Current Norovirus on some P&O ships

[zap99]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

The clue is in the title Zap 😀
 

Happy and noro don’t tend to come in the same sentence unless it’s I’m happy I’m over noro/ I’m happy i didn’t get noro etc.

It's now about.......oh!....OK.😂

[kalos]

33 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

The clue is in the title Zap 😀
 

Happy and noro don’t tend to come in the same sentence unless it’s I’m happy I’m over noro/ I’m happy i didn’t get noro etc.

 

Just keep washing those hands ,or is it not ,let the immune build up and if needed 

keep taking the tablets ...But wait they hold the virus /bugs inside you ,so let the 

blighters out and if you do then wash those hands ...I think 🙃😉🥴  I give up 🙂

[kalos]

Back on a serious note ,anyone  coming back from the ships, was the levels of 

infection now dropping or still stubbornly  high ?

[zap99]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

Just keep washing those hands ,or is it not ,let the immune build up and if needed 

keep taking the tablets ...But wait they hold the virus /bugs inside you ,so let the 

blighters out and if you do then wash those hands ...I think 🙃😉🥴  I give up 🙂

I carry a paper napkin and only touch things with the paper. Visiting the Gents is........interesting.😇

[Ranchi]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Back on a serious note ,anyone  coming back from the ships, was the levels of 

infection now dropping or still stubbornly  high ?

I’m just back but unfortunately I cannot give reliable information on the infection numbers because…the laundrettes were closed! 

Edited July 4 by Ranchi

[2BACRUISER]

Just to tell you a friend has just got off Ventura and is in hospital with an infection their partner already having contracted Norovirus on the cruise itself. Their words "a crap cruise, rubbish weather, one of us caught Norovirus" 

This is seems to be a serious problem 😕 

Edited July 5 by 2BACRUISER
Typo

[FangedRose]

7 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Just to tell you a friend has just got off Ventura and is in hospital with an infection their partner already having contracted Norovirus on the cruise itself. Their words "a crap cruise, rubbish weather, one of us caught Norovirus" 

This is seems to be a serious problem 😕 

Are They saying P&O were responsible for the weather?

[Cheshire Blue]

7 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Just to tell you a friend has just got off Ventura and is in hospital with an infection their partner already having contracted Norovirus on the cruise itself. Their words "a crap cruise, rubbish weather, one of us caught Norovirus" 

This is seems to be a serious problem 😕 

Is the infection / hospitalisation related to the norovirus ?  

[nosapphire]

The attached link may be of interest (relates only to vessels in US waters).

https://www.cdc.gov/vessel-sanitation/cruise-ship-outbreaks/index.html

(I would be considerably more alarmed about the Silversea E Coli outbreak...)

Norovirus IS a problem, but it is not a new problem, and it certainly is not just P&O suffering - it just seems to be publicised more often.

The below "action" guideline was published in 2007.....

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f0280ed915d74e6227e0f/2007_guideline_norovirus_cruiseships.pdf

[2BACRUISER]

8 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Are They saying P&O were responsible for the weather?

A crass comment given the persons situation.🙄😕 of that's all u take from the post 🙄

8 hours ago, Cheshire Blue said:

Is the infection / hospitalisation related to the norovirus ?  

As I understand it complications arising from. 

 

Edited July 5 by 2BACRUISER
Add info

[FangedRose]

1 hour ago, 2BACRUISER said:

10 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Are They saying P&O were responsible for the weather?

A crass comment given the persons situation.🙄😕 of that's all u take from the post 🙄

What a rude response to a genuine question.

[jeanlyon]

10 hours ago, FangedRose said:

What a rude response to a genuine question.

Agree.  

[kalos]

On 7/5/2024 at 6:00 AM, 2BACRUISER said:

Just to tell you a friend has just got off Ventura and is in hospital with an infection

 

I hope your friend makes a swift recovery and is back home soon .

Once again ,thanks for the update on the situation .

[zap99]

21 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Are They saying P&O were responsible for the weather?

P&O get the blame for most things, so why not.

[Ranchi]

On 7/5/2024 at 6:00 AM, 2BACRUISER said:

Just to tell you a friend has just got off Ventura and is in hospital with an infection their partner already having contracted Norovirus on the cruise itself. Their words "a crap cruise, rubbish weather, one of us caught Norovirus" 

This is seems to be a serious problem 😕 

We thought the weather was fine in the main. OK there was a bit of a shower in Lisbon  but we swam in the sea at two ports and played deck games most days. 
PS we did have an inside cabin & didn’t view the mast cam too often 😂

Edited July 7 by Ranchi

[GangPlankAlf]

I'm not one to praise P&O unless they deserve it but I have to say that, with a few exceptions, they are doing their best to help prevent the spread of Norovirus on the Ventura. My wife and I returned on Saturday 29th June from cruise N414 without catching Norovirus but with Covid! We didn't see that one coming!

 

There are glaring holes in P&O's protocols in my opinion especially where Cruise Cards are concerned as, despite the cards being NFC (Contactless) enabled, waiters, shop staff and many others insist on taking the card, handling it to read the data, and handing it back. I challenged one waiter in a bar as to why he needed to handle my card and he stated that it was the best way to ensure the card was read. I said "isn't there a risk that my card could become infected?" and he said "The crew do not have the virus, it is only the passengers that have it". So, if the previous card he handled had been infected he risked passing the infection on to me!

 

I was told by one reception staff member that all the tablets used on the ship were NFC capable but almost every waiter insisted on handling the card and using the tablet's camera to read the bar code. Surely the point of NFC is to negate the need for anyone else to handle one's card?

 

Cleaning of tables and chairs in bars, the coffee shop and buffet restaurant was hit and miss. The staff appointed to do the cleaning were clearly not happy with their lot and their approach was lacklustre at best. The deck bars such as Breakers Bar on deck 16 were the worst.

 

The MDR room was far better with tables being stripped, new table cloths applied and full cleaning of the chairs etc. The worst was the Costa coffee shop on deck 5. If one's table had been cleaned when one sat down, it was cause for celebration! My wife and I carried our own anti-viral wipes and often had to clean surfaces ourselves. The fact is that the ubiquitous hand gells are useless against the Norovirus family of viruses and despite what some other cruisers seem to think, it is very difficult to build up immunity against Norovirus family because it mutates so rapidly and includes so many strains. Only regular hand washing and the use of bleach based cleaning fluids will have any effect. That said, hand gells are very effective against Covid yet, we still caught it. Considering the number of other passengers coughing and sneezing around the ship, it's not surprising that we caught it.

 

We were surprised at the obvious reduction in the number of crew carrying out general cleaning of handrails, lifts and doors etc. compared to our last fully locked down Ventura cruise. Thankfully we had a cabin steward that cleaned extremely thoroughly and took every precaution to ensure our safety. His name was Austan and he received a well earned tip at the end of the cruise.

 

The hygiene and manners of a lot of the passengers were appalling which forced us to avoid the buffet restaurant except for a few breakfasts, tiny eggs, uncooked bacon and very strange sausages on occasions and only 3 lunches but the latter was mainly due to the appalling food being served. Out of 3 lunches attempted, only 1 was eaten, the others were barely edible due to the poor quality ingredients, Sweet & Sour pork with bone pieces and gristle and a Lamb Stew with so much unrendered fat that it tasted disgusting. The MDR food was much better but, even here, the poor quality ingredients were evident. MDR staff, as usual, wonderful.

 

This was our 20th cruise on the Ventura so we know how it has changed over the years.

 

Edited July 7 by GangPlankAlf

[Funboy]

1 hour ago, GangPlankAlf said:

I'm not one to praise P&O unless they deserve it but I have to say that, with a few exceptions, they are doing their best to help prevent the spread of Norovirus on the Ventura. My wife and I returned on Saturday 29th June from cruise N414 without catching Norovirus but with Covid! We didn't see that one coming!

 

There are glaring holes in P&O's protocols in my opinion especially where Cruise Cards are concerned as, despite the cards being NFC (Contactless) enabled, waiters, shop staff and many others insist on taking the card, handling it to read the data, and handing it back. I challenged one waiter in a bar as to why he needed to handle my card and he stated that it was the best way to ensure the card was read. I said "isn't there a risk that my card could become infected?" and he said "The crew do not have the virus, it is only the passengers that have it". So, if the previous card he handled had been infected he risked passing the infection on to me!

 

I was told by one reception staff member that all the tablets used on the ship were NFC capable but almost every waiter insisted on handling the card and using the tablet's camera to read the bar code. Surely the point of NFC is to negate the need for anyone else to handle one's card?

 

Cleaning of tables and chairs in bars, the coffee shop and buffet restaurant was hit and miss. The staff appointed to do the cleaning were clearly not happy with their lot and their approach was lacklustre at best. The deck bars such as Breakers Bar on deck 16 were the worst.

 

The MDR room was far better with tables being stripped, new table cloths applied and full cleaning of the chairs etc. The worst was the Costa coffee shop on deck 5. If one's table had been cleaned when one sat down, it was cause for celebration! My wife and I carried our own anti-viral wipes and often had to clean surfaces ourselves. The fact is that the ubiquitous hand gells are useless against the Norovirus family of viruses and despite what some other cruisers seem to think, it is very difficult to build up immunity against Norovirus family because it mutates so rapidly and includes so many strains. Only regular hand washing and the use of bleach based cleaning fluids will have any effect. That said, hand gells are very effective against Covid yet, we still caught it. Considering the number of other passengers coughing and sneezing around the ship, it's not surprising that we caught it.

 

We were surprised at the obvious reduction in the number of crew carrying out general cleaning of handrails, lifts and doors etc. compared to our last fully locked down Ventura cruise. Thankfully we had a cabin steward that cleaned extremely thoroughly and took every precaution to ensure our safety. His name was Austan and he received a well earned tip at the end of the cruise.

 

The hygiene and manners of a lot of the passengers were appalling which forced us to avoid the buffet restaurant except for a few breakfasts, tiny eggs, uncooked bacon and very strange sausages on occasions and only 3 lunches but the latter was mainly due to the appalling food being served. Out of 3 lunches attempted, only 1 was eaten, the others were barely edible due to the poor quality ingredients, Sweet & Sour pork with bone pieces and gristle and a Lamb Stew with so much unrendered fat that it tasted disgusting. The MDR food was much better but, even here, the poor quality ingredients were evident. MDR staff, as usual, wonderful.

 

This was our 20th cruise on the Ventura so we know how it has changed over the years.

 

With reference to our recent two cruises on Iona there was little washing of hands, if any, and  the cleaning was hit and miss with food on the floor in both the Quays and buffet. P&O seemed to be disinterested in hygiene.

 

[NewWestwardbound]

1 hour ago, GangPlankAlf said:

I have to say that, with a few exceptions, they are doing their best to help prevent the spread of Norovirus on the Ventura.

I don’t think I would have necessarily drawn that conclusion from your report if you hadn’t said it explicitly. 
 

Were there perhaps other positive measures being taken beyond those you mentioned?

[Eglesbrech]

On 7/6/2024 at 12:12 AM, FangedRose said:

What a rude response to a genuine question.

Actually I read your question as being sarcastic as well as it is so blindingly obviously to everyone that P&O are not in any way responsible for the weather.

 

The problem on here with the written word is that the tone intended, a genuine question from your perspective, can be read differently.

[kalos]

3 hours ago, GangPlankAlf said:

This was our 20th cruise on the Ventura so we know how it has changed over the years.

 

Just to say I appreciate your time and effort replying to this thread and hope you

are well on the way to recovery.

[Dermotsgirl]

4 hours ago, GangPlankAlf said:

That said, hand gells are very effective against Covid yet, we still caught it. Considering the number of other passengers coughing and sneezing around the ship, it's not surprising that we caught it.

 

 

 

Covid is an airborne virus, so the hand gels do next to nothing to protect against Covid.

 

Hope you are recovering well from your illness 

[Funboy]

3 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Covid is an airborne virus, so the hand gels do next to nothing to protect against Covid.

 

Hope you are recovering well from your illness 

And

 

3 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Covid is an airborne virus, so the hand gels do next to nothing to protect against Covid.

 

Hope you are recovering well from your illness 

And if they are no use against Covid and against Norovirus  what use are they?

[Dermotsgirl]

2 hours ago, Funboy said:

And

 

And if they are no use against Covid and against Norovirus  what use are they?

Not much use at all, but people like to think they are doing ‘something’, even though there are things they can do which are likely to be more effective 

[jeanlyon]

On 7/7/2024 at 9:39 PM, Dermotsgirl said:

Not much use at all, but people like to think they are doing ‘something’, even though there are things they can do which are likely to be more effective 

Couldn''t agree more.  Both Covid and Noro are "viruses".  The handgel is anti-bacterial and of no use at all with those two illnesses.

[nosapphire]

When Covid started, the gel used had to have a high alcohol content as apparently this does kill the virus.

Much to my disappointment, the consumption of alcohol is not considered to have the same effect.🙃