Noro Virus-West Coast

[grandmaa]

What is with the noro virus coming up from the Panama Canal and Mexico cruises up to California's West Coast ports? These past weeks there have been reports regarding Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise ships in San Diego, and now the Coral Princess coming to Los Angeles.

 

We have been advised to not come to the port 2 hours later than originally posted and we will be boarding by decks. Any advice and suggestions to avoid the dreaded "noro virus?"

[Colo Cruiser]

What is with the noro virus coming up from the Panama Canal and Mexico cruises up to California's West Coast ports? These past weeks there have been reports regarding Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise ships in San Diego, and now the Coral Princess coming to Los Angeles.

 

We have been advised to not come to the port 2 hours later than originally posted and we will be boarding by decks. Any advice and suggestions to avoid the dreaded "noro virus?"

 

Wash your hands and keep them away from your mouth. ;)

 

Its everywhere.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[Kenswing]

Other that staying off the ship?

 

Constantly wash your hands. Don't touch anything with your hands that you can use your elbows for. Try not to touch railings, door knobs, basically anything that other people touch. Wash your hands some more and keep them away from your face..

[Pam in CA]

Wash your hands. Don't use the public bathrooms if you can avoid it. Then wash your hands some more. Don't touch your hands to your face.

 

Some people mistakenly believe that using the hand sanitizer will completely protect them but that's not the case. It's somewhat effective against bacteria but not against viruses; colds, flu and Noro are viruses.

[SilverLining4Me]

Trust me, it's not just the cruise ship that are getting hit with this virus. The ERs at the hospital have had more than their fair share of this. One of the doctors at the hospital told us that they had seen many, many cases the last few weeks.

 

The cruise lines are doing everything they can to make your cruise as anti-virus as possible.

 

Lots of good advice posted above.

[karatemom2]

After just going through a bout of norovirus with my family on the Crown I would make the following recommendations that I plan to follow on all of my upcoming cruises. It may seem draconian, but I do not want to go through that again.

 

Bleach wipes and Lysol for cabin clean upon arrival.

 

Avoid public restrooms as much as possible

 

Avoid buffet and stick with dining rooms, grill and International Cafe

 

If you go to buffet, consume only items eaten with utensils or get up and go wash your hands after you plate your food

 

Wash hands immediately prior to eating after handling menus

 

Avoid touching hand rails, elevator buttons

 

Bring own pen or pencil for trivia

 

Scrub hands after any casino activity

 

Use hand sanitizer as a supplement to hand washing, but not as a replacement for hand washing. Do both!

 

Avoid touching your face, mouth, eyes and nose

 

And remember, you need to wash your hands for a good 20 seconds!

[grandmaa]

After just going through a bout of norovirus with my family on the Crown I would make the following recommendations that I plan to follow on all of my upcoming cruises. It may seem draconian, but I do not want to go through that again.

 

Bleach wipes and Lysol for cabin clean upon arrival.

 

Avoid public restrooms as much as possible

 

Avoid buffet and stick with dining rooms, grill and International Cafe

 

If you go to buffet, consume only items eaten with utensils or get up and go wash your hands after you plate your food

 

Wash hands immediately prior to eating after handling menusg

 

 

 

Avoid touching hand rails, elevator buttons

 

Bring own pen or pencil for trivia

 

Scrub hands after any casino activity

 

Use hand sanitizer as a supplement to hand washing, but not as a replacement for hand washing. Do both!

 

Avoid touching your face, mouth, eyes and nose

 

And remember, you need to wash your hands for a good 20 seconds!

 

Thank you for the helpful hints.

Where do you find "Bleach Wipes?" Lysol we own and sanitizing gel.

[karatemom2]

Thank you for the helpful hints.

Where do you find "Bleach Wipes?" Lysol we own and sanitizing gel.

 

Clorox bleach wipes - you can find them at any market or drugstore. Also, there are some high powered ethanol based sanitizing gels advertised online that state they have a higher efficacy against noro. Clorox makes one sold through Amazon. I may invest in it before our next cruise.

[cdnphotogirl]

Any advice and suggestions to avoid the dreaded "noro virus?"

 

I would bring Lysol wipes and use them on all door handles, light switches and taps in your room. (I bring them with me whenever I travel....I even use them in hotels.) You may not be able to make sure the ship is 100% safe but you can what your wee bit in your cabin.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Post deleted.

Edited April 23, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[VibeGuy]

God, I wish people would stop saying that Alcohol-Based Hand Rubs (ABHRs) don't work on viruses. It is demonstrably incorrect.

 

ABHRs' efficacy against enveloped viruses like the common cold has never been in doubt. They work the same way soap does - they destroy the oil-seeking covering (or envelope) of the virus.

 

First-gen ABHRs did not work on non-enveloped viruses like Noro. The good news is, nobody looking to prevent foodborne illness uses 1st-gen ABHRs. The bad news is, most of the stuff you can buy as a consumer is still 1st-gen.

 

Second-gen ABHRs got better. They reduce norovirus by around 97.2% (log reduction 1.55 for those checking my math at home). This is not great, but it's better than zero.

 

Handwashing, done properly, gets about 98.4% reduction.

 

3rd gen ABHRs are what is used now in food safety applications and is in the dispensers onboard. Used alone, they are capable of a 3.74 log reduction, equal to 99.982% reduction. So let's get rid of the trope that gels alone aren't effective. They are clearly effective, and there have been numerous industry and independent studies to support this.

 

To be clear: washing, followed by sanitizing with a third-gen boosted ABHR is the superior solution, just the Princess videos show, achieving a 4.04 log reduction, equal to 99.991% reduction.

 

Gels make handwashing better, handwashing makes gels better.

 

To recap: gel is 5500x better than nothing, and handwashing plus gel is 15000x better than doing nothing.

 

The numbers here are taken from:

 

Hand hygiene regimens for the reduction of risk in food service environments.

Edmonds SL, et al. J Food Prot. 2012.

 

Full text available at http://www.microbac.com/uploads/Industry/Locations/Microbiotest/2012_JFP_Edmonds%20et%20al.%20Foodservice%20regimens.pdf

[SilverLining4Me]

Amazon has the travel size packs of the Clorox Disinfecting wipes:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Clorox-Disinfecting-Wipes-Value-Scented/dp/B00FKIEQUC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429787041&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=travel+size+lysol+wipes

 

Also the Purell Sanitizing Hand wipes (individual packs)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FZ23FA/ref=pd_luc_rh_top_sim_03_03_t_ttl_lh?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not saying you can find them at a better price ... Just showing what we like to use on trips.

[Tyskie]

Airlines are the biggest culprit! And generally most passengers fly in from somewhere, whether domestic or international. Have you ever looked carefully at the arm rests and tray tables - filthy! I use the Clorox wipes on all surfaces. Might not help 100% but can't hurt. You only have to have the Noro once and believe me you never-ever want to have it again! :eek:

[san diego sue]

We never use the ship's computers either. I know we can wipe them down , but bring my own Netbook. We wipe down the cabin as soon as we enter for first time. Big thing not to miss doing this is button on toilet, and telephone. Avoid public restrooms on the ship.

[RDC1]

Airlines are the biggest culprit! And generally most passengers fly in from somewhere, whether domestic or international. Have you ever looked carefully at the arm rests and tray tables - filthy! I use the Clorox wipes on all surfaces. Might not help 100% but can't hurt. You only have to have the Noro once and believe me you never-ever want to have it again! :eek:

 

March/April is peak season for Noro in North America. It is pretty widespread during those times. You can pick it up just about anywhere. Odds are that if you put 3000 people on a cruise ship during this time period at least one person will have Noro just based on infection rates and population size.

[jsmac3]

Trust me, it's not just the cruise ship that are getting hit with this virus. The ERs at the hospital have had more than their fair share of this. One of the doctors at the hospital told us that they had seen many, many cases the last few weeks.

 

The cruise lines are doing everything they can to make your cruise as anti-virus as possible.

 

Lots of good advice posted above.

 

This is true. These types of virus have been prevalent recently.

 

There is something called rota-virus going around . . . it normally only affects children but if an adult never had it has a child, they haven't built up an immunity and it will affect them more severely. According to Wikipedia, it is second only to cholera for severity . . .and people can remain contagious and pass the virus for as long as 7-10 days.

 

I had this and had to cancel a 14 day cruise during March.

[cruisewiththekids]

Just off the Regal and was very surprised how lax they were compared to other lines I've been on with encouraging hand washing and sanitizing before entering the buffet. I didn't go to the dining rooms, so I can't speak to the procedure there. They have sinks at the entrance to the buffet, but hardly anyone was using them, and there was generally no one there encouraging them to. Also, no one was offering sanitizer or wipes at the door like I've experienced on other lines. I think Princess could be much more proactive.

[rbt001]

While it's a help that an employee is stationed to enforce hand washing/sanitizing at the entrance to the buffet, even the most thorough scrubbing is useless when people eat or sample food at the buffet line.

 

Because when they're doing so, it's always using their hand.

 

When I politely tried to point out to someone who was eating in line, explaining that bringing their hand to their mouth is the issue, they responded "...but I'm using the tongs, (for other food) so there's no danger."

 

He didn't seem to get that his hand to his mouth that then touched the tongs might not be so safe when the next person used the tongs for the food.

 

Ever wonder why kitchen staff is not permitted to smoke in the kitchen? It's not a worry over ashes or butts in the food; it's that a smoker brings their hand to their mouth.

 

Salt & Pepper shakers at the table can also be highly contaminated-- especially during meals where there's a lot of hand held food, such as sandwiches or ribs.

 

Once there's an outbreak, S&P shakers and self-service are the first things to go.

 

Perhaps if there were more vigilance prior, outbreaks would somewhat be deterred.

[VibeGuy]

Not to be indelicate, but the grazer isn't putting other people at risk of Noro- rather, he's at greater risk because the tongs he handled were contaminated previously. Noro is a disease of fecal contamination of hands and surfaces, not so much saliva. Restrictions on face-to-hand contact in food service are largely for bacterial contaminants that are much less transmissible hand-to-hand vs contaminating the food and reproducing. None of this, though, makes eating in the buffet line any less tacky. Ugh.

 

I'm starting to think that a second pass with an ABHR after going through the buffet line but before touching my food or cutlery may be the smart money.

Edited April 23, 2015 by VibeGuy

[BlueEyesMI]

Washing your hands, and using sanitizer, *often* is your best defense. The only way to kill the norovirus is to use a bleach solution cleanser. Lysol wipes are not going to kill the noro bug as they do not contain bleach. Here is a link from the CDC - it contains a link to a list of products that will kill noro as well as other helpful advice. http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html I bet you could make your own bleach wipes to bring with you, or a bleach/water spray - just be careful it doesn't leak in your luggage :eek:

Edited April 23, 2015 by BlueEyesMI

[grandmaa]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions.

.

There is "noro virus" on the Coral and one CC poster said they were under "Special Measures" in Horizon Court, in the Dining Rooms and on the ship. So I guess it is up to each of us to be ever so vigilant for our own health and safety practices while on board.

 

"Forewarned is Forearmed" as that old saying goes.

 

 

Safe and Happy Cruising to All....

 

Anita

[lovevacadays]

Airlines are the biggest culprit! And generally most passengers fly in from somewhere, whether domestic or international. Have you ever looked carefully at the arm rests and tray tables - filthy! I use the Clorox wipes on all surfaces. Might not help 100% but can't hurt. You only have to have the Noro once and believe me you never-ever want to have it again! :eek:

 

Just reading this thread has made me feel a little sick.:eek::eek: I agree with you about airplanes. Yikes. I can't even imagine the germs. I wipe down the tray and try not to touch the arm rests.

 

We never use the ship's computers either. I know we can wipe them down , but bring my own Netbook. We wipe down the cabin as soon as we enter for first time. Big thing not to miss doing this is button on toilet, and telephone. Avoid public restrooms on the ship.

 

I'm with you Gloria. Once inside my cabin I start wiping down everything, including the button on the toilet, the toilet seat, light fixtures, remote, drawer handles, door handles, etc. Doesn't take long and it makes me feel better.:):):)

[sweetsleep]

Best disinfecting wipes are called Dispatch-you can buy individually packaged wipes or a packet of them. They are only available online though. They kill just about everything and are used in hospitals-it clobbers Hepatitis A,B and C, HIV,Noro,TB and many other serious bacteria-MRSA,VRE,Acinetobacterr and C.diff. Very strong bleach smell but that's okay.

I always bring them on cruises and for long haul airline flights when I know I will need to use the airplane bathroom AND I bring exam gloves when using them to both minimize getting contaminated while I clean and to avoid the caustic bleach.

Works great.

If I do have to use a buffet, I ALWAYS take food from the BACK of the tray as very few hands will touch food in back and the hand held part of the tongs usually will not touch the back of the tray either.

[BruceMuzz]

The human body is quite an amazing machine.

It has evolved to the point where viruses have a very difficult time getting inside.Our skin does a remarkable job of blocking most bacteria and viruses.

 

So how does a virus - specifically Norovirus - enter your body ?

 

1. It can be injected with a syringe, allowing it to pass through your skin. How often does that happen? Statistically just about never.

 

2. If you happen to be unlucky enough to pass very close by an NLV infected person who happens to be vomiting, the NLV spores are very briefly aerosolized. If you take a deep breath as you pass by (rather unlikely) there is a slim chance that you may inhale some of the spores and contract the illness that way. How often does this happen? Just about never.

 

3. NLV spores can be waterborne. Although ship's potable water must be virus and bacteria free at the source, it could be contaminated at the tap by someone refilling an unclean water bottle or glass for example. Since many people are getting water from those taps, a contaminated tap will likely sicken dozens or hundreds all at the same time. How often does that happen? VERY rarely.

 

4. NLV spores can be carried in fresh uncooked shellfish. Most cruise lines do not serve fresh uncooked shellfish. CDC requires all shellfish served on ships to be frozen for a minimum 72 hours before serving. The freezing kills NLV spores.

 

5. Your food can be contaminated by an ill food worker who prepared it before you see or eat it. Since many other people will be eating the same foods, anything that is contaminated will sicken dozens or hundreds all at the same time. How often does this happen? VERY rarely.

 

6. Buffet food can be contaminated by unclean passengers who taste food and put it back, or put their dirty hands in the food you are about to serve yourself. We believe that this happens quite often - and is the greatest reason to avoid buffets on cruise ships.

 

All the other avenues for infection involve ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.

These are the only other routes that a virus can take to infect you.

You - and only you - control those routes.

 

It matters NOT how dirty or contaminated your hands might be.

If you refuse to put those dirty hands into ears, nose, eyes, and mouth (and refuse to touch something that will be going into those ears, eyes, nose, and mouth), it is nearly impossible for a virus to enter your body and make you ill.

 

In this age of people failing to take responsibility for their own actions and behaviours, it is heresy to say that most people who contract Norwalk Virus have given it to themselves.

 

But that is the case most of the time.

If you are contracting NLV, your personal hygiene habits may not be as good as you think.

[shredie]

T

If you are contracting NLV, your personal hygiene habits may not be as good as you think.

Oh good, Dr. Bruce is back to tell all of us on the Princess board what slobs we are! Gosh, we've missed all the BM advice! Edited April 24, 2015 by shredie