Norovirus on Escape (10/15 sailing)

(If you’re going to respond with ‘why are you posting this’, it’s because this is a message board about cruise ship topics and this is my first time experiencing a ‘code red’ or whatever. And I figure people on the upcoming sailing might be interested. I did search briefly for an existing thread, but I’m on pay by the minute internet so I didn’t search long. Sorry if there’s already a thread.)

So, my fifth cruise, and despite doing hygiene ‘best practices’, I finally got the dreaded noro. (I assume it’s noro, because that’s the word they’re using on the flyers they’re putting in rooms, but maybe I ate something bad in the buffet?)

Enough people have whatever it is that the Captain made an announcement this morning on the PA (wash your hands etc), and they have the buffet on lockdown. Tables are bare, all plates/silverware/glasses/etc are handed to you by a crew member.

Mine started late Tuesday night. That was the worst 6-8 hours of my life, and it’s not like I haven’t had stomach illnesses before. Yikes. I spent a lot of the night in the infirmary (yes, I was that sick). The guy who wheeled me down there around 4am said I was the fourth person that night. They had to give me two different shots of progressively stronger anti-emetics (I was in bad shape—most of mine was, uh, the upstairs version, not the downstairs). Finally staggered back to my cabin to start my 24 hour quarantine around 8am yesterday morning. I did notice while I was in the infirmary that the phone was ringing pretty steadily, and they were having to double up on rooms (they brought in a little girl to my room around 6am, her parents said her symptoms started around the same time mine did).

I slept through most of yesterday (Wednesday) and I guess things onboard got progressively worse, as this morning is when the Captain got on the PA, and they seem to have put out flyers in rooms about it either last night or this morning.

I was feeling much better by last night, appetite didn’t really return until about an hour ago though.

No trouble getting free room service for water/broth/crackers, and no charges issued from the infirmary. Guest Services also called to tell me they’d given me an in-room movie credit. When my quarantine ended (this morning), I noticed my room key card didn’t work anymore. Not sure if coincidence or if they nuke cards when you’re supposed to be in isolation. When I went down to get a new one, I asked if I could have a small OBC in place of the movie credit, as I’d had to buy internet service I hadn’t budgeted for (someone was expecting to hear from me when I had land-based service in Tortola, but I couldn’t leave the ship that day). No dice, but I told them that was fine. (I’d just watched an incredibly rude guy swearing at one of the other guest services clerks, dropping f-bombs, etc, but this particular charmer has been doing that the whole cruise.)

I wish I had more internet minutes to google, because I’m really curious if it’s more likely that this is specifically ‘norovirus’, or a batch of bad something on the buffet (I hadn’t really eaten anywhere but the buffet in days). And if it’s noro for sure, I’d like to know how long I’m potentially contagious for. Is it really only 24 hours?

My room is still awaiting the “GI Team” to sanitize it. I feel bad for the crew, you can see them hustling everywhere (lots of extra staff in the buffet, of course, plus cleaning crews on the stateroom decks with red bags—I assume those are the ones doing the sanitization of the infected rooms.)

Cruise has been great otherwise.

I am soooo sorry to hear that you got sick I also got the stomach virus when I was on a RCL ship...(both my upstairs and downstairs plumbing was affected) very gross. ...

And thanks for letting me know I board Saturday oct 22.

Hope you are feeling better and thanks for the info and details how they handle it.

Thank you for this important info. I will be extra careful since I'm boarding Saturday. So sorry you got sick and your vacation was impacted.

I have had Norovirus- a "gift" from my mom one Christmas who picked it up traveling on a plane. It was horrible and lasted 3 days. " Upstairs and downstairs" affected and no energy the whole time.

It is most likely a noro like virus, rather than food poisoning. USPH regulations on food safety have reduced things like salmonella, e. coli, and other food pathogens to near zero on ships. Noro has moved in to replace these illnesses, and unfortunately it is even harder to corral than the food bacteria.

I hope you at least had a balcony not an inside cabin

Sounds more like food poisoning than Noro . Noro is usually a 72 hour quarantine period. The room would be deep cleaned with hours of a suspected case of Noro.

I am so sorry, thanks for posting this. It is an important piece of information and unfortunately part of life. it stinks when it happens on your vacation. It is good to know how they are handling it in case it does happen to one of us "readers". Feel better and thanks again.

Oh you poor thing! Hope you are feeling better by now. Thank you for posting this, good to know since it does happen a lot.

There actually is more noro virus in schools and seniors homes. Ships are actually very clean compared to being on land. Currently California's got a Noro out break that's affecting everything from Los Angeles down to the Mexican border.

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Sounds more like food poisoning than Noro . Noro is usually a 72 hour quarantine period. The room would be deep cleaned with hours of a suspected case of Noro.

Thanks to the well wishers!

I keep wondering about this info quoted above--the way many of us 'presented' within hours with symptoms makes me wonder if 'food-borne illness' instead, and I thought I'd read of longer quarantines for noro. However, they did use the word 'norovirus' in the health flyers.

(Not trying to blame the cruise line or anyone, I'm just naturally curious and wondering if I could have done anything differently to avoid it, i.e., did I just not wash my hands that one crucial time, or did we all eat the same bad dish. I do see that chengpk75 says food-borne is unlikely.)

They seem to have upgrade security to the point that even the studio lounge now has a crew member handling the tea and snack area, which wasn't true this morning.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

Thank you for reporting.

Thanks to the well wishers!

 

(Not trying to blame the cruise line or anyone, I'm just naturally curious and wondering if I could have done anything differently to avoid it, i.e., did I just not wash my hands that one crucial time, or did we all eat the same bad dish. I do see that chengpk75 says food-borne is unlikely.)

You touched something then touched your face more than likely. Folks immediately think buffet or food, but more likely it was an elevator button or a casino chip if you caught it on the boat and not on the plane to the boat.

Filthiest thing in the world is the TV remote control.

wrong post in wrong thread

Hope you feel better soon and can enjoy the rest of your cruise.

There actually is more noro virus in schools and seniors homes. Ships are actually very clean compared to being on land. Currently California's got a Noro out break that's affecting everything from Los Angeles down to the Mexican border.

 

 

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Thats what you can a Craptacular!

I was scheduled to be on the Escape sailing this Saturday but due to the post from AdoraBelle, I contacted my doctor and he feels it is not safe for me to go.

If anyone on the current cruise has a copy of the flyer about the virus, could you please post it so I can try and get a refund from the insurance company. I cancelled regardless because the risk is too great for me, but if NCL does not officially classify this as an outbreak, I will have to have proof to get a full refund. Thanks so much and for those of you going out Saturday.....washy, washy.

(If you’re going to respond with ‘why are you posting this’, it’s because this is a message board about cruise ship topics and this is my first time experiencing a ‘code red’ or whatever. And I figure people on the upcoming sailing might be interested. I did search briefly for an existing thread, but I’m on pay by the minute internet so I didn’t search long. Sorry if there’s already a thread.)

 

So, my fifth cruise, and despite doing hygiene ‘best practices’, I finally got the dreaded noro. (I assume it’s noro, because that’s the word they’re using on the flyers they’re putting in rooms, but maybe I ate something bad in the buffet?)

 

Enough people have whatever it is that the Captain made an announcement this morning on the PA (wash your hands etc), and they have the buffet on lockdown. Tables are bare, all plates/silverware/glasses/etc are handed to you by a crew member.

 

Mine started late Tuesday night. That was the worst 6-8 hours of my life, and it’s not like I haven’t had stomach illnesses before. Yikes. I spent a lot of the night in the infirmary (yes, I was that sick). The guy who wheeled me down there around 4am said I was the fourth person that night. They had to give me two different shots of progressively stronger anti-emetics (I was in bad shape—most of mine was, uh, the upstairs version, not the downstairs). Finally staggered back to my cabin to start my 24 hour quarantine around 8am yesterday morning. I did notice while I was in the infirmary that the phone was ringing pretty steadily, and they were having to double up on rooms (they brought in a little girl to my room around 6am, her parents said her symptoms started around the same time mine did).

 

I slept through most of yesterday (Wednesday) and I guess things onboard got progressively worse, as this morning is when the Captain got on the PA, and they seem to have put out flyers in rooms about it either last night or this morning.

 

I was feeling much better by last night, appetite didn’t really return until about an hour ago though.

 

No trouble getting free room service for water/broth/crackers, and no charges issued from the infirmary. Guest Services also called to tell me they’d given me an in-room movie credit. When my quarantine ended (this morning), I noticed my room key card didn’t work anymore. Not sure if coincidence or if they nuke cards when you’re supposed to be in isolation. When I went down to get a new one, I asked if I could have a small OBC in place of the movie credit, as I’d had to buy internet service I hadn’t budgeted for (someone was expecting to hear from me when I had land-based service in Tortola, but I couldn’t leave the ship that day). No dice, but I told them that was fine. (I’d just watched an incredibly rude guy swearing at one of the other guest services clerks, dropping f-bombs, etc, but this particular charmer has been doing that the whole cruise.)

 

I wish I had more internet minutes to google, because I’m really curious if it’s more likely that this is specifically ‘norovirus’, or a batch of bad something on the buffet (I hadn’t really eaten anywhere but the buffet in days). And if it’s noro for sure, I’d like to know how long I’m potentially contagious for. Is it really only 24 hours?

 

My room is still awaiting the “GI Team” to sanitize it. I feel bad for the crew, you can see them hustling everywhere (lots of extra staff in the buffet, of course, plus cleaning crews on the stateroom decks with red bags—I assume those are the ones doing the sanitization of the infected rooms.)

 

Cruise has been great otherwise.

Thanks for the info.

I was scheduled to be on the Escape sailing this Saturday but due to the post from AdoraBelle, I contacted my doctor and he feels it is not safe for me to go.

 

If anyone on the current cruise has a copy of the flyer about the virus, could you please post it so I can try and get a refund from the insurance company. I cancelled regardless because the risk is too great for me, but if NCL does not officially classify this as an outbreak, I will have to have proof to get a full refund. Thanks so much and for those of you going out Saturday.....washy, washy.

That ship will be the cleanest Saturday that it's ever been. :cool:

I was scheduled to be on the Escape sailing this Saturday but due to the post from AdoraBelle, I contacted my doctor and he feels it is not safe for me to go.

 

If anyone on the current cruise has a copy of the flyer about the virus, could you please post it so I can try and get a refund from the insurance company. I cancelled regardless because the risk is too great for me, but if NCL does not officially classify this as an outbreak, I will have to have proof to get a full refund. Thanks so much and for those of you going out Saturday.....washy, washy.

Not trying to be snarky to you but that is completely absurd. Noro can happen anywhere at any time. Gyms, schools, airplanes, ships..etc.

Like LrgPizza said, that ship will be scrubbed clean.

Edited: Just looked at posters previous input:

I was very concerned to see about the possible norovirus outbreak on the Escape this week. Because I have an autoimmune disorder and a severe medical condition, I can not be in a compromised situation where I may get ill. My doctor is recommending that I do not go on the cruise. I checked with my travel agent and she called Norwegian and they say they have no knowledge of the virus. Unfortunately, this is a risk I cannot take. I have cancelled my reservation and am hoping that someone on the cruise will keep a copy of the flyer that was given out so I can try and file a claim with the insurance company.

 

I will be thinking of all of you next week and imagining being on the ship, but it will have to be another time for me. Enjoy your cruise....be well....and washy washy.

Not sure why you would book a cruise with the history of Noro on ships, but I hope you find a vacation that works for you.

Hope you are back to full cruising form soonest.

Thanks to the well wishers!

 

I keep wondering about this info quoted above--the way many of us 'presented' within hours with symptoms makes me wonder if 'food-borne illness' instead, and I thought I'd read of longer quarantines for noro. However, they did use the word 'norovirus' in the health flyers.

 

(Not trying to blame the cruise line or anyone, I'm just naturally curious and wondering if I could have done anything differently to avoid it, i.e., did I just not wash my hands that one crucial time, or did we all eat the same bad dish. I do see that chengpk75 says food-borne is unlikely.)

 

They seem to have upgrade security to the point that even the studio lounge now has a crew member handling the tea and snack area, which wasn't true this morning.

You touched something then touched your face more than likely. Folks immediately think buffet or food, but more likely it was an elevator button or a casino chip if you caught it on the boat and not on the plane to the boat.

 

Filthiest thing in the world is the TV remote control.

While food borne pathogens are rare, they can and do occur, but the incubation time, the length of serious symptoms, etc., can vary by individual.

While many think touching the face is the main cause, and it is one transmission vector, a more common one and one often overlooked is eating with your fingers. If your fingers become contaminated by touching contaminated tongs getting a burger bun, and then your contaminated fingers pick up that burger, the bun is now contaminated, and you ingest the virus without actually touching face or eyes. My suggestion at all times for cruise ships is to never eat anything with your fingers.

I was scheduled to be on the Escape sailing this Saturday but due to the post from AdoraBelle, I contacted my doctor and he feels it is not safe for me to go.

 

If anyone on the current cruise has a copy of the flyer about the virus, could you please post it so I can try and get a refund from the insurance company. I cancelled regardless because the risk is too great for me, but if NCL does not officially classify this as an outbreak, I will have to have proof to get a full refund. Thanks so much and for those of you going out Saturday.....washy, washy.

While I understand from your previous post that your medical condition and advice of doctor precludes your sailing, I will also say that there is risk of noro on any cruise ship at any time. I don't recall a single cruise during my time when there was not at least one GI illness case reported.

As to NCL "officially classify"ing this as an outbreak, this is complete nonsense. The cruise line does not indicate whether a cruise has an outbreak or not, the USPH/CDC does. The ship must make a report to the USPH every cruise before returning to the US, regardless of whether or not there has been a single case of GI illness. If the number of reportable cases reaches 2% of passengers or crew, then a special report has to be submitted to USPH within hours, and they, the USPH, will consider this to be an outbreak. Yet, only if the reportable cases reaches 3% will the USPH issue an "outbreak update" report on their website. So, many, many outbreaks are never seen by the cruising public, because only those that exceed the 3% threshold are documented in the public domain.

So, your attempts at full refund will have to depend on the terms of your insurance, and whether the insurance company will take reports from social media into account, but there is nothing that NCL has or has not done that will be "proof" that you deserve a full refund.

That ship will be the cleanest Saturday that it's ever been. :cool:

I was thinking the same thing...it seems counter-intuitive, but I would think the best time to cruise in terms of cleanliness would be the first cruise after such an outbreak

Does anyone have any idea how the cruise line will communicate if they plan a delayed boarding as a result of cleaning the ship?

Would it be via email, phone call? Our family is on tomorrow's sailing and I'm trying to plan drive time to the port. Appreciate any experience you can share.