Legend has Noro Virus Again?

[link99]

The April 29 2015 roll call is reporting delayed boarding tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale until 2 PM for sanitizing. Sounds like yet another outbreak for RCCL. Anyone hear any different?

[Retired LEO]

Not surprising

[brillohead]

What I find surprising is that people still talk about noro and cruise ships.

 

This GI virus has nothing to do with the overall cleanliness or maintenance schedules of the ships or anything inherent with cruising whatsoever -- it's simply a function of nasty people who don't wash their hands properly and then go out and spread their germs EVERYwhere -- deck railings, stairway handrails, deck chairs, salt/pepper dispensers, elevator buttons, buffet tongs/spoons/spatulas, door handles, slot machines, dining room / bar chairs, pens used to sign bar slips.....

 

People pick these same germs up EVERYWHERE in real life -- the countertop at the bank, bathroom stall doors, grocery cart handles, gasoline pump handles, ATM machine buttons, door handles, armrests on chairs, etc. But when people pick up these germs out in their communities, they go home and are spread out over a wide geographic area, so there is no connection made between the fact that Jane Smith in Neighborhood A and Jim Johnson in Neighborhood B both picked up their 1-2 day tummy bug at Grocery Store C or Baseball Stadium D.

 

Since we can't get the nasty people to stop being nasty and leaving fecal material and the germs it contains all over the place, the only solution is to make sure we Wash Our Hands Religiously Before Eating Or Touching Our Faces For Any Reason.

 

Some people who always wash their hands before eating don't think anything of popping a breath mint or stick of gum (or cigarette/cigar - ICK!) in their mouth without washing up first. Ditto with applying lip gloss, or picking a piece of stuck food out from your teeth, etc.

 

The best way I have found to get my point across to my son is to point out that every time he gets the "pukies or poopies", it's a direct result of him consuming someone else's poop. As a nurse, I use the same explanation with clients.

 

Norovirus and its cousins (as well as several bacterial and parasitic infections, such as Cholera or various intestinal worms, and other viral infections such as Hep A and Hep E and Polio) are all spread via what is called the "fecal-oral route" which means it goes from the feces of one person into the mouth of another.

 

Once you stop and think of it as actually "eating someone else's poop" it makes you tend to be a bit more conscientious about washing your hands well before eating (and not touching anything public in between the sink and the dining table)!

[impatientlywaiting]

It amazes me how many times I see women use the restroom and then leave WITHOUT washing their hands. ICK!

 

And another thing, if you're sick, DON'T get on the ship. Just another way you're passing along your sickness to others.

 

We always make a point of NOT using the handrails either. On our last cruise I noticed that every time I entered our cabin the handles had just been freshly washed. Maybe because we had half a ship of college spring breakers and they were pretty nasty. :D

[grand isle joe]

Well, the ship didn't just "grow" the noro virus.......one of those passengers brought it with them when they boarded.......poor crew has to put up with another infection.

[blackshirt]

Well, the ship didn't just "grow" the noro virus.......one of those passengers brought it with them when they boarded.......poor crew has to put up with another infection.

Agree someone brought it with them but it could also have been someone returning to the ship, i.e. crew. An infected person can go days before they show symptoms. We were on the previous cruise and a couple we traveled with did not get sick until 2 days after we got back. A crew member could have just as easily been infected as one of the passengers and possibly more likely it was a returning crew member since we know they were exposed.

[phoenix1181]

We disembarked on the 29th & the evening of the 26th was the first time passengers were allowed to serve themselves in the Windjammer. Even though they allowed self serve, the utensils were being changed frequently. (I think it was hourly)

 

They did a deep cleaning before we boarded in San Diego & were constantly cleaning & wiping things down the entire cruise. Most solid surfaces were either wet or sticky for the entire cruise.

 

If they were doing another deep clean prior to the current cruise, it was more than likely to make sure they actually had it wiped out.

[cruisenfever]

We disembarked on the 29th & the evening of the 26th was the first time passengers were allowed to serve themselves in the Windjammer. Even though they allowed self serve, the utensils were being changed frequently. (I think it was hourly)

 

They did a deep cleaning before we boarded in San Diego & were constantly cleaning & wiping things down the entire cruise. Most solid surfaces were either wet or sticky for the entire cruise.

 

If they were doing another deep clean prior to the current cruise, it was more than likely to make sure they actually had it wiped out.

We were on the March 30th as well as the April 14th cruises and I agree what was posted above.

[sf2]

If a ship has serious noro outbreak, crew are sometimes not allowed shore leave. If the ship undergoes a turnaround day sanitation, crew aren't allowed off the ship until all areas have reported in, which is usually about embarkation time. If you look at the crew vs guest numbers, crew almost always have much lower per capita incidents.

 

Remember the other points of contamination - shuttle buses, taxis, terminals - how often do you see those being sanitized? Do the porters and luggage workers sanitize between helping each person or handling luggage?

 

In the past few years of working on ships, the only staff in my area who got sick were the ones who decided to eat in the Windjammer!

[BecciBoo]

Just reported on our roll call for the next cruise for Legend courtesy of

Justanothercruiserwaiting who is on her canal transit right now:

 

They sanitized the ship prior to departure from FLL and have been working hard to keep things very clean. I have not heard of any cases of Norovirus at all. Of course, just my view.

Edited May 2, 2015 by BecciBoo

[cruisenfever]

If a ship has serious noro outbreak, crew are sometimes not allowed shore leave. If the ship undergoes a turnaround day sanitation, crew aren't allowed off the ship until all areas have reported in, which is usually about embarkation time. If you look at the crew vs guest numbers, crew almost always have much lower per capita incidents.

 

Remember the other points of contamination - shuttle buses, taxis, terminals - how often do you see those being sanitized? Do the porters and luggage workers sanitize between helping each person or handling luggage?

 

In the past few years of working on ships, the only staff in my area who got sick were the ones who decided to eat in the Windjammer!

On the March 30th cruise we were fine until we got to Guatemala. Cases increased significantly after we left. Celebrity was there the day before and also had a high percentage of pax with Noro. In the words of one of the officers on Legend, what Celebrity left behind, we picked up and brought on board Legend. Noro amongst the crew was 0.

 

From what I was told, the port of Guatemala was eliminated from the April 29th itinerary.

Just reported on our roll call for the next cruise for Legend courtesy of

Justanothercruiserwaiting who is on her canal transit right now:

 

They sanitized the ship prior to departure from FLL and have been working hard to keep things very clean. I have not heard of any cases of Norovirus at all. Of course, just my view.

That's great news. The staff and crew worked diligently from the time we left San Diego until we got to Florida 15 days later to minimize the number of pax that got ill. We had very few cases on the April 14th cruise. Doing another complete sanitation on April 29th was to insure that the ship was as clean as it could be for the new pax boarding.

Edited May 2, 2015 by cruisenfever

[ace30927]

Pretty sure that was a precaution. We just got off the boat on the 29th and it was noro free for 72 hours prior to port. We have been fine since we got back. That crew went above and beyond on our cruise to prevent the spread of it. They had to be exhausted. This virus is something we all come across everyday, wash your hands like you should before you eat, and after you go the restroom and it will be fine.

[read52]

We were on the March 29 sailing of the Quantum. They had some cases of noro on the sailing before us. My husband and I thought great it will be clean. So we were delayed in boarding which started not at 11 but 1. We got onboard and they said rooms would be ready at 3:00. We kept checking but they were not ready. At 4:00 still no rooms but we had to go to muster drill without cards which were in the rooms. So we had to show our set sail pass. It was a mess. We had a 5:30 dinner reservation at the Grande and we had to take our carry ons with us even though they did not want us to bring them in. Finally at 7:30 pm we were able to get in our cabin missing a few things like towels. They kept bringing us things until 9:00 pm when we finally went to sleep. But we made it through that day (and no compensation).

 

But the worse thing was that they kept cleaning and as someone said the tables in the public areas were wet and sticky most of the time. My husband who has a seizure disorder had two severe seizures onboard and 5 shortly after we got home. After finding out the name of the cleaning product, we found that it has a small chance of causing neurological problems. We also had several people from our group have a cough or in one case swollen eyes.

They also need to check this cleaning product.