Norovirus outbreak on the Crown

[geocruiser]

That's why Cruise Critic is so much fun to read. It just illuminates how different people react to situations. geocruiser, We were on the Crown on that cruise after you in February 2012 to Aruba! One of the best we ever took! Two days at sea and were supposed to dock in Aruba and at 8 0'clock that morning, the Captain says we are returning to Fort Lauderdale. 5 days at sea, free, no one in our party sick ( but we wash our hands alot, don't overeat at the Horizon court, have fixed dinner in MDR ) and only thing we noticed different was no self service in dining room

We were reimbursed fully for the cruise ( not FCC) ALL our $$$ received back, 25% future cruise credit AND Princess called for everyone and made all our return flight reservations for us and delivered them to our cabins the day before

Guess where we are booked February 2018? Crown to Aruba !! But I suppose we can't be lucky enough to have it happen twice!!

 

Our cruise was really bad. There was no way all the cases got reported to the CDC. The Drs. and nurses could not get to all the sick people on board. It was something that I have never seen before. People were calling for help on the phone in the public area of the ship. Why, I don't know they were calling from there.

[srpilo]

Even though a noro outbreak happens.. the fact remains that most people don't get it. For the people who do...:mad:. I looked up on the CDC website for 2012 and saw the two reports. A higher incidence of people affected than currently reported (now 4. something but 2012 11. something). It is a lot of people but still most did not get it.

 

I'm on the Crown on Nov 8 and the 13th. Kinda bursts the bubble of excitement about cruising but I expect to come home with dry hands from washing a lot. Also told dh I won't eat in Horizon court.

Yes you're 100% correct, even during the most severe outbreaks MOST people onboard aren't affected.

 

To those who are seriously using 2012 or any other past experiences with some kind of relevancy to the current Crown outbreak, just a quick question, how do you explain the 100's of cruises that the Crown has sailed since 2012 or any other earlier date with out ANY reported problems ? With the same logic should you stop driving your car now because you had a flat tire in 2012 ??

 

Bottom line is $!@#! happens sometimes on ships at sea with 3000 people onboard, and it could just as likely happen tomorrow on the Regal (pick your ship) as it could on the Crown next week

[Griller]

I was just careful. Wash hands, keep finger out of mouth.

 

Be careful not to breathe as there may well be micro droplets of viral particles in the air................................

[Momo6000]

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

 

Not sure if this link will work, but it shows that since the two outbreaks in 2012, the norovirus has hit the Crown twice in 2014, once in 2016 and then, of course, the current outbreak.

I am set to sail on the Crown with my family in 2018 and have no plans to change our trip. Just going to follow the same "rules" about cleanliness that I follow on all cruise lines.

[geocruiser]

Be careful not to breathe as there may well be micro droplets of viral particles in the air................................

 

Never mind. Delete

[pspman92]

Usually problem like this is caused from passengers!! Many of them are sick,touching everything without washing or sanitizing hands! Plus,entrance on horisont they dont care to sanitize it properly... I saw so many of them doing the same thing!

[Notonboard]

I will be on the Crown the week of Thanksgiving and will have a wonderful time. Debbie & Don Downer eat your heart out!

[Loonbeam]

The Senior Doctor is also often referred to as the CMO, as they have final call on medical issues. On some larger ships they may have a CMO and Sr. Doctor.

 

The Crown is structurally no worse or better for Noro than any other ship, and since a large portion of the staff turns over every year or so, any concern about staff is invalid year out.

 

You are more likely to get it on land if you frequent certain types of places (nursing homes,schools and airports), that's just a fact. Also, its likely although not easily proven that in most cases, people who think they have noro on a ship very possibly have something else.

 

The number one point of spread of Noro in any circumstance is people who are symptomatic but do not self quaranting AND people who fail to practice personal hygeine. No specific ship can change that or will have worse than any other.

 

Oh and BTW, though some of them have left since I was there I DO know people at Princess Corporate, some fairly well. And they do have a Director of Clinical services - might be a VP now. I think it's still Brenda. She oversees all of the Docs including contracting and coordinates breakout response.

 

Didn't know Princess had a chief medical officer. Where is he/she based? Santa Clarita? You must be a very important person to know such a high up at Princess. I have only ever got as far as talking to the Senior Doctor on a ship.

 

And thanks for the statistics, we all know how much we can trust statistics.

 

You still won't get me on Crown Princess again no matter how much you cheer. So many safer alternatives.

[Loonbeam]

It's not 'hushing it up'...

 

They have a very specific protocol based on number of probable cases where certain steps are enacted. Until they hit those levels, nothing happens because they have found that starting the protocol too early has resulted in less people self-reporting during the early stages because they figure the outbreak is already in progress, why ruin THEIR vacation with a quarantine.

 

They are pretty good at hushing it up until the day it gets really bad and the Captain makes an announcement asking everyone to wash their hands more and you see changes in the HC and no salt and pepper shakers on the main dining room tables.

[copdoc]

This is from January, 2016.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/01/articles/disease-1/pukefest-on-the-crown-princess-why-does-princess-cruise-have-so-many-norovirus-outbreaks/

 

Bottom line is that it CAN happen anywhere, but cruise ships do create an environment that facilitates transmission, and numbers of those infected are likely much higher than those reported. The majority of passengers generally do not get it, but for those who do, it can be 12-24 hours of extreme discomfort with symptoms lasting 48-72 hoiurs. For some, such as immunocomprised, the elderly and very young, it can be life-threatening. Don't shake hands, don't eat with your hands and don't touch your face without washing your hands first.

 

We're looking forward to our Thanksgiving cruise on November 18, and anticipate a wonderful time, but being sure to take the aforementioned precautions.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Dang! We just got off the Regal and are spending a few days in Fort Lauderdale and are then boarding the Crown on Nov 8. We were on the Crown sailing in 2012 that got shortened due to Noro and sure don’t want a repeat of that.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[EDnLISA]

I've seen pigs come out of toilet stalls in public restrooms onboard and walk right past the sinks without washing. On a number of cruises that I've been on I've seen people grab food with their hands while in line in the buffet.

Is it any wonder???

[srpilo]

The Senior Doctor is also often referred to as the CMO, as they have final call on medical issues. On some larger ships they may have a CMO and Sr. Doctor.

 

The Crown is structurally no worse or better for Noro than any other ship, and since a large portion of the staff turns over every year or so, any concern about staff is invalid year out.

 

You are more likely to get it on land if you frequent certain types of places (nursing homes,schools and airports), that's just a fact. Also, its likely although not easily proven that in most cases, people who think they have noro on a ship very possibly have something else.

 

The number one point of spread of Noro in any circumstance is people who are symptomatic but do not self quaranting AND people who fail to practice personal hygeine. No specific ship can change that or will have worse than any other.

 

Oh and BTW, though some of them have left since I was there I DO know people at Princess Corporate, some fairly well. And they do have a Director of Clinical services - might be a VP now. I think it's still Brenda. She oversees all of the Docs including contracting and coordinates breakout response.

 

+1

 

Some times some posters here needs a calm, rational, factual, non subjective post like this to allow them to step back and take a deep breath

[Kingofcool1947]

Anyone know where to buy sanitizer that kills norovirus that is in a store and not the web?

 

Medical supply store. In spray and wipes.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Didn't know Princess had a chief medical officer. Where is he/she based? Santa Clarita? You must be a very important person to know such a high up at Princess. I have only ever got as far as talking to the Senior Doctor on a ship.

 

And thanks for the statistics, we all know how much we can trust statistics.

 

You still won't get me on Crown Princess again no matter how much you cheer. So many safer alternatives.

 

If you are going to be sarcastic, then it would be best if you read the post you're referring to correctly. The poster didn't say he spoke to "the chief medical officer" he said he spoke to "a chief medical officer" so he was probably referring to the senior medical officer on a ship he was on.

 

Tom

[Griller]

The Senior Doctor is also often referred to as the CMO, as they have final call on medical issues. On some larger ships they may have a CMO and Sr. Doctor.

 

The Crown is structurally no worse or better for Noro than any other ship, and since a large portion of the staff turns over every year or so, any concern about staff is invalid year out.

 

worse than any other.

 

.

 

So why does Crown get outbreaks more than other ships in the fleet?

[beg3yrs]

So why does Crown get outbreaks more than other ships in the fleet?

 

Norovirus is often brought onboard by passengers and crew who unknowingly catch it on shore. Some ports tend to provide more Noro than others. It may be the Crown's itineraries are the culprit rather than the ship or crew.

[voljeep]

We always take Lysol spray and Clorox wipe to use immediately upon entering our room (well, at least my wife does) - will be more attentive to doing so after viewing this thread when we embark on 11/13.

 

always, and I mean always, use plenty of hand sanitizer , but will also be doing that more often, and limit our trips to the cattle call buffet, which we already do anyway

 

BEERS !

[geocruiser]

noro virus info from CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/about/transmission.html

[MTJSR]

Hmm, I have four family members on the ship, we just talked from Virginia this morning and no mention of this at all. Even after asking "hows the cruise so far"? Hopefully it's contained!

[RDC1]

Didn't know Princess had a chief medical officer. Where is he/she based? Santa Clarita? You must be a very important person to know such a high up at Princess. I have only ever got as far as talking to the Senior Doctor on a ship.

 

And thanks for the statistics, we all know how much we can trust statistics.

 

You still won't get me on Crown Princess again no matter how much you cheer. So many safer alternatives.

 

Each ship has a chief medical officer on board, basically the senior member of the medical department. The one that gave me the figure was on the Caribbean Princess on a cruise when they went to enhanced measures and reported the number of cases each day. The highest number was 17 so being curious I asked him what the threshold was for enhanced measures.

 

Though there is a Chief medical for Carnivals shared health services which covers all of CCL, Princess, Holland America, Seaborne, P&O Australia. It used to be Dr. Grant Tarling. Not sure if he is still in that position or not. He is or was a Senior VP.

 

The incidence statistics on cruise ships came from the CDC VSP program. The US incidence rate came from other areas of the CDC web site.

Edited November 6, 2017 by RDC1

[irgoddes1]

I read that anyone who has had Noro will probably have some immunity to getting the same bug again for a short time. But as with flu there are no doubt different strains.I never heard of a vaccine for it, be good though if there were.

 

And I believe most tummy bugs on cruise ships are e-coli related not actually Noro, bacterial not viral. Easier to sanitize E Coli and prevent yourself from getting it.

 

You have about 6 months of immunity once you get it.

So those crew members who were ill can now service those on subsequent cruises without getting reinfected.

 

Dr. Bumsted

[dickinson]

I just read through all the years on the CDC website that have reports for gastro type things. They have been reporting since 1994. At first there weren't very many cases in a year but gradually that changed. I did notice that the old Royal Princess had quite a few cases. Also noted that Princess has had a LOT more cases than Carnival. Wonder why? Crown is not the only Princess ship in the past few years to get noro or other grastro problems. Noticed Holland America a lot too although not familiar with their ships to see if any one has had more than others.

 

Princess... start regularly sanitizing things so if there is one case of gastro illness it does not spread!

[suzyed]

should be nice and clean/sanitized for our 11/13 cruise

Hope so!! Going to bring extra Lysol wipes/spray though. Wonder why this seems to happen on the Crown so often??

We were on a 28 day on the Crown a few years back and about 400 (passengers and crew) had noro!! :eek:

 

UGH!

[suzyed]

I would almost bet for every 1 who does report, 3 do not.

Not sure it's that high...but you are certainly correct that many don't report, which of course, is one of the biggest reasons it spreads to so many!! UGH!