Norovirus on Crown Princess

Our newspaper this morning has an article that says the Crown Princess has 172 people ill with the norovirus; will dock this Sunday in Los Angeles. It will be ending a 30 day cruise, and will do a "deep cleaning" of the ship before departing the same day for a Mexico Riviera 7 day cruise. This ship has more than 4100 people on board (doesn't identify passengers or staff). My question is: has anyone done a study to determine whether the larger ships are more prone to the virus? And - how much "deep cleaning" on a ship this large can be done in the turn-around time necessary for that many passengers? This ship apparently had 129 people ill in April. We were on the Ruby Princess in Oct. 2012 - had to wait in a convention center for hours while it was "deep cleaned". This was in Ft. Lauderdale. Definitely not a great start to the cruise.

I have no answer with regard to a "study", but I believe this is the second time in a few months that this ship has been struck seriously with NORO. Maybe they need to take it right out of service for a few days and tackle the deep clean more deeply.:o

It happens.

Hotels, dormitories, health clubs, nursing homes, schools, hospitals,,,,,,,,,, Noro Virus is the second most common illness after the common cold. It is not really all that newsworthy IMO

WASH YOUR HANDS

Keep your hands away from your face

It takes two stages to become ill from Noro and each of us can control both..

It happens.

Hotels, dormitories, health clubs, nursing homes, schools, hospitals,,,,,,,,,, Noro Virus is the second most common illness after the common cold. It is not really all that newsworthy IMO

 

WASH YOUR HAND

Keep your hands away from your face

It takes two stages to become ill from Noro and each of us can control both..

Amen to that:D

Well put. 172 out of 4,100 is not a big thing. Go to any large venue and you can probably pick at least 172 "sick" people out of 4,100. The reason it seems so prevalent on cruise ships is that they are the only venue required to report it. As is stated above, it happens all the time in hotels, restaurants, airplanes, you name it and they don't report it. Cruise ships are extremely clean compared to airplanes. First thing I do getting home from a flight is a hot shower, mouthwash, and take a handful of Vitamin C. Never feel that way getting off a cruise ship.:D

I have no answer with regard to a "study", but I believe this is the second time in a few months that this ship has been struck seriously with NORO. Maybe they need to take it right out of service for a few days and tackle the deep clean more deeply.:o

The "sick ship" syndrome is a myth.

While we very much enjoyed our one (so far) Princess cruise, it was our observation that Princess was far less proactive on pax sanitization than HAL - far fewer hand sanitize stations for example, none going into the MDR on our cruise. When I asked the MDR manager about this, I got slapped-down for my question, he seemed pretty outraged and offended that I even asked. That was very off-putting. Use of the sanitizer in the buffet line seemed hit-or-miss among the pax, no one there to "encourage."

The "sick ship" syndrome is a myth.

I agree - and I have said this in previous threads about Noro on cruise ships. But it would likely be good PR for the cruise line to take such a pro-active approach, given the fact that it's been struck twice recently - in spite of deep cleaning prior to taking on new passengers.

Noro is rife in nursing homes and hospitals. They often have to ban visitors for awhile to get it under control.

The Crown Princess was also delayed 1 day returning to San Pedro for a medical emergency earlier. The cruise was supposed to arrive/leave Saturday 11/15, but left late Sunday 11/16. People on the 11/15 (now 11/16) cruise were compensated 1.5 days of their cruise fare and some other stuff.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2125644

There are signs for preverntion of norovirus everywhere on the base I am deployed at. There were signs everywhere at the last base I was deployed at. If it didn't happen often they wouldn't put signs up and build sinks at every dining facility entrance if it were nota problem.

That being said, my last cruise on Carnival, I saw plenty of contributors to the spread of Noro. I was in the buffet on more than one occasion as people breezed past the hand sanitizer without utilizing it. I saw a gentleman sniffiling and rubbing his nose and mouth, before proceding to grab food off a plate at the buffet with his BARE HANDS. Luckily a buffet attendant saw that too and promptly grabbed said plate to throw it out. I also saw a genleman walk right out of the restroom in the casino wihout utilizing the sink, he was in the toilet stall even.

It is not the cruise lines fault, it is the habits of your fellow passengers. Every cruise I have been on I have witnessed bad habits by my fellow cruisers, and the staff striving to keep the food safe.

I agree - and I have said this in previous threads about Noro on cruise ships. But it would likely be good PR for the cruise line to take such a pro-active approach, given the fact that it's been struck twice recently - in spite of deep cleaning prior to taking on new passengers.

 

Noro is rife in nursing homes and hospitals. They often have to ban visitors for awhile to get it under control.

Actually, the Carnival Corp. CEO addressed this today in his press conference. He said that the new marketing program will bust a lot of myths about cruising.

He said, "If you don't want to get noro, you should cruise."

Because, he said, the chances of getting noro elsewhere are higher!

I got it twice -- at Disney World!

Some years back, so many on Veendam had Noro the CDC boarded the ship and had us head back to Tampa two days early.

Lots of the crew, staff, and officers were also ill.

HD got it toward the end of the cruise. I never did get it.

It happens!

LuLu

Saw this on two different networks on the morning news.

Does the hand sanitizer used on ships even kill viruses, or it it like Purell that doesn't?

Does the hand sanitizer used on ships even kill viruses, or it it like Purell that doesn't?

Last ship I was on did in fact have Purell at the stations.

I was on that same 28 day cruise last year on the Star Princess. Although it wasn't Norovirus, apparently some of the crew picked up some kind of a bug in Tahiti and a couple of days later the ship went into maximum precaution mode. The buffet on the Lido deck was no longer self-serv, and you weren't even allowed to pick up a plate or silver ware. It was all handed to you. In the main dining room there was nothing on the table at dinner except the silverware at each place. Everything else was handed to you by the waiter. Passengers were not allowed to touch anything that another passenger could touch, and the sanitizer stations were more prominent. After a couple of days of that, everything went back to normal and there was no big outbreak on the ship.

On Holland America, you can't serve yourself on the Lido deck for the first couple of days. The explanation was that any virus brought aboard is more likely to spread during the first 48 hours. Also, they have sanitizer stations in the middle of the doorways to all of the public rooms and there's a uniformed crew member at the entrance to the main dining room who spritzes everyone's hands as they enter.

Does the hand sanitizer used on ships even kill viruses, or it it like Purell that doesn't?

To my knowledge, the hand sanitizer may kill bacteria, if you use enough of it, and if you use it properly. It does not kill viruses.

In the process it dries out the skin terribly.

Actually, hand sanitizer (alcohol- based hand rubs) are effective against both bacteria and virus. It is not effective against spore- forming organisms like C diff (Clostridium difficile).

For more information, go to

http://Www.cdc.gov/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

FWIW, I am both a nurse with more than 30 years of experience and a hospital administrator. Appropriate hand hygiene is part of what I do for a living.

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If you bother to go to the link, you will see that soap and water is best for fighting C diff, norovirus, and Cryptosporidium

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you bother to go to the link, you will see that soap and water is best for fighting C diff, norovirus, and Cryptosporidium

 

 

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Thank you!

And it boils back down to habits. If you have passengers not washing their hands, and breezing past sanitizer stations, the spreading of a disease is more likely to happen.

Actually, hand sanitizer (alcohol- based hand rubs) are effective against both bacteria and virus. It is not effective against spore- forming organisms like C diff (Clostridium difficile).

 

For more information, go to

Www.cdc.gov/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

 

FWIW, I am both a nurse with more than 30 years of experience and a hospital administrator. Appropriate hand hygiene is part of what I do for a living.

The CDC link you provided is not working.

The CDC also recommends hand washing as the best way to sanitize hands: "Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used in addition to hand washing. But, they should not be used as a substitute for washing with soap and water."

And it boils back down to habits. If you have passengers not washing their hands, and breezing past sanitizer stations, the spreading of a disease is more likely to happen.

If you saw me onboard you might judge me as one of the people "not washing their hands, and breezing past sanitizer stations" but I would in fact have washed my hands either in my cabin or at the nearest restroom, would not have touched anything on my way to the dining room or Lido since then and bypass the sanitation station as I believe it is not very effective (and probably ineffective) and I hate the smell on my hands when eating.

I am sorry if that upsets someone's cloud of comfort, but I take sanitizing my own hands very seriously. ;)

>172 out of 4,100 is not a big thing. <

Emory University in Atlanta has about 5000 students living on campus.

It recently reported an outbreak of NV.

About 175 students affected.

Ira