Norovirus on Ventura?

[Selbourne]

On our last cruise an old chap was calling a lift with the base of his walking stick, and he and his wife thought it was amusing. I was walking past rather than using the lift, or I might have pointed out that the base of that stick may have earlier been on the floor of a toilet 🤢

[Interestedcruisefan]

One slight advantage of the newer ships is all the extra automated doors they have compared to the older ships

 

I realise it doesnt cover everything but can only help

 

One question I have is how do they know the illness is norovirus?

 

Do they test for it?

 

Could it also or alternatively be Covid?

Edited November 22, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[daiB]

8 hours ago, davecttr said:

I

As i have plenty of OBC the Glasshouse is a good idea as is room service. My remaining problem is I like playing Blackjack and it won't be just me touching the chips. There used to be a hand gel that killed noro type virus but it was found that if you bathed your hands daily for about 20 years in the active ingredient you stood a risk of getting skin cancer.

 

I am on freedom dining but the buffet will be OK in the morning because i am usually first or second in. I also wash my hands on arrival and take some of the paper towels to handle the serving utensils. i will also go to the supermarket at Southampton and buy some decaff tea bags to ensure a supply

I have been in the casino every night, when at sea, for the past 22 years and I have never had NV. I also do not recall people being missing from the tables either. At least on BJ you don't touch the cards.

[Palaceman]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

On our last cruise an old chap was calling a lift with the base of his walking stick, and he and his wife thought it was amusing. I was walking past rather than using the lift, or I might have pointed out that the base of that stick may have earlier been on the floor of a toilet 🤢

And he's probably the sort of person that then puts his walking stick on a table in the buffet together with his wife's handbag!! Yuk!!!

[Guest]

I don’t know why P&O don’t at least try to enforce handwashing like the American cruise lines. As annoying as “Washy washy” man is at the entrance to the buffet, at least it prompts people. And then the staff member with the sanitiser catches the ones who escape the sinks. 
 

Maybe Americans are more prone to sue the cruise line for catching Norovirus so they have to put all reasonable attempts to prompt cleaning as possible 😂

 

It doesnt stop those who cough into their hands after they have washed. Maybe putting hand sanitizer machines nearer the food stations would help. 

[Fionboard]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

One slight advantage of the newer ships is all the extra automated doors they have compared to the older ships

 

I realise it doesnt cover everything but can only help

 

One question I have is how do they know the illness is norovirus?

 

Do they test for it?

 

Could it also or alternatively be Covid?

Because symptoms of Noro are entirely different to Covid! 

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Because symptoms of Noro are entirely different to Covid! 

I've seen another recent thread where a cruiser thought they had noro on the ship and were told by their gp they actually had covid when they  left the ship

 

Or the opposite way round? 

 

I strongly suspect that the cleaning is probably happening for both and it's probably more palatable right now to say it's for noro

 

You watch how often this keeps happening next few months

[Fionboard]

16 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I've seen another recent thread where a cruiser thought they had noro on the ship and were told by their gp they actually had covid when they  left the ship

 

Or the opposite way round? 

 

I strongly suspect that the cleaning is probably happening for both and it's probably more palatable right now to say it's for noro

 

You watch how often this keeps happening next few months

15 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I've seen another recent thread where a cruiser thought they had noro on the ship and were told by their gp they actually had covid when they  left the ship

 

Or the opposite way round? 

 

I strongly suspect that the cleaning is probably happening for both and it's probably more palatable right now to say it's for noro

 

You watch how often this keeps happening next few months

Think the medics on board know the difference between the two. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

44 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Think the medics on board know the difference between the two. 

So the medics only suggest cleaning the ship when it's noro and covid doesn't concern them?

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

So the medics only suggest cleaning the ship when it's noro and covid doesn't concern them?

More or less, yes.  Covid is airborne whereas norovirus is by touch.  Deep cleaning and sanitation processes can eradicate noro but not covid. Noro is easily passed by touch whereas we now know covid isn't.

 

The new variant does cause s&d but it is not violent or transmitted in the same way as the noro or other sickness bugs.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Ps my mistake before. I remember now it was a passenger who thought they had been food poisoned on board were told it was covid when they went to GP

 

On a recent P and O cruise

[Megabear2]

7 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Ps my mistake before. I remember now it was a passenger who thought they had been food poisoned on board were told it was covid when they went to GP

 

On a recent P and O cruise

Correct.  Believe me you'd know only too easily if you had a gastric/noro virus.  It is incredibly quick and violent.

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Correct.  Believe me you'd know only too easily if you had a gastric/noro virus.  It is incredibly quick and violent.

Yes doesn't sound pleasant at all

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes doesn't sound pleasant at all

Horrible experience.  As you like figures, have a look here

 

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

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

13 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Horrible experience.  As you like figures, have a look here

 

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

 

 

I actually came across this before

 

Like I say will be interesting if covid numbers start getting reported in amongst the rest

 

As in the Australian report above

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[terrierjohn]

40 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

So the medics only suggest cleaning the ship when it's noro and covid doesn't concern them?

Stop being so controversial ICF, more intensive cleaning is already being done to try to prevent covid from spreading if someone falls ill on board, but I believe Noro is deemed much more infectious, so extra cleaning is recomended to try and stop it from spreading.

[Megabear2]

Just now, Interestedcruisefan said:

I actually came across this before

 

Like I say will be interesting if covid numbers start getting reported in amongst the rest

 

 

They won't be.  CDC and the equivalent aren't interested. The tough guys are the Aussies and they haven’t been phased by the "covid like " illness either.

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

They won't be.  CDC and the equivalent aren't interested. The tough guys are the Aussies and they haven’t been phased by the "covid like " illness either.

I thought the Aussies were "phased" by covid, some of their lockdowns were so severe they made ours seem like Downing street parties,🤣

[showingdiva]

Norovirus is running rampant round hospitals up and down the country at the moment.   Like the latter cases during the covid pandemic, it mainly seems to be patients with co-morbidities arriving with it, rather than contracting it whilst there, but it's horrendous to contain.    Our Reactive cleaning teams have been very busy these last few weeks.

 

With cruise ships, it may sound like all too familiar advice, but try to only use the cabin toilet, keep washing hands with soap and water (because alcohol gel isn't going to help here) and don't touch your face.

Edited November 22, 2023 by showingdiva

[kalos]

10 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

So the medics only suggest cleaning the ship when it's noro and covid doesn't concern them?

 

I think it's fair to say it does concern them and all who work onboard ,it's their home .

We used to come out of the MDR in the morning and their were two guys without fail with their buckets and rags ,cleaning all the atrium rails and the Red Bar where we would sit for a while ,they would come and clean all tables and bar surface in there . A officer would come along and check their work .

That shows me they do care and all they ask in return is cover those coughs and sneezes up and keep washing your hands and use the gels provided .

 

[Dermotsgirl]

The cleaning of surfaces is to try to prevent the spread of viruses like Norovirus that are spread on surfaces.

 

But it will do hardly anything to stop the spread of airborne viruses like Covid, flu and colds.

 

In order to try to protect against airborne viruses, the action to take is still the same as it ever was, things like distancing and masking.

 

But, there is no appetite for this from the cruiselines or passengers.

 

[FangedRose]

13 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Think the medics on board know the difference between the two. 

The people who confused covid and noro didn't contact the medics on board.  Instead they came on here to complain that they contracted noro from seafood served in the mdr, and then came down with covid.

[FangedRose]

11 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

That may be how it was reported but I would be amazed if that is what the health officer said, if the 8 people had covid like symptoms they would have been tested and it would have been confirmed or not as covid.

There was a nasty cough on Aurora towards the end of our Aurora cruise, all six of us had it on our dinner table, that was clearly a covid- like infection, none of us tested positive for covid.

I came back from a cruise in September 2019 "proper poorly". Six months later when they were listing symptoms of covid I was ticking each one of them off on my fingers. Going by that I had Covid months before most people had even heard of it. Two years later when I had confirmed covid I barely noticed.

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

I came back from a cruise in September 2019 "proper poorly". Six months later when they were listing symptoms of covid I was ticking each one of them off on my fingers. Going by that I had Covid months before most people had even heard of it. Two years later when I had confirmed covid I barely noticed.

To a degree that was one of the problems with covid, we will never know how many people had it and never knew, when we got it our symptoms were very mild and if we were not testing to see my MiL who was in a home we would never have known. I have had much worse summer colds.

 

In 30 years of cruising neither of us have had noro even though it has been rife on some of our cruises. I think it helped that I worked in the pharma industry and had a grasp of how these things work and took the best precautions we could. However basic hygiene is a good starting point. In some respects we were lucky as we didn't need to use lifts, hardly ever used the buffet and could walk up and down the stairs without needing to hold on, however we are getting to the age where we now need to consider these things and have a plan b for dealing with it as best we can.

[FangedRose]

2 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

To a degree that was one of the problems with covid, we will never know how many people had it and never knew, when we got it our symptoms were very mild and if we were not testing to see my MiL who was in a home we would never have known. I have had much worse summer colds.

 

In 30 years of cruising neither of us have had noro even though it has been rife on some of our cruises. I think it helped that I worked in the pharma industry and had a grasp of how these things work and took the best precautions we could. However basic hygiene is a good starting point. In some respects we were lucky as we didn't need to use lifts, hardly ever used the buffet and could walk up and down the stairs without needing to hold on, however we are getting to the age where we now need to consider these things and have a plan b for dealing with it as best we can.

I too have never had noro (though only 20 years). Very few, mild 'gastro-intestinal symptoms' occasionally and, nothing I couldn't blame on myself anyway! Use knuckles instead of fingertips on lifts, handwashing, gel etc.