Grand Princess Gastro And Covid Outbreak

[Ondine]

The Grand is 25 yrs old. Oldest Princess ship.

I was also grumpy because my cabin was above the Vista lounge and every night there was loud music until 11.30pm.  Sometimes even live bands.  I was not very impressed and rather sleep deprived by the end of 3 weeks.

On her again 8th Jan so hope that the bug is under control by them.

[MMDown Under]

11 minutes ago, Ondine said:

The Grand is 25 yrs old. Oldest Princess ship.

I was also grumpy because my cabin was above the Vista lounge and every night there was loud music until 11.30pm.  Sometimes even live bands.  I was not very impressed and rather sleep deprived by the end of 3 weeks.

On her again 8th Jan so hope that the bug is under control by them.

There was a medium HAL ship which did the most interesting itineraries that I'd have loved to cruise on.  However, it regularly had maintenance issues, so I wouldn't cruise on her.  I used to follow blogs by passengers cruising on her. The big cruiselines don't spend the required level of maintenance on big ships, whilst the small shipping companies do.   

I always check what is above and below my cabin, as loud music at night is so annoying if you go to bed early.  Did you ask if you could change cabins.

You should check out your cabin for 8/1 in advance and request to be shifted in unsatisfactory.  

Hope it is covid and flu free. 

[yarramar]

Who'da thought that a floating box with 4000 people aboard could possibly be a health risk?

[getting older slowly]

well I suppose one will make the best of  it,  as long as they dont run out of wine....

 

but really vacating cadins from 9.30am to 3pm is not really going to fly on sea days

 

sorry but I would want compenstion for not being able to use one's suite,

as we use it a hide away for reading, looking out at the wake, a little zzzz  after a long lunch

 

well after ths cruise we have a couple of shorter ones on Cunard before returning to the Grand...

 

Cheers Don

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

The outbreak is ongoing despite several deep cleans. Last deep clean was in Auckland last Friday. According to posts I have seen all passengers had to be out of their cabins from 9.30am to 3pm while the cabin areas were deep cleaned. Public areas were done overnight.

There really isn't a magic deep clean that happens.

It is ongoing CDC enhanced cleaning protocols that are conducted continually. These include the higher concentration & frequency of cleaning of touch points, and others mentioned such as no buffet self-service, salt & pepper sachets, individual condiment portions, supervised washing & sanititising stations and much more.

 

Sad thing is though that the ship doesn't catch it, and they don't deep clean the next batch of passengers. I would think Grand must be more affected than the other ships because there are higher levels of gastro in Melbourne than is currently in Sydney. There is also the potential of it running through the crew, literally, and that means sanitised surfaces don't stay that way very long.

[MicCanberra]

45 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Sad thing is though that the ship doesn't catch it, and they don't deep clean the next batch of passengers. I would think Grand must be more affected than the other ships because there are higher levels of gastro in Melbourne than is currently in Sydney.

Are you inferring that Melbourne has more culture than Sydney?

[Flickit]

12 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

Princess boarding in Melbourne has been delayed until 4pm ( on Wednesday )

 

The itinerary suggests it's due in Melbourne on Wed 29th, arrive 7am, depart 5pm...

 

Looking at the trackers, they're all suggesting it'll arrive at 10am on the 28th, Tuesday?, a day early...  Odd... 

 

 ETA:November 27, 23:00 (UTC I assume)

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9104005

 

ETA: Nov 27, 23:00 (in 12 hours) (UTC I assume)

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9104005

 

Reported ETA: 2023-11-28 10:00 LT (UTC +11)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:370965/mmsi:310327000/imo:9104005/vessel:GRAND_PRINCESS

 

It's position suggests it will probably arrive tomorrow also... 

 

Edit: from the Roll-Call, they say it's 'racing' to Melbourne to avoid the storm:

 

Hmmm...  https://www.windy.com/?-41.533,158.247,6

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Flickit

[arxcards]

A lot of those trackers lock in early based purely on port entries of the time. On some lists they also have UTC clock times, which will place them a day earlier.

 

Whichever way, those times will rarely adjust to match any late schedule changes. Take a look at Pacific Adventure on those tracking sites, and it will still list NZ ports. These are purely based on an advertised itinerary. Luminosa was in Cairns today because Rabaul was skipped for operational reasons - it still shows their intended itinerary. 

 

The most accurate is to look at the relevant port daily movement pages.

[arxcards]

Whichever way, it does appear that Grand Princess is cranking it (21 kn) with the aim of getting in early.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Flickit said:

 

The itinerary suggests it's due in Melbourne on Wed 29th, arrive 7am, depart 5pm...

 

Looking at the trackers, they're all suggesting it'll arrive at 10am on the 28th, Tuesday?, a day early...  Odd... 

 

 ETA:November 27, 23:00 (UTC I assume)

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9104005

 

ETA: Nov 27, 23:00 (in 12 hours) (UTC I assume)

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9104005

 

Reported ETA: 2023-11-28 10:00 LT (UTC +11)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:370965/mmsi:310327000/imo:9104005/vessel:GRAND_PRINCESS

 

It's position suggests it will probably arrive tomorrow also... 

 

Edit: from the Roll-Call, they say it's 'racing' to Melbourne to avoid the storm:

 

Hmmm...  https://www.windy.com/?-41.533,158.247,6

 

Yeah, what storm. It is going to get a bit windy on Wednesday, but Bass Strait doesn't look nasty at all. Then, they aren't about to do a "deep clean" just for the sake of an opportunity of poor weather.

[MMDown Under]

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

A lot of those trackers lock in early based purely on port entries of the time. On some lists they also have UTC clock times, which will place them a day earlier.

 

Whichever way, those times will rarely adjust to match any late schedule changes. Take a look at Pacific Adventure on those tracking sites, and it will still list NZ ports. These are purely based on an advertised itinerary. Luminosa was in Cairns today because Rabaul was skipped for operational reasons - it still shows their intended itinerary. 

 

The most accurate is to look at the relevant port daily movement pages.

Missing Rabaul would be a big disappointment for many passengers.

[MicCanberra]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yeah, what storm. It is going to get a bit windy on Wednesday, but Bass Strait doesn't look nasty at all. Then, they aren't about to do a "deep clean" just for the sake of an opportunity of poor weather.

The storm has hit Adelaide overnight, so perhaps there is something in it.

[MicCanberra]

Marine tracking has her arriving this morning at 10am and she is in Bass Strait just out side (20nm) of Port Phillip Bay.

[possum52]

Melbourne Ports Ships' Movements webpage has the Grand arriving at midday today - it is updated every hour. 

[Kellyansapansa]

We disembarked the Grand in Melbourne on the 15th. At that point the Noro outbreak had been declared over, but I caught it on board with symptoms appearing late on the 14th. Their idea of a deep clean is very different to mine - I spent several hours with my head very close to the toilet bowl which had a lovely thick ring of black mould under the rim. 🤢

[LittleFish1976]

They ought to hyper-chlorinate the pools and close them for a couple of days while all the bugs in there die, for starters.

 

That and a good clean out of the galleys.

 

I always shudder when they put the big menu down on the serving platter and cutlery that's already on the table in front of me. Who knows what's living on the cover of those things.

[MicCanberra]

There are so many ways to catch it.

[bazzaw]

I can never understand why, when a ship has say 3000 passengers, only 300 get Noro during an outbreak . Any ideas??

[Aus Traveller]

8 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

I can never understand why, when a ship has say 3000 passengers, only 300 get Noro during an outbreak . Any ideas??

Maybe once prevention measures are put in place such as extra cleaning of handrails etc and removal of items that multiple people touch (salt/pepper shakers and drinks menus), few people get infected. Usually the numbers decrease after the Code Red measures are implemented. Another point could be that noro affects some people more than others. Some people might have it and not be very ill and therefore don't report it.

[LittleFish1976]

It is also to an extent airborne. And you can be contagious for 48 hours after your symptoms stop making it very difficult to control the spread through a crowd who feel well enough to leave the cabin and mingle.

[bazzaw]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe once prevention measures are put in place such as extra cleaning of handrails etc and removal of items that multiple people touch (salt/pepper shakers and drinks menus), few people get infected. Usually the numbers decrease after the Code Red measures are implemented. Another point could be that noro affects some people more than others. Some people might have it and not be very ill and therefore don't report it.

I have to wonder whether it is indicative of the numbers washing their hands and those who do not?? 

[MicCanberra]

Some people have better immunity as well.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, bazzaw said:

I have to wonder whether it is indicative of the numbers washing their hands and those who do not?? 

Washing hands is the most important preventative measure against Noro. However, washing your hands before going into the dining room or the buffet doesn't fully protect you. If you touch anything  (salt/pepper shakers, sugar containers, serving utensils in the buffet or even your chair) there is the chance that it has traces of the virus from the last person who handled it. When you pick up your breadroll, you transfer the virus to your body. Cruise lines try to minimise this problem by removing salt/pepper and sugar containers and even drinks menus and having staff serve food in the buffet. I understand that after P&O set up a buffet where all the food is served onto your plate, they virtually eliminated noro from their ships.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, bazzaw said:

I can never understand why, when a ship has say 3000 passengers, only 300 get Noro during an outbreak . Any ideas??

Some people are more prone to getting the ships that others are. By that, I mean a recent bout of a similar gastro bug will give you some degree of resistance.

Those that can stay out of the buffet have better odds,

Those that use the stairs have better odds,

Those that can stay out of pools and the insides of tenders,

Those that wash their hands regularly and properly etc.

 

300 is a big number in any terms, which requires something very contagious, and likely a few that have forgotten how this all gets shared. 

[boeckli]

3 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Washing hands is the most important preventative measure against Noro. However, washing your hands before going into the dining room or the buffet doesn't fully protect you. If you touch anything  (salt/pepper shakers, sugar containers, serving utensils in the buffet or even your chair) there is the chance that it has traces of the virus from the last person who handled it. When you pick up your breadroll, you transfer the virus to your body. Cruise lines try to minimise this problem by removing salt/pepper and sugar containers and even drinks menus and having staff serve food in the buffet. I understand that after P&O set up a buffet where all the food is served onto your plate, they virtually eliminated noro from their ships.

 

My basic rule these days is to only eat food with cutlery, not my hands (i.e. no more bread rolls and I will even eat pizza and pastries with knife and fork).

Keep your hands off your face and most definitely don't lick your fingers!