Viking Star - Current Mechanical Issues

[Casual Cruising]

Thanks for the reply.  So nice of you.  Having a hard time understanding these boards.  

[caskale]

As of lunch today,we are able to serve ourselfs in the World Cafe.

[BoneDoc]

Just returned on The Star she had a blown Turbocharger on one engine.Yes we were slow cruising on the way back to Miami,we also had several passegers sick and confined to their cabins.

[broker1217]

Thanks for letting us know. I had heard it was a turbo charger. Sounds like the noro was a fairly small % of pax.

 

[broker1217]

Okay-I stand corrected. Almost 4% of passengers affected. Virus is not confirmed at this point.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2019/Viking_Star_2-7.html

 

Crew marginally affected.

[jiminyC_fan]

2 hours ago, broker1217 said:

Okay-I stand corrected. Almost 4% of passengers affected. Virus is not confirmed at this point.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2019/Viking_Star_2-7.html

 

Crew marginally affected.

Thanks for the link.  

36 of 904 (3.98%) Passengers

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 1 of 461 (0.22%)

It was sounding like a widespread outbreak by the posts.

[caviargal]

2 hours ago, jiminyC_fan said:

Thanks for the link.  

36 of 904 (3.98%) Passengers

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 1 of 461 (0.22%)

It was sounding like a widespread outbreak by the posts.

 

A little noro goes a long way  but it appears that it is currently under control. 

It was enough to  close gym, hot tubs, common spa areas and quarantine some passengers, as well as control service in whatever the buffet restaurant is called.  

From live reports now, normalcy has been restored. 

[deec]

I found it interesting that when I went to the CDC website it did NOT list for 2018  any Viking Sun outbreaks....we had at least 2 times that pools were closed etc....on the SEA at end of 2018 we had pools closed etc...so I do not know when the CDC actually has reporting to web site...or perhaps Viking is super vigilant and shuts pools , staff serves in World Cafe etc before it would reach the number of affected passengers/staff and trigger the posting?

[broker1217]

If you scroll up earlier in this thread there is a post by Chengkp75 which addresses this, see quote below:

 

Actually, every cruise ship is required to report to the CDC every cruise with a GI illness report, whether they have had any GI illness or not, 24 hours prior to entering the US.  When the number of cases reaches 2% of passengers or crew, they must file an additional report, at that time.  When the number of cases reaches 3%, they must make a second additional report, and this is the only time an outbreak is reported on the public website.  The CDC website may be updated quickly or it may take a couple of weeks.

[jiminyC_fan]

2 hours ago, caviargal said:

 

A little noro goes a long way  but it appears that it is currently under control. 

It was enough to  close gym, hot tubs, common spa areas and quarantine some passengers, as well as control service in whatever the buffet restaurant is called.  

From live reports now, normalcy has been restored. 

Thankfully,  Viking was able to isolate it fairly well.  I applaud them.    It could have been much worse.

[chengkp75]

12 hours ago, caviargal said:

 

A little noro goes a long way  but it appears that it is currently under control. 

It was enough to  close gym, hot tubs, common spa areas and quarantine some passengers, as well as control service in whatever the buffet restaurant is called.  

From live reports now, normalcy has been restored. 

 

11 hours ago, deec said:

I found it interesting that when I went to the CDC website it did NOT list for 2018  any Viking Sun outbreaks....we had at least 2 times that pools were closed etc....on the SEA at end of 2018 we had pools closed etc...so I do not know when the CDC actually has reporting to web site...or perhaps Viking is super vigilant and shuts pools , staff serves in World Cafe etc before it would reach the number of affected passengers/staff and trigger the posting?

I find it interesting that Viking closes the pools and hot tubs for a noro outbreak.  Not aware of any other line that does that, since the chlorine levels in the pools/tubs will kill any noro virus that is on someone's skin.  They may be doing this as a preventative to keep from having vomit/fecal incidents requiring draining/cleaning the pools/tubs.

[Borderlander123]

On ‎2‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 5:19 PM, aimhigh said:

 

On our recent Viking Sea cruise (West Indies) embarkation was delayed due to passenger sickness on the prior cruise.

A letter explaining the situation was given out as passengers arrived in the terminal, and there were announcements, but many passengers walked right past the sanitisers as they boarded the ship.

For the first 7 days, a crew member politely asked everyone to wash their hands as they entered the World Cafe, but this was bypassed by many if the crew member was replenishing towels. There were no such requests at the pool grill and I didn't see anyone sanitise or wash their hands.

I was amazed (disappointed) to see passengers sneeze into their hands in the World Cafe and then pick up serving tools; in the last few days I heard one passenger walk past those who were washing their hands and say in an arrogant tone  'we aren't still doing this are we?'; and people picked up fruit and plates and then put them back. It is no wonder that sickness spreads on a ship.

Is it the age of the passengers? ignorance? or just plain refusal to comply? 

Whatever it is, I always used a tissue when picking up serving tongs.

Just off the Viking Sea (Caribbean and South America) 17th February, and we can confirm that many passengers walked by and did not sanitise, either at the restaurant, café, pool grill nor on re-embarking the ship at ports.  Again, coughing and sneezing into hands and then picking up serving utensils.  We witnessed a passenger arguing with the crew member who requested him to sanitise his hands, and he "won" the argument and walked through.  I cannot fathom why people behave like this. Do they believe they are immune?  After the first day or so no crew were requiring that guests sanitise before eating in the café. Manfredis and Chefs table were more consistent as guests are taken through individually. Viking need to put a cap on it right now.  Meanwhile, sterilise hands after using serving tools and before eating.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, Borderlander123 said:

Just off the Viking Sea (Caribbean and South America) 17th February, and we can confirm that many passengers walked by and did not sanitise, either at the restaurant, café, pool grill nor on re-embarking the ship at ports.  Again, coughing and sneezing into hands and then picking up serving utensils.  We witnessed a passenger arguing with the crew member who requested him to sanitise his hands, and he "won" the argument and walked through.  I cannot fathom why people behave like this. Do they believe they are immune?  After the first day or so no crew were requiring that guests sanitise before eating in the café. Manfredis and Chefs table were more consistent as guests are taken through individually. Viking need to put a cap on it right now.  Meanwhile, sterilise hands after using serving tools and before eating.

 

Norwegian does a pretty good job of enforcing this.

[Geosez]

I guess we could say this is more of Viking treating us like adults who should know better.   But you can’t fix arrogance and stupidity.  

[Ready to Sail!]

34 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Norwegian does a pretty good job of enforcing this.

Yes they do, and by the time we are back home we can't stop saying/singing "washy-washy".   On our last NCL the Washy-Washy girls were the closing act of the last evenings show in the theater when they bring most of the staff on stage.  Really cute!

 

On our last Princess, last May there were sinks on both sides of the buffet entrance and everyone had to stop and wash before entering. 

[Cienfuegos]

I'd like to see Viking offer warmed wash cloths on dining room and world cafe entry, like some airlines do on first class / business class.  It's clear they're losing the war, people are not sanitizing on entry.

 

If you can't get people to do tings which they should be doing, then appeal to their vanity...

[zitsky]

1 minute ago, Cienfuegos said:

I'd like to see Viking offer warmed wash cloths on dining room and world cafe entry, like some airlines do on first class / business class.  It's clear they're losing the war, people are not sanitizing on entry.

 

If you can't get people to do tings which they should be doing, then appeal to their vanity...

 

A washcloth by itself isn't enough.  Hand washing or sanitizer are what you need.

[Cienfuegos]

Would a sanitized washcloth get the job done?

[Borderlander123]

1 minute ago, Cienfuegos said:

I'd like to see Viking offer warmed wash cloths on dining room and world cafe entry, like some airlines do on first class / business class.  It's clear they're losing the war, people are not sanitizing on entry.

 

If you can't get people to do tings which they should be doing, then appeal to their vanity...

My experience is that Viking just don't have staff allocated to the task of ensuring sanitizing so they have to fit it around their other tasks.  Azamara and Celebrity always have a staff member on each entrance with sanitiser so there are no excuses.

[caskale]

On the Star right now and they are still asking everyone to either wash or sanitize as you enter dining rooms.

unfortunately do to high winds and seas had to miss Santiago de Cuba

[Cienfuegos]

1 minute ago, caskale said:

On the Star right now and they are still asking everyone to either wash or sanitize as you enter dining rooms.

unfortunately do to high winds and seas had to miss Santiago de Cuba

 

Sorry you had to miss Santiago de Cuba, I would have enjoyed adding two days there.

 

[Borderlander123]

1 minute ago, caskale said:

On the Star right now and they are still asking everyone to either wash or sanitize as you enter dining rooms.

unfortunately do to high winds and seas had to miss Santiago de Cuba

Our experience of the Star in 2017 was that they ensured sanitizing more regularly than currently on the Sea, so perhaps it's more specific ship culture than I thought.  We also had problems with the high winds on Sea last week - shortened our port times considerably, and missed excursions.

[just_dont]

4 hours ago, Borderlander123 said:

Our experience of the Star in 2017 was that they ensured sanitizing more regularly than currently on the Sea, so perhaps it's more specific ship culture than I thought.  We also had problems with the high winds on Sea last week - shortened our port times considerably, and missed excursions.

I wonder if it may have more to do with the specific cruise (i.e. Caribbean) and the probably larger concentration of (pardon the expression) ugly American tourists.  Those who might generally frequent Carnival for their Caribbean cruise, but decided to splurge on Viking.  Can't tell you how many Caribbean cruise videos I've seen where I've just been embarrassed by the behavior of some of the passengers - even the cruise vloggers posting the videos.  Certainly not what I'd expect from a proper, considerate cruise passenger, but almost to be expected to be seen on one of today's mass-market Caribbean cruises.

[zitsky]

5 minutes ago, just_dont said:

I wonder if it may have more to do with the specific cruise (i.e. Caribbean) and the probably larger concentration of (pardon the expression) ugly American tourists.  Those who might generally frequent Carnival for their Caribbean cruise, but decided to splurge on Viking.  Can't tell you how many Caribbean cruise videos I've seen where I've just been embarrassed by the behavior of some of the passengers - even the cruise vloggers posting the videos.  Certainly not what I'd expect from a proper, considerate cruise passenger, but almost to be expected to be seen on one of today's mass-market Caribbean cruises.

 

So you're saying that Americans don't like to wash their hands???

[just_dont]

10 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

So you're saying that Americans don't like to wash their hands???

I'm saying that there are a heck of a lot of us (myself NOT included) that have a serious "you can't tell me what to do" attitude and are just plain inconsiderate of others.

Yep, I said it.