Gastrointestinal Illness, Norovirus, etc.

[CRUISNKINDOFGUY21]

Has anyone out there ever experienced a gastrointestinal illness, norovirus, or food poisening on a cruise ship before? Please share your experience, Date, Cruise Line and Ship. Thank you!

[JacquelineRAM]

I myself have never experienced any of the above, but I narrowly avoided it recently... I was on the Dawn Princess back in March, and the during the next sailing after I disembarked apparently the ship experienced a norovirus breakout which affected a large amount of passengers and a small amount of staff.

[NRWO]

Generally it's a fall/winter deal and has been around forever.. it gets a lot more play now because it's fashionable for the media to portray cruises as being more dangerous than say.. Iraq. If you are vigilant about washing your hands and carrying around sanitizer, chances are you'll be ok.

[Ms Belvedere]

Has anyone out there ever experienced a gastrointestinal illness, norovirus, or food poisening on a cruise ship before? Please share your experience, Date, Cruise Line and Ship. Thank you!

I have never gotten any illness on any cruise ship, but I DO get gastro-intestinal illness as I debark the ship and think about going back to work. Does that count? :p :p :p

Ms B

[seamama1]

Right on NWRO! The so-call norovirus is so common in everday life. I'm sure we have all experienced the "stomach flu" which is what it is; nasty and uncomfortable for a coupla days and highly contagious. Incubation period is 3-7 days.

 

I agree, wash your hands frequently - most especially ashore. I use the hand santizers all the time. While it doesn't kill the norovirus itself, it takes care of a lot of other nasty stuff..

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

I totally lost my voice during our Conquest cruise in April. This is the first time in my entire life that I couldn't talk above a whisper....my husband seemed to enjoy the second half of our cruise...:rolleyes:

I dunno...we sat out on the deck for the big deck party...guess the night air & ocean breezes got to me??

But, in answer to the OP...I make sure everybody has a small bottle of hand santitizer & a few WETWIPES in their pockets & so far no bad illnesses.

[rburns44]

Am curious if flu shots seem help not get it or is it not the same kind. Anyone know?

 

Becky

[Lurkyloo]

Am curious if flu shots seem help not get it or is it not the same kind. Anyone know?

 

Becky

 

Can't hurt! We get ours every year anyway, and no, we have never been sick on board! ;)

[zductive]

Last year on the Grand Princess while in the mediterranean, we were suddenly not allowed to come into contact with plates, silver and food in the buffet area. It was not meant to be nice, the crew would force your hand away from the food if you tried to pick up something like a muffin or banana. My guess is that there was some type of outbreak starting up. After 2 days, all of the crew vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

 

One of the princess ships had passengers confined to quarters last month because of an outbreak. It can happen and its not pretty. Be careful, and you will be fine.

[shuttle-c]

About three years ago, we were on a (2) week land-cruise tour to Alaska.

Quite a few people on our tour came down with a "cold" flu, fever, etc.

They had signs in Denali asking people to wash their hands thoroughly.

Needless to say, there were a lot of coughing, feverish people including my husband. He was in bed quite a bit of the last leg of the cruise.

It was a good thing it was on the cruise where he could go to the cabin.

[Jolimont]

Has anyone out there ever experienced a gastrointestinal illness, norovirus, or food poisening on a cruise ship before? Please share your experience, Date, Cruise Line and Ship. Thank you!

We did, on our Princess cruise (see tagline) and we got locked up for 2 days over it. It wasn't any fun, you may be able to find old posts of mine on the issue if you search.

[BND]

Am curious if flu shots seem help not get it or is it not the same kind. Anyone know?

 

Becky

 

Flu shots only work against the flu that is in that vaccine. The flu shot covers specific respiratory flu viruses. Gastrointestinal and norovirus are not the same and not respiratory. In fact, you can catch anything anywhere. Wash your hands regularly and that's about the best you can do since you can't control much else. These stomach bugs spread anywhere. They're not confined to cruise ships and I wish the media would quit focusing on them. ANywhere people are in close contact there is going to be an easier method to spread illness. College campuses, nursery schools workplaces, hotels and yes, cruise ships.

[elspeth]

DH and I both got Norwalk virus on our first cruise. CDC said they traced it to contaiminated ice, so the fact we washed our hands didn't help much. Sick for 24 hours as was 20% of the ship. Carnival gave us our money back for the cruise. They were very nice about it. No problems since.

[seamama1]

We did, on our Princess cruise (see tagline) and we got locked up for 2 days over it. It wasn't any fun, you may be able to find old posts of mine on the issue if you search.

 

"Locked up" is a little harsh, there. You were quarantined. This ailment is extremely contagious and they want you to stay in your cabin so you won't spread it around.

 

Makes sense to me.:cool:

[nagster]

After my third cruise in dec 05 I started feeling ill on the drive home, it went downhill form there. The last time I was that ill was when I was a kid and the local water got infected with giardia. I never got it DX but after two days went to the ER to get some fluids. It was pretty brutal. I think it was maybe the big lizard thing I petted in Costa maya or maybe the soda that I didnt' wipe down there (had water on it) I suppose it could have been anything.

[Jolimont]

"Locked up" is a little harsh, there. You were quarantined. This ailment is extremely contagious and they want you to stay in your cabin so you won't spread it around.

 

Makes sense to me.:cool:

Try spending 2 days in 150sqf with 3 people, maybe then it'll feel like being locked up to you too. The room steward was on the lookout for us, once I stuck my head out (to see if the food had been delivered) and he pounced on me saying you're not going anywhere, are you? The English doctor also put us on standard British sick food: boiled chicken breast, boiled vegetables, and broth. We could not get room service to send up anything else. It sucked, k? No other way to describe it.

[missyal]

Because the cruise lines are so quick to confine sick people to their cabins, I have ritual I go through each time we board for the first time. I bring a can of Lysol spray and some medical grade sanitizing wipes and gloves and I sanitize our cabin myself. Only takes a few minutes and to me it's well worth it. I spray everything and let the mist air dry on surfaces, especially in the bathroom. I spray heavily around the toilet area and sink. I wipe door knobs, light switches, t.v. remotes, and drawer ahndles, etc. Call me paranoid but I'm on vacation and don't want to take any chances. I also use the sanitizer on the sip and wash my hands often.

Maybe this will help someone else.:D

 

Missyal

[BND]

Because the cruise lines are so quick to confine sick people to their cabins, I have ritual I go through each time we board for the first time. I bring a can of Lysol spray and some medical grade sanitizing wipes and gloves and I sanitize our cabin myself. Only takes a few minutes and to me it's well worth it. I spray everything and let the mist air dry on surfaces, especially in the bathroom. I spray heavily around the toilet area and sink. I wipe door knobs, light switches, t.v. remotes, and drawer ahndles, etc. Call me paranoid but I'm on vacation and don't want to take any chances. I also use the sanitizer on the sip and wash my hands often.

Maybe this will help someone else.:D

 

Missyal

 

That really makes little difference since you will be handling railings, serving pieces, eating food handled by others and just generally touching what everyone else has touched. I've never done any of what you do on any vacation and have never gotten sick. You would have to spray and wipe down every surface you come in contact with. I just think it is a waste of time and getting sick on a cruise is probably out of your control. Washing your own hands is the best thing you can do and the only really effective thing because you can't control everyone else. You can't wipe down every surface on board the ship and most likely will catch something outside of your cabin if you do get sick.

[missyal]

BND--We are all entitled to our opinions. Sorry you missed my point, but I understand yours.

All I was trying to say without being gross is, do you want to stay in a room where someone who may have had this virus did their "getting sick" all over the bathroom, etc.? I don't. Of course you can catch anything anywhere. I'm a nurse and I'm exposed to stuff all day long but if I can do something to minimize it, why not?

'Nuf said.

 

Missyal

[BND]

The point of my post is you can only do so much and your room is not likely going to be the cause of any illness. That's great that you're a nurse, but has little to do with the point of this thread. It still make almost no difference plus the fact by using all those anti bacterials, you are adding to the problem of "super bugs". The percentage of rooms that has had someone with norovirus actually sequestered in it is very, very small. They also clean the rooms and you'd probably be able to tell if someone threw up all over the bathroom don't you think? You're more than likely going to catch an illness from being around other guests onboard, not from touching a door knob in your room. The life of most viruses on dry surfaces isn't that long and more than likely it'll take someone on the current trip being sick to infect you. Also according to the CDC:

 

Among the 232 outbreaks of norovirus illness reported to the CDC from July 1997 to June 2000, common settings for outbreaks include restaurants (36 percent), nursing homes (23 percent), schools (13 percent), and vacation settings or cruise ships (10 percent).

 

10% of all reported? Once again the media has done it's job on the cruise industry.

[missyal]

Wow--you're not so good at catching other people's points are you? Of course me being a nurse has nothing to do with the thread. Once again, all I was trying to say was I know what it's like to be exposed to germs because of my work. Using "all those anti bacterials" has never been proven to contribute to any "super bug". My guess is, you are the type who do not use "those anti bacterials".

Your first response to my post was strong and I tried to clarify it for you but then you came on strong again in your second reply. Sorry if you have some chip on your shoulder, but you don't need to take it out on me. As my post said, I just thought it might help somebody. I didn't need to get slammed by you.

And just in case you missed the other point, 'nuff said means ENOUGH SAID!

 

Missyal