHLY AFTER USING THE TOILET! It's awkward, but shaking hands is not a wise idea. I have taken to fist bumps, which is a bit odd outside of sports (I referee youth soccer) but recommended.

[Les Picantins]

Food poisoning happens, norovirus happens - what shouldn't happen on a luxury cruise ship is to be estranged by management. The moral of my previous post today, if you're going to be sick on a cruise, hopefully it will be on a line that has policies similar to Crystal.

[newlondon]

I would point out that the OP is a very unhappy camper due to perceived poor treatment. I have followed this thread since its inception and still feel that Regent did their best. Mistakes can be made, but when they are in pursuit of safety rather than let's take a chance I would rather suffer the consequences than have a true disaster.

[newlondon]

I am also sure the OP or spouse was truly sick, if that is true one should not take an antibiotic for only one day. Almost all AB courses are 3 days or more. One reason we are headed for resistant bugs is failure to complete and that certainly would be true in a case of bacterial food poisoning.

[JVilleGal]

I could not read the entire thread ... Toooo long but I do know you don't get food poisoning after only 3 hours. If the OP or her actually her husband had FP it came from something he ate much earlier or the day before.

[JPR]

There goes the entire narrative..,

Edited August 2, 2015 by JPR

[OctoberKat]

Food poisoning is never simple and the attempt here to simplify it with easy quantifications is understandable but not helpful.

 

From WebMD on food poisoning:

"After eating tainted food, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting, can start as early as one hour in the case of staph and as late as 10 days in the case of campylobacter. It may take even longer to develop symptoms from parasite infections such as Giardia. Symptoms can last from one day up to a couple of months or longer, depending on the type of infection."

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/understanding-food-poisoning-symptoms

 

The OP has taken a lot of guff here. It's useful to keep in mind the crux of the issue is how her husband was "treated" aboard (and by extension, how she was treated) and that doesn't seem to have been handled well.

Edited August 2, 2015 by OctoberKat

[Travelcat2]

I understand that this poster went through a very difficult time on Regent. However, this happened 6 months ago and I keep reading about the incident on other cruise line boards and now it suddenly reappears here - after several months. I do not recall this situation happening prior to or after this incident.

 

Regent takes illnesses very seriously. As frustrating as it may be to quarantined passengers, this is done for the sake of other passengers. Food poisoning can present itself as other, more contagious illnesses. I do not blame Regent for how they handled it. If the person that shares your suite gets sick and it could potentially be contagious, both of you will be quarantined. That is the way it is. No one wants to be around someone that is contagious!

 

We were on a Regent cruise where many passengers had gastrointestinal complaints (my DH was one of them as was the Captain and G.M.). At some point you need to either stop cruising on Regent (as this poster has apparently done), or get over it. Someone I knew had norovirus on Crystal -- stopped cruising with them for a few months and has since returned. These type of things happen on cruise lines and is why it is so important to wash your hands frequently, use the sanitizers that are available on the ship and watch what you eat when you are ashore.

 

I feel badly for this poster, for my DH, for the Captain and G.M. and anyone else that has been ill on a cruise ship. However, holding on to the negative experience does not help anyone. What does help is reminding posters of the steps to take when onboard a cruise ship to prevent this from happening. One tip I learned has to do with the buffets. Everyone handles the serving spoons on the buffet. If someone has something as mild as a cold or cough and has coughed or sneezed into their hands and you pick up the utensil they used and later touch your eyes or nose, you could get sick. It is easy to take a napkin with you to the buffet and use it to hold the serving utensils. I notice that Regent removes the salt and pepper shakers at the conclusion of your meal. Hopefully they disinfect them prior to the next person using them (the same can be said about menus, ketchup bottles, etc.) Also, when we move into our suite, we disinfect handles, light switches, the remote control, etc. This takes only a minute. We do the same on airlines (no one cleans the arm rests, controls for your seat or tray table in between flights). We carry a small can of Lysol with us for the ship and a travel package of Clorox wipes for the plane. Simple...... easy and it helps!

 

P.S. Almost 100% of colds that I have caught while cruising comes from people on the excursion buses that are very contagious and cough without covering their mouth. While I do have face masks to help protect myself, people would look at me weird. I'm working on getting to the point where I don't care how I look (as most of us know, people in many Asian countries use these masks all the time and don't really care what other people think...... I applaud them!)

Edited August 2, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Kwaj girl]

DH and I are currently at our favorite A/I resort in Jamaica...basically eating the same things....he got "the bug" but I didn't. Will this keep us from coming back here in the future? Certainly not. Again, most likely this was not due to poor food handling practices...but picked up from some other resort guest. Fortunately symptoms were short-lived and he felt fine after about 12 hrs.....

[DogLover]

I certainly sympathize with the OP. I had a similar experience back in 2008 on the Celebrity Xpedition in the Galapagos. I am highly allergic to shellfish and although my reaction is not anaphylaxis (not yet, anyway) it does mimic severe food poisoning. Within 3 to 6 hours of ingestion, I get EXTREMELY sick and once everything is out of my system, I still dry heave until I am given medication. Needless to say, I am very careful regarding shellfish exposure, even to the extent of cross contamination.

 

On the day I got sick, there had been a lunch buffet of Ecuadorian dishes, including several seafood entrees. Apparently serving spoons had been either switched or cross used for entree items because I had selected a vegetarian entree to be extra safe. A few hours later - bam! I required the services of the ship doctor who came to the cabin to give me an injection and other medication. Even though it was a classic allergic reaction, the doctor informed me I would be stuck in my cabin for 48 hours. All meals were served via room service and I missed two full days of the Galapagos. Major bummer!

 

Anyway, I completely understand the frustration of the OP, but I also empathize with the cruise lines erring on the side of caution. I generally don't eat at buffets on ships (or anywhere else for that matter) and always notify servers and staff of my allergy. Did I mention two days of the Galapagos missed that I will never get back? ;)

[Les Picantins]

Travelcat2 - the reason I brought this topic up again 6 months later is because I just disembarked Crystal, where I learned something new regarding how Crystal treats their quarantined passengers and I wanted to share that information.

 

Why you see this subject on other boards is because there are often comparison questions asked by other CC members about the different luxury cruise lines. As I have sailed on Regent, Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea and Seadream, I chime in.

 

I only wish I had read about such a subject before boarding Regent. I would never have knocked on the infirmary door.

 

OctoberKat - thank you for being the only one to recognize that my gripe was more about the way Regent handled the situation than the situation itself.

[mellapl]

I understand that this poster went through a very difficult time on Regent. However, this happened 6 months ago and I keep reading about the incident on other cruise line boards and now it suddenly reappears here - after several months. I do not recall this situation happening prior to or after this incident.

 

Regent takes illnesses very seriously. As frustrating as it may be to quarantined passengers, this is done for the sake of other passengers. Food poisoning can present itself as other, more contagious illnesses. I do not blame Regent for how they handled it. If the person that shares your suite gets sick and it could potentially be contagious, both of you will be quarantined. That is the way it is. No one wants to be around someone that is contagious!

 

We were on a Regent cruise where many passengers had gastrointestinal complaints (my DH was one of them as was the Captain and G.M.). At some point you need to either stop cruising on Regent (as this poster has apparently done), or get over it. Someone I knew had norovirus on Crystal -- stopped cruising with them for a few months and has since returned. These type of things happen on cruise lines and is why it is so important to wash your hands frequently, use the sanitizers that are available on the ship and watch what you eat when you are ashore.

 

I feel badly for this poster, for my DH, for the Captain and G.M. and anyone else that has been ill on a cruise ship. However, holding on to the negative experience does not help anyone. What does help is reminding posters of the steps to take when onboard a cruise ship to prevent this from happening. One tip I learned has to do with the buffets. Everyone handles the serving spoons on the buffet. If someone has something as mild as a cold or cough and has coughed or sneezed into their hands and you pick up the utensil they used and later touch your eyes or nose, you could get sick. It is easy to take a napkin with you to the buffet and use it to hold the serving utensils. I notice that Regent removes the salt and pepper shakers at the conclusion of your meal. Hopefully they disinfect them prior to the next person using them (the same can be said about menus, ketchup bottles, etc.) Also, when we move into our suite, we disinfect handles, light switches, the remote control, etc. This takes only a minute. We do the same on airlines (no one cleans the arm rests, controls for your seat or tray table in between flights). We carry a small can of Lysol with us for the ship and a travel package of Clorox wipes for the plane. Simple...... easy and it helps!

 

P.S. Almost 100% of colds that I have caught while cruising comes from people on the excursion buses that are very contagious and cough without covering their mouth. While I do have face masks to help protect myself, people would look at me weird. I'm working on getting to the point where I don't care how I look (as most of us know, people in many Asian countries use these masks all the time and don't really care what other people think...... I applaud them!)

 

I am with you Travelcat2 my wife and I carry the Clorox wipes as well and use them on the plane, when we get to the room and wipe all handles, remotes and use them in the casino on all or trips. We make sure we always wash our hands when we get back to the cabin. We get strange looks sometimes but it does not bother us and we have never gotten sick on any cruise. Not ready for the mask yet.

[urlaub]

And since I am from Europe and live IN Europe I would be a very very thin person if I did not eat food here... and shockingly I also drink the tap water (unless labelled undrinkable of course...)

 

I agree! Why should food in Europe be unhealthy? It is not like Sandwiches, Burgers and Steaks but so much more different!!:confused::confused::confused:

[Prada Cowboy]

I may should cancel my trip on Regent! It looks like they are dirty! LOL

 

OK people it is NOT Regent it is YOU!!!!! The Noro Virus is on any ship in the world & any Resort/Hotel and on planes! Best would be to close yourself in!

 

One gets it by touching food, mostly on buffets and poor hygiene of passengers! I did sail 1 month under code red (more then 70% sick on board) and people just did not give a damn and blamed the cruise line for being sick! Stop being ignorant, stay in your cabin if you feel sick and do not spread it around or even the better half wondering around because of being bored. YOU SPREAD IT TOO!

 

Poor on the Regent side is how it gets handled, they may need to learn a couple of things about it!

 

By the way those containers with Mayo and so on stay everywhere (Restaurants or Ships) hours around in heat or not...around the world! They are preserved!

 

Maybe some of you people should start living and stop worrying!

[sevenseassailor]

The US Health Dept did inspection of Navigator while we were on our San Fran to Vancouver Alaska cruise, May 1st. They received a near perfect score. With nearly 400 nights on Regent, we have never had food problem. Not saying it never happens though.

[newlondon]

Les Picantins, Please read posts 103 & 104. I believe I recognize the reason for your complaint as well as Octoberkat. My response, however, is stated in those posts.

[Emperor Norton]

The US Health Dept did inspection of Navigator while we were on our San Fran to Vancouver Alaska cruise, May 1st. They received a near perfect score. With nearly 400 nights on Regent, we have never had food problem. Not saying it never happens though.

 

That it does, even to those with more than 400 nights;)

[tallship]

Regent Navigator failed its CDC inspection on June 16, 2013...I am certain a lot of changes were made following that inspection

[Techno123]

Interesting thread. Just back from 10 days in the Baltic on Voyager (pretty impressed). Don't tend to use the salad dressings etc as there are more than enough calories in the food, however, what I did notice was that the amount of food served in La Veranda on the buffet at any one time was quite small and regularly refreshed which will help with any cross contamination (from passengers).

On our only Oceania cruise all buffet items were served whereas on our only Seabourn and this cruise it was self service. Whilst hubby prefers this I have my concerns: the number of people who left the bathrooms without washing their hands :( is a concern and hence the potential for serving utensils to become contaminated is quite high. If a restaurant is self service then it should be compulsory to sanitise hands prior to entering and someone should ensure passengers do this.

E coli is a faecal contamination, again from unwashed hands but usually contaminated during food preparation.

Salomonella is heavily present in mass produced poultry and eggs, and again cross contamination most often happens during the food preparation stage the bacteria happily multiply when left in warm conditions. There is now even concern about serving duck pink as it can also be contaminated with salmonella.

Norovirus can be passed on by contamination of food during preparation ( hand washing again) but more often from hand rails, door handles and other contaminated surfaces.

Also, only taking antibiotics for one day as one of the posters said her husband did is the worst thing you can do as this leads to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA - take the full course or don't take them at all.

So the moral of this tale is that if we all (passengers and crew) washed our hands thoroughly using soap and hot water (far better than hand sanitiser) after using the bathroom and prior to eating/ food preparation then the incidence of all gasto intestinal infections would be much lower. :D

Edited August 6, 2015 by Techno123

[swabs]

Here Here!!

[Travelcat2]

Travelcat2 - the reason I brought this topic up again 6 months later is because I just disembarked Crystal, where I learned something new regarding how Crystal treats their quarantined passengers and I wanted to share that information.

 

Why you see this subject on other boards is because there are often comparison questions asked by other CC members about the different luxury cruise lines. As I have sailed on Regent, Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea and Seadream, I chime in.

 

I only wish I had read about such a subject before boarding Regent. I would never have knocked on the infirmary door.

 

OctoberKat - thank you for being the only one to recognize that my gripe was more about the way Regent handled the situation than the situation itself.

 

Thank you for responding. While I understand sharing information on comparison threads, is it really fair to a cruise line to share something that rarely (if ever) happens? IMO, that would be like my posting about Silversea health inspection failures on the Seabourn, Crystal and Regent boards (okay - I just mentioned it -- however, it is not something I would think of bringing up unless it was related to the subject of the thread.)

 

Anyone that cruises a lot has probably come across various gastrointestinal illnesses that may or may not have been caused by food, improper hand washing, etc. Crystal allegedly had norovirus on a couple of cruises (as have many other cruise lines), however, IMO, this does necessarily mean that Crystal ships are not clean - or food is not handled properly.

[Pamela1]

I concur about the personal hygiene of other passengers. I have also witnessed passengers not hand washing when leaving the bathroom. :(

Also been a ship with norovirus and the buffet food was all served with gloved attendants. I personally think all buffet food should be served by trained members of staff, it would make it safer for all.

[newlondon]

Techno123, I had already taken the OP to task for only taking an antibiotic for one day. Thank you for reinforcing my point about ab resistant bacteria such as MRSA. Unfortunately there are others and the trends are not good.:(

[Emperor Norton]

Techno123, I had already taken the OP to task for only taking an antibiotic for one day. Thank you for reinforcing my point about ab resistant bacteria such as MRSA. Unfortunately there are others and the trends are not good.:(

 

Like people who use sani wipes on every doorhandle they touch or in every surface in their room? The ones helping create superbugs?

[Les Picantins]

Thank you for responding. While I understand sharing information on comparison threads, is it really fair to a cruise line to share something that rarely (if ever) happens? IMO, that would be like my posting about Silversea health inspection failures on the Seabourn, Crystal and Regent boards (okay - I just mentioned it -- however, it is not something I would think of bringing up unless it was related to the subject of the thread.)

 

Anyone that cruises a lot has probably come across various gastrointestinal illnesses that may or may not have been caused by food, improper hand washing, etc. Crystal allegedly had norovirus on a couple of cruises (as have many other cruise lines), however, IMO, this does necessarily mean that Crystal ships are not clean - or food is not handled properly.

 

When I went to see the hotel manager regarding my husbands quarantine for food poisoning I was expecting him to smooth out my ruffled feathers. Instead he took a teasing comb and backcombed. His attitude was total denial rather than assuming the problem. No such thing could possibly happen on his ship. It was his attitude that pushed me to highlight all of the sanitary infractions that I witnessed on board. Of course it can and does happen all over the world in some of the finest establishments. "Do not mistreat the guest that you caused to be sick in the first place" is the message I'm trying to get across here. There are different ways of handling this situation.

 

A few years ago, 2 days after boarding on Seabourn, my husband came down with the flu and was contagious. He was confined to the cabin with such diplomacy that we didn't even realize he was under quarantine. There was no threatening letter from the captain stating that he will be disembarked at the next port if he disobeyed. As a matter of fact we were invited to dine with the captain a few days later.

 

Considering the risks of getting sick are very real, for all of the reasons mentioned on this thread, I think it is important to compare how different lines treat (or in Regent's case, mistreats) their guests. If you're quarantined on Crystal, you will be refunded, should it happen on Seabourn, you are still treated as a guest, on Regent you become a character from the film Outbreak.

 

Perhaps my posts will move Regent to be a bit more humble and diplomatic in future situations. If that happens, you may one day thank me.