Hazmat suit spraying in the middle of the night

[clojacks]

We are currently on the Constellation returning to Dubai from a cancelled ending in Singapore. About 3 times in the past week, we have been awakened by Crewman in Hazmat suits spraying outside our room in the middle of the night. We are close to one of the stairwell/ elevator landings, and my speculation is they are doing a heavy disinfectant spraying of common areas, but we never received any notification of any activity like this being performed and the gap under our door is about 3/4 of an inch. Suggestions of what you think or would do?

[wwcruisers]

13 minutes ago, clojacks said:

We are currently on the Constellation returning to Dubai from a cancelled ending in Singapore. About 3 times in the past week, we have been awakened by Crewman in Hazmat suits spraying outside our room in the middle of the night. We are close to one of the stairwell/ elevator landings, and my speculation is they are doing a heavy disinfectant spraying of common areas, but we never received any notification of any activity like this being performed and the gap under our door is about 3/4 of an inch. Suggestions of what you think or would do?

I would call the Head of Housekeeping and ask. If that person doesn't know -- keep going up the food-chain until you find someone who does.

[RodPat]

We once were on Zenith during a noro virus cruise.  They did not wait until the middle of the night to do the bleach spraying, we walked behind the crew in hazmat suits while they were spraying during the middle of the day. .  We were traveling with friends and none of us got sick while they were cleaning.  We did however have some clothes ruined by leaning on the wet rails in the elevators but Celebrity paid to have our ruined clothes replaced.  Be glad that they are trying their best to keep you safe.  I it bothers you, try putting down a towel by the door to keep the smell out of your cabin.

 

Pat

[Kartgv]

I would block that gap under the door with a rolled-up bath towel.    Other than that, I think I'd be glad to see the extra precautions being taken.   

[clojacks]

34 minutes ago, RodPat said:

We once were on Zenith during a noro virus cruise.  They did not wait until the middle of the night to do the bleach spraying, we walked behind the crew in hazmat suits while they were spraying during the middle of the day. .  We were traveling with friends and none of us got sick while they were cleaning.  We did however have some clothes ruined by leaning on the wet rails in the elevators but Celebrity paid to have our ruined clothes replaced.  Be glad that they are trying their best to keep you safe.  I it bothers you, try putting down a towel by the door to keep the smell out of your cabin.

 

Pat

I have no issue with “being kept safe”, in light of the situation here in Asia and the Arabian Sea, but it might be nice to get a courtesy note explaining why the crew needs to handle this stuff with ventilation masks on,  but us, in a cabin with a huge gap under the door, don’t need to. By the way, we have been trying largely to block the gap because the light from the elevator corridor was so bright, it was illuminating our room, but the whole door is loosely fitted and sealed. The ships response was it is a normal procedure that they do all the time, but they refused to tell me the product. 

[cruiserchuck]

1 minute ago, clojacks said:

I have no issue with “being kept safe”, in light of the situation here in Asia and the Arabian Sea, but it might be nice to get a courtesy note explaining why the crew needs to handle this stuff with ventilation masks on,  but us, in a cabin with a huge gap under the door, don’t need to. By the way, we have been trying largely to block the gap because the light from the elevator corridor was so bright, it was illuminating our room, but the whole door is loosely fitted and sealed. The ships response was it is a normal procedure that they do all the time, but they refused to tell me the product. 

 

I do not recall ever having a cabin with a huge gap under the door.  Is there something wrong with the door?  Maybe you could get Celebrity to fix the door.

[Denny01]

The reason they are wearing ‘suits’ is because they are exposed to the disinfectant an extended time and much larger quantity compared to it being sprayed in an area you are close to. 

 

Which that said, It’s sounds as if it’s strong stuff, and it would be a very good idea as mentioned to check what is going on and what it is.

 

Den

[chengkp75]

The stuff being "fogged" in the public spaces is Virkon or similar disinfectant, one of the few agents known to actually be effective against viruses like noro.  As the above poster noted, the crew handling the fogging are exposed to the fog for hours, and at close range to the fogger.  Once the Virkon droplets are on a surface, they are safe to touch, though it does present an "oily" feel.

 

With regards to the gap at the bottom of the door, cabin AC systems are designed (provided the balcony doors are all kept closed) to be at a slightly higher pressure than either the outdoors or the passageway.  The reason for this is so that this air pressure will seek to level itself by escaping out the gap at the passageway door.  This is to prevent smoke entering the cabin from the passageway in a fire, and is also to keep recirculated air from entering the cabin from public spaces.  If you hold a piece of tissue near the gap, it should swing towards the door, showing air flow out of the cabin.

[LadyShiva]

Chengpk75, I wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated your calm, factual posts over the years.  I have opened threads purely due to seeing your user avatar is replying, because I KNOW I will learn something from your replies.

 

You are a very good teacher, and I truly appreciate your time and consideration you spend on these Boards.

[3Shelaghs]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The stuff being "fogged" in the public spaces is Virkon or similar disinfectant, one of the few agents known to actually be effective against viruses like noro.  As the above poster noted, the crew handling the fogging are exposed to the fog for hours, and at close range to the fogger.  Once the Virkon droplets are on a surface, they are safe to touch, though it does present an "oily" feel.

 

With regards to the gap at the bottom of the door, cabin AC systems are designed (provided the balcony doors are all kept closed) to be at a slightly higher pressure than either the outdoors or the passageway.  The reason for this is so that this air pressure will seek to level itself by escaping out the gap at the passageway door.  This is to prevent smoke entering the cabin from the passageway in a fire, and is also to keep recirculated air from entering the cabin from public spaces.  If you hold a piece of tissue near the gap, it should swing towards the door, showing air flow out of the cabin.

Accurate info! 🙂 

[helpmesailaway]

28 minutes ago, LadyShiva said:

Chengpk75, I wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated your calm, factual posts over the years.  I have opened threads purely due to seeing your user avatar is replying, because I KNOW I will learn something from your replies.

 

You are a very good teacher, and I truly appreciate your time and consideration you spend on these Boards.

 

Agree!

[bookitdanno]

30 minutes ago, LadyShiva said:

Chengpk75, I wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated your calm, factual posts over the years.  I have opened threads purely due to seeing your user avatar is replying, because I KNOW I will learn something from your replies.

 

You are a very good teacher, and I truly appreciate your time and consideration you spend on these Boards.

Agree!

Thank you very much!

[cruisestitch]

I would love to see a compilation of his posts, perhaps when I get to my home computer where such things are easier to do, I will try to create one.....

 

And as to the fogging, I have seen that done in the theater between performances.  Also between cruises on back to backs.  You can tell by the oily feeling on surfaces.....

[Fouremco]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

With regards to the gap at the bottom of the door...

Having read one of your very recent threads on AC and cabin pressure on another board, I was going to provide a link here. But here you are, saving me the trouble of tracking down that other thread. I always appreciate your expert opinion!

[clojacks]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The stuff being "fogged" in the public spaces is Virkon or similar disinfectant, one of the few agents known to actually be effective against viruses like noro.  As the above poster noted, the crew handling the fogging are exposed to the fog for hours, and at close range to the fogger.  Once the Virkon droplets are on a surface, they are safe to touch, though it does present an "oily" feel.

 

With regards to the gap at the bottom of the door, cabin AC systems are designed (provided the balcony doors are all kept closed) to be at a slightly higher pressure than either the outdoors or the passageway.  The reason for this is so that this air pressure will seek to level itself by escaping out the gap at the passageway door.  This is to prevent smoke entering the cabin from the passageway in a fire, and is also to keep recirculated air from entering the cabin from public spaces.  If you hold a piece of tissue near the gap, it should swing towards the door, showing air flow out of the cabin.

Thank you for your informative post. I do have a question regarding the door gaps. Our door, which directly opens into the elevator landing and stairwell, and the door directly opposite of us, each have a gap of conservatively between a half to full inch. In walking down the halls away from the elevator landing the doors appear to very tight, as in under a quarter inch. Is this common, or is our gap unusual and due to age of the vessel and shifting framework. It is 16 years old.

[hcat]

3 hours ago, LadyShiva said:

Chengpk75, I wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated your calm, factual posts over the years.  I have opened threads purely due to seeing your user avatar is replying, because I KNOW I will learn something from your replies.

 

You are a very good teacher, and I truly appreciate your time and consideration you spend on these Boards.

Another  thank you here!

You are a huge asset to  the Cruise Critic Community

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, clojacks said:

Thank you for your informative post. I do have a question regarding the door gaps. Our door, which directly opens into the elevator landing and stairwell, and the door directly opposite of us, each have a gap of conservatively between a half to full inch. In walking down the halls away from the elevator landing the doors appear to very tight, as in under a quarter inch. Is this common, or is our gap unusual and due to age of the vessel and shifting framework. It is 16 years old.

I haven't seen this, but it may be due to air pressure balancing, as the return air vents for the passageways would normally be in the elevator lobbies, so this would be the lowest air pressure in the passageway, and in order to minimize possible "screaming" air flow under your doors the gap could be increased.  Also, again naturally due to the design of the fresh air supply ducts, your cabins would be near to the first on line, so more air would be delivered, despite the best attempts at balancing using fixed dampers, so you would need more space for that additional air to vent out.

 

Unlike a very old house (mine is 200 this year), settling wouldn't affect a cabin door, as the entire cabin assembly is not really structural to the ship, it is a separate module that is really only fastened to the ship at a limited number of locations.

[3Shelaghs]

I want to jump on and extend my heartfelt thanks! Accurate info disseminates hysteria!

Thank you for all your posts 🙂

[luckyinpa]

if my balcony is closed and yet i still have to put a towel under my hall door to stop the scream, is that because someone has their balcony open?

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

if my balcony is closed and yet i still have to put a towel under my hall door to stop the scream, is that because someone has their balcony open?

Yep.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

chengkp75, thank you very much for your calm, reasoned, and factual response.  There is so much hysteria and misinformation on these boards.  It's nice to encounter a voice of reason.

[PhoenixCruiser]

 
I do not recall ever having a cabin with a huge gap under the door.  Is there something wrong with the door?  Maybe you could get Celebrity to fix the door.

We had a huge gap under our door on the Summit. We were in an accessible Sky Suite. The floors on that ship are so uneven, not sure if the recent renovations caused this or if they have been this way for a while now.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[cruisequeen4ever]

The Constellation did this during our huge noro outbreak a few years ago. They even did it during the day. When ships are sailing from foreign ports, they don’t have to be inspected by the CDC and expose the outbreak to the public. You should see evidence onboard, though, like crew serving you in the buffet, disinfecting of the tables between people, etc. Stay well!