Gastroenteritus on Boudicca

[trinitytrees]

Just returned from 13 night cruise on Boudicca, by the second day people gone down with gastroeneteritus. lots of emergency measures put in place, closed self service buffet (to waiter only use) closed swimex and hot tubs, closed casinos. and removed salt pepper pots and milk jug replaced with sachets. advised to only use toilet in own cabin. they were wiping and cleaning sanitizing the whole time, made it 24 hour medical cover and brought extra doctor, people confined to cabins and yet partners allowed to leave cabins. everwhere continously wiped down. however for me the knock on effect is having returned home this morning, I have chest infection and bad asthma, as a result of inhaling all chemicals, just been to see emergency doctor and put on steroids.

whilst i know these things happen, what has infurriated me is to read on another forum that Fo sent out letters to people on a 3 day cruise prior to our cruise stating that they had gastoenteritis on board...............why oh why were we not informed?

beware anyone traveling one person our our cruise was airlifted by RAF rescue holicopter. take care....

[KenQE2]

Was on the news today: something about somebody ill being transferred off the Ocean Countess and getting dropped into the sea.

[1160451]

Also just returned from the same cruise.

From day one 2 of our party noticed tight chests and and increased use of inhalers. On return 2 of us have real bad coughs.

Soon as we boarded I commented that I had never seen as many hand sanitisers around the ship and suggested we stay out of lifts and public toilets as I suspected there was a problem.

But what do FO do cancel? They are caught between a rock and a hard place.

The Boudicca has a reputation for illness, or so it appears, so I would be interested to see the true statistics.

Still had a good cruise, but the pressure the Dinning Staff are under now reflects the interaction between them and the passengers.

Ken you refer to a different incident on another Ship. Our passenger was airlifted, the poor lady on the other ship was dropped into the sea during an evacuation.

I was a touch upset at the cavalier attitude of some passengers during the the Airlift of a sick passenger on our cruise. It almost felt like a part of the entertainment instead of witnessing a possible life or death incident.

I do hope all is well with the passenger, I also hope everybody who went down with the noro virus is recovered

We will not travel on Boudicca again, as the layout of the ship does not compare with say the Breamar, but that's just our personal opinion, will not stop us going with another FO ship.

[KenQE2]

Ken you refer to a different incident on another Ship. Our passenger was airlifted, the poor lady on the other ship was dropped into the sea during an evacuation.
I'm aware of that, it seemed topical to mention it. Ocean Countess was on my list of possibles at one point.

[amberline]

We were told by members of crew on Friday that the "medical Emergency" was in fact a drill and it was two members of the crew that were airlifted off.

[KenQE2]

It's a distant memory now, but I *think* we had an air-lift from the QE2 (anti-penultimate cruise). I guess that might have been a drill too.

[tring]

Bad news about Boudicca, hope all is OK soon. They seem to be doing their best to sort it though

Regarding the Ocean Countess incident, it was reported on Cruise Junkie site early April and that said the woman had fallen into the water in late March (29th I think), and was being transferred off the ship because of internal bleeding. It then said she was then tranferred to Hospital in Norway and was stable (they were something like 3 miles off shore).

Cruise Critic main page had a link to a report of her death a couple of days ago and that said she had a brain scan and heart scan in Norway and it was thought there was something wrong with her kidneys. She was apparently transferred to England last Wednesday (the day before she died).

The reports suggest that the boats were not locked together when she fell and they had suddenly moved appart by several feet, which caused her and the stretcher to be dropped. Also the TV said the transfer was done by paramedics. It is a terrible thing to have happened and I am not condoning it in any way, but it could well be the rescue team at fault rather than the cruise ship and I also wonder what her death was due to, as it was 3.5 weeks after she fell into the water and there must have been something pretty bad causing the internal bleeding to begin with!!!

It seems strange that it took so long before the news hit our TV.

[KenQE2]

Thanks for the ins and outs, yes it is odd.

[1160451]

We were told by members of crew on Friday that the "medical Emergency" was in fact a drill and it was two members of the crew that were airlifted off.

Hi Sue

Think that could be spot on, as I was a bit surprised that the crew winch man waved to everybody when the first winch went down then when they left.

How was your cruise hope you missed the noro, not too big turnout for the western night was there.

In fact on the Carib'n night we felt as though we were inconveniencing some of the staff by trying to get in the spirit.

Take it easy.

[andy mac]

re the ocean countess inciedent.
we were on boudicca june last year when similar inciedent of passenger being taken off ship, this happened off fish gaurd when gentleman transfered from boudicca to lifeboat,in this case captain jan thommessen stopped the ship and everything passed without inciedent.
on t.v. other night passenger on ocean countess who eyewitnessed inciedent said that ship did not stop and was still moving when acciedent happened.
now i have no knowlege of how to handle a ship , should ship have stopped,i don't know,was there some reason it kept moving, surely it
was nothing to do with not being late for next port,if so passenger safety
should surley come first.
as i say i have no knowlege of how to handle an inciedent like this.

[amberline]

Hi Sue

Think that could be spot on, as I was a bit surprised that the crew winch man waved to everybody when the first winch went down then when they left.

How was your cruise hope you missed the noro, not too big turnout for the western night was there.

In fact on the Carib'n night we felt as though we were inconveniencing some of the staff by trying to get in the spirit.

Take it easy.

Hi, I have put a post on about our experience, it was not the best time we have had but at least we didn't get novo,
Take care

[trinitytrees]

Hello all, re the cruise I was interested to hear the comments, first that others had developed bad chests/coughs mine is awful. The steroids hopefully will kick in soon. but i am left with mixed feelings re the Raf rescue, whilst I would not wish for anyone to be sick enough to need airlifting, to hear that it may have possibly be a drill makes me feel angry. we had been sitting around the pool so I need not be inside ingesting smells, when we were moved, this of course last day of cruise, and pools etc only just reopened, and all inconvenience of noro virus measures, surely if it was a drill was to say the least very bad timing. yet I agree I to that I found it odd the winch man waving.....felt inappropriate if someone so sick.

we too enjoyed braemar more, layout suited us better too...........

I worked out who one post is from, nice people we spoke to on cruise, lovely outfits on all themed nights, arrow through head etc, but amberline you have me beat!

[amberline]

Hello all, re the cruise I was interested to hear the comments, first that others had developed bad chests/coughs mine is awful. The steroids hopefully will kick in soon. but i am left with mixed feelings re the Raf rescue, whilst I would not wish for anyone to be sick enough to need airlifting, to hear that it may have possibly be a drill makes me feel angry. we had been sitting around the pool so I need not be inside ingesting smells, when we were moved, this of course last day of cruise, and pools etc only just reopened, and all inconvenience of noro virus measures, surely if it was a drill was to say the least very bad timing. yet I agree I to that I found it odd the winch man waving.....felt inappropriate if someone so sick.

we too enjoyed braemar more, layout suited us better too...........

I worked out who one post is from, nice people we spoke to on cruise, lovely outfits on all themed nights, arrow through head etc, but amberline you have me beat!

Hi, on country and western night we were the gambler in the bowler hat with 2 dance hall dollies, I was the one in blue with the auburn wig and black feathers!!

[trinitytrees]

got you!! thanks for that we did speak to you, great outfits even though you appeared to lose some feathers........

[cannockfrodo]

As I undertand the medical evac was NOT a drill if it was Sam was unaware of it.
I understand it was because a woman on 2nd sitting had a stroke, NOTHING to do with the illness that was bought aboard by some thoughtless,selfish people.
By the way I was one of the stooges who played the Reverse game and did rather well in the quizzes.

[1160451]

Hi cannaock.

intereting about the airlift, I hope the lady recovers.

My wife was one of the stooges as well, tall, slim with short spikey hair got knocked out second I think. It was a good laugh if you were sat watching.

I agree in principle about the noro and passangers but it does seem the Boudicca has more than its fair share of selfish passengers.

Take it easy and well quizzed:)

[trinitytrees]

Just read on another thread that the Boudicca had 75% of people ill on march 20th sail.........it has really put me off the Boudicca. we go on another cruise next month will be interesting to see how that ship compares, we tried FO after using biggger ships and found it lovely (Braemar) dispite very bad weather and seas in August.
My hubby now also in bed with bad chest, we need holiday to get over the holiday.

hope the lady gets better soon if it is right re her having a stroke... obviously in a more serious health condition than any of us.

I dont know what the answer is with the regards the Boudicca......

[cannockfrodo]

I do recall you pair yes, you both danced a lot every night and way better than we did even after our lessons.
I know it's easy to say we had a good time when we didn't catch the bug but we did.

[1160451]

I do recall you pair yes, you both danced a lot every night and way better than we did even after our lessons.
I know it's easy to say we had a good time when we didn't catch the bug but we did.


Hi cannock,

Cruising, dancing, malt whiskey and good company thats all we need, plus an upgrade to a balcony but no luck yet ..........

I think i might have said it before but there is no such thing as a bad cruise just some better than others.

Overall like you we had a great time on the crusie, but often people never mention all the great things, just the bits that could be improved.

As i said before what do we expect Fred to do cancel the crusie or try and contain the problem.
I think Fred make a good effort at containing the problem myself.
Ok we didn't get the bug, but not sitting in the jaccuzi, no self service, no salt and pepper pots and no milk jugs is not going to spoil our crusie.

It was my 60th on the cruise and Fred made the day fantastic for me, I have written to thank them.

Ok may not pick Boudicca again, but that was just the layout, but we will be back on Balmoral or Braemar like a shot. In fact we are on Balmoral in August.

Take it easy and maybe our paths will cross on another cruise. We are going to gen up on the quizzes:)

Best regards.

[monas queen]

A full ship on her last trip - Liverpool to Iberia and back. Norovirus reappeared. It seems even after its reappearance, people were not washing their hands after going to the toilet, and some did not stay in their cabin when in quarantine. These are the people who deserve to suffer, but unfortunately, they probably do little more than help spread it.

Lots of precautions in place, as said earlier in this thread.

Still a good trip.

Trouble was, when we got back, it was a bit windy in Liverpool, and we ended up disembarking in Dublin and being flown back.

[andy mac]

a full ship on her last trip - liverpool to iberia and back. Norovirus reappeared. It seems even after its reappearance, people were not washing their hands after going to the toilet, and some did not stay in their cabin when in quarantine. These are the people who deserve to suffer, but unfortunately, they probably do little more than help spread it.

Lots of precautions in place, as said earlier in this thread.

Still a good trip.

Trouble was, when we got back, it was a bit windy in liverpool, and we ended up disembarking in dublin and being flown back.

we were on boudicca last june and it was norovirus free,and i don't why. One night we saw couple arguing with crew member and refuseing to use hand gel before going in to resturant,they were told if they did'nt use it they would not be allowed in to resturant. Another night we saw lady taking gel ,then when out of sight of crew member shake it of on to carpet.
Yes the number of men who did not wash hands after going to toilet ,well it is unbelieveable .the mess that some men left in the gents.
The lads who cleaned toilets did there best and could not be blamed or faulted for thier efforts to keep toilets clean.
My WIFE said that ladies were same at times.
I am not saying all passengers were at fault, only a small amount but they could spoil it for other people.
I must say that i could not blame crew members or fred olsen cruise lines,blame must lie with selfish passengers.

[bossmum1]

Hi Sue as we sailed when you got off. We indeed got a letter about this bug. 2 DAYS INTO OUR SAIL people went down with the bug. But we expected this to happen, We ave found from our cruise last year the cleaning standards have dropped Less staff so how can they clean the ship and rid it of this bug. We found tables were left with glasses full ashtrays the tables only get a wipe now and again, not the standard we were used to on The Black Prince. This has to have been our worsed cruise with Fred Olsen after the ordeal we went through because of a private charter going from Dublin we had to be transported back to Liverpool via private flights and a ferry back to Hollyhead and coach back to Liverpol we were put up in a 4 star hotel in Dublin over night this included a dinner and show and breakfast of which Fred Olsen payed for Will we cruise with Fred again well we are at this moment unsure will have to give this a lot of thought.

[trinitytrees]

so sorry to hear your problems getting into liverpool, it all adds to unhappy ending of what is a holiday.

[bossmum1]

so sorry to hear your problems getting into liverpool, it all adds to unhappy ending of what is a holiday.
I must say we had a brill time in Dublin. We saw places we never get to see when we go over to see our son. hehe
I wont be going in April again, after two days of being home have come down with the biggest cold ever. Some of it was self inflicted sat out on deck till 2am is not the done thing in April. a tad cold
Chrissy

[trinitytrees]

thats good that you got a positive gift out of going to dublin and saw it has a bonus. I was ill on return with Asthma. ny hubby came down with hell of cold just few days after to, we were not on deck till 2am, I know it was the chemicals triggered mine.

take care get well soon

[monas queen]

I also came down with a horrendous cold after returning from Boudicca. It's the worst I have had in many years, and the first sick leave I have awarded myself since retirement. I had days of feeling really low, and I've still got sniffles and a hacking cough.

My, that is one sick ship.

[bossmum1]

I also came down with a horrendous cold after returning from Boudicca. It's the worst I have had in many years, and the first sick leave I have awarded myself since retirement. I had days of feeling really low, and I've still got sniffles and a hacking cough.

My, that is one sick ship.
Get well soon hun. Yes i know the feeling i had two days off work. Still full of it nose and chesty cough. this is the first time i have been bad after a cruise. Maybe Boudicca could do with a dose antibiotics.
Chrissy

[Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines]

I can confirm the airlift on D1106 was for a guest medical emergency and not a drill.

Regards

FOCL

[monas queen]

One memory that sticks with me is from before we set sail on Boudicca.

We went to the Secret Garden for a quick snack soon after we boarded, and noted that there was someone being shown round the serveries.

This appeared to be a hygiene consultant, or similar, as he was giving some advice on his way round.

The piece of advice that I particularly recall was that tongs used at buffets should be regularly replaced with clean ones, to avoid too many different hand touching them.

Needless to say, at buffet breakfast next morning, the tongs were there for the whole session, so each had the potential of being handled by 800 plus passengers.

As we know, and have discussed, some passengers are the filthiest scum on this earth, and do not believe that clean hands are essential for their own health (they won't worry about other peoples' health, so don't try pushing that one).

Is it any wonder that norovirus keeps recurring?

[gaelsail]

The piece of advice that I particularly recall was that tongs used at buffets should be regularly replaced with clean ones, to avoid too many different hand touching them.

Simple solution: use a napkin to hold the tongs and then don't use it to touch your food, wipe your mouth etc.

[Berkshire Lass]

What a brilliant idea, why did no one else think of this. I shall remember this for all buffets I ever get to visit now. Thank you. I might also learn how to eat my bread roll with a knife and fork!

[andy mac]

Simple solution: use a napkin to hold the tongs and then don't use it to touch your food, wipe your mouth etc.

what a simple solution,why has no one thought of it .
i bet some people would come up with an excuse for not using napkin if asked to do so.

[KenQE2]

Even better: either everyone learns silver service and uses their own cutlery, or issue tongs per passenger (good plastic ones would do).

[Davyjonesrugrat]

Two other choices......

1. Make people wash their hands by threatening them with 'health requirements' and if they complain put them off the boat....

2. Tell them they must eat all their future meals in their cabins due to their lack of hygene
:D

[1160451]

Hi all,

I was on the April Canaries cruise when we were hit by the Novo on day 3.

On our return I wrote to FO on another matter, to thank them actually, on their great 60th birthday service on my birthday, so not to complain.

I did mention the noro bug though and thought/suggested that the Boudica was rather prone to it.

Their reply was interesting in that they suggest the incidence on the Boudica and ships that sail from the UK mirror the incidence of the noro bug on the UK mainland. So when there is high outbreaks of illness on the mainland it matches on the ships.

Interesting statistic if its correct and would suggest that passengers rather than the ship are to "blame".

I have to say I was rather down on the Boudica but doing a bit of research it seems its no worse or better than other ships. Just that us FO posters give it a hard time, me included.

Anyway on the Balmoral August 1st and looking forward to it.

Take it easy everbody.

[BORDER REIVER]

As we know, and have discussed, some passengers are the filthiest scum on this earth, and do not believe that clean hands are essential for their own health (they won't worry about other peoples' health, so don't try pushing that one).

Is it any wonder that norovirus keeps recurring?

Got to agree with this comment. It applies everywhere, not just on board ships. I see people leaving toilet cubicles in department stores and going straight out into the shops without washing hands....disgusting.
On Queen Victoria a couple of years ago, some people were turned away from the self service for not using gel, yet still tried to sneak in....what is their problem? it won't kill them.
We take care of ourselves in that we carry gel on us and in the car, always putting on gel before going shopping and wiping hands with antibacterial wipes when getting back to the car. It might seem excessive and shouldn't be necessary, but as long as there's dirty so and so's around, we don't want to pick up their germs and be ill. On board, we seldom use the self service anyway, but always gel up before leaving the cabin and try to only use our own cabin toilet. I'm not going to have my holiday ruined by those that don't care. People that are ill and still leave their cabin against instructions should be locked up and thrown off the ship at the next port. It's just as serious an offence as being obnoxious or violent and can do more harm.