Dawn princess Norovirus

We are aboard Dawn Princess on 17 day cruise and sadly Norovirus is alive and well. Ship is on Red level precautions and cases are reported to be increasing. So far we are ok but many of our friends have come down with it. :eek:

Stay healthy, bearone. We had code red on our Sun cruise at Christmas so I can empathise with you.

BTW do they have the new drinks package on your cruise and, if so, would you be so kind as to confirm the price. Is it $59? Thanks.

Hi there, yes price is about $59.95 I think or $59.00 for the all you can drink package. Don't think they had many takers though from what I have seen. You are allowed to bring a bottle of wine on free of corkage at each port as long as you consume it in your cabin. That is in addition to the initial embarkation bottle, I have taken wine aboard at the last port, through security and no questions asked.

Unfortunately these things happen.

Keith

Thanks. I'd seen flyers advertising $59 but other people have been saying that Princess customer service told them differently.

Hope the rest of your cruise is good and you manage to avoid the Noro.

We board her in just over a month. :D

I wonder if the NEW rearranged Horizon layout might contribute to this break out with more food stations and thus more opportunity for the spread of those blasted GERMS

We always feel that the buffet is always were the germs are prevalent due to the number of pax who you see just walk straight through to the food without even visiting the hand sanitiser stand.....terrible.

I feel like tapping them on the shoulder and telling them to clean their hands :-(

I'm not a fan of buffets at the best of time and with noro on a ship I stick to the MDR.

I'm not a fan of buffets at the best of time and with noro on a ship I stick to the MDR.

I can never understand why the staff don't say something when they see folks not using the sanitiser unit and sometimes they don't even have staff in front entrance of MDR - to make people feel guilty if they don't use it

It is such a BIG problem, I really think the cruise lines should be more authoritarian and proactive with this as well as, with the terrible "flu bugs" that spread around uncontrolled

I've seen PAX who should be in their cabins coughing, sneezing and looking really unwell with a heavy cold/flu and blatantly moving around the ship, in the food areas, theatre etc. These people have no consideration for themselves let alone fellow passengers.

RANT over...lol!

:mad:

I can never understand why the staff don't say something when they see folks not using the sanitiser unit and sometimes they don't even have staff in front entrance of MDR - to make people feel guilty if they don't use it

It is such a BIG problem, I really think the cruise lines should be more authoritarian and proactive with this as well as, with the terrible "flu bugs" that spread around uncontrolled

 

They were pretty good during our Sun Princess cruise at Christmas, which had a Noro outbreak. They had two people stationed at the entrance to the MDR with the sanitiser and the only way you could get past them without using it was if you were carrying your own sanitiser - which I was as the alcohol-based ones play havoc with my skin.

Being in the midst of this current Norovirus outbreak, I am surprised they are not more vigilant about the use of the sanitiser. During the afternoon snack in the buffet, I have seen many people not use the sanitiser and although we are still being served the food we are able to get our own tea, coffee, water etc and handle the milk jugs etc. Doesn't really make sense to me. No staff there to enforce use of the sanitiser at all. I have heard the red level precautions may continue until disembarkation in Fremantle and that they may delay the new embarking passengers for a very though sanitisation of the ship. Just mentioned by one of the staff, so not set in stone. I guess time will tell ! Lombok tomorrow, so looking forward to that:D

We were on the Dawn beginning of May and also got to code red a couple of days before the end of the cruise, this was before the refurbishment.

It seems that this is occurring more and more and is enough to put you off cruising, who on earth wants to spend days ill on a cruise.

I have to say you couldn't get into the Horizon court on that cruise without using the sanitiser but people still question why they had to use it. Really, what is wrong with them.

I can never understand why the staff don't say something when they see folks not using the sanitiser unit and sometimes they don't even have staff in front entrance of MDR - to make people feel guilty if they don't use it

It is such a BIG problem, I really think the cruise lines should be more authoritarian and proactive with this as well as, with the terrible "flu bugs" that spread around uncontrolled

 

I've seen PAX who should be in their cabins coughing, sneezing and looking really unwell with a heavy cold/flu and blatantly moving around the ship, in the food areas, theatre etc. These people have no consideration for themselves let alone fellow passengers.

 

 

RANT over...lol!

 

:mad:

I totally agree, when we went on ROS, I was honest and needed to be cleared by medical which held up our embarkation. So many others stated quite readily that they werent honest. Luckily I was on antibiotic cover for the whole trip - but that wouldnt have protected me from virus's - I was so particular in washing washing washing my hands I was starting to feel OCD, but I truly believed this saved me from getting ill.

We were on voyager straight after an outbreak. We learnt on that cruise to sanitise our hands at all times.

Rhapsody we had no issues with this but others were laughing at me when I told my son he must "washy washy" prior to entering the buffet. [emoji35]

It takes less than 20 seconds to sanitise your hands which is a lot better than everyone getting sick.

Hi OzKiwiJJ, I was just wondering what hand sanatiser you used that was kind to your skin, most of them just really dry my hands out, a lot of hand washes do to.

thanks.

They were pretty good during our Sun Princess cruise at Christmas, which had a Noro outbreak. They had two people stationed at the entrance to the MDR with the sanitiser and the only way you could get past them without using it was if you were carrying your own sanitiser - which I was as the alcohol-based ones play havoc with my skin.

Hi OzKiwiJJ, I was just wondering what hand sanatiser you used that was kind to your skin, most of them just really dry my hands out, a lot of hand washes do to.

 

thanks.

This one, Geblues. http://www.handsfirst.com.au/

I discovered it through this forum actually.

I bought a pack of the refillable 50ml bottles, which are great for travel, and now I just buy the refill pack to keep them topped up.

They are super-efficient at sending out the online orders. I put my last order in at about 4pm one afternoon and it was delivered early morning the next day, interstate.

So many others stated quite readily that they werent honest.

Maybe they need to get a scanner that detects body temperature - I think they had something like that at some overseas airports during the SARS outbreak some years ago.

Then if anyone showed as having a higher than normal temperature they could pull them over for a chat about their health.

That might pick up some illnesses, not sure about Noro though - do people run a slight fever with that?

This one, Geblues. http://www.handsfirst.com.au/

 

I bought a pack of the refillable 50ml bottles, which are great for travel, and now I just buy the refill pack to keep them topped up.

 

They are super-efficient at sending out the online orders.

Thank you OzKiwiJJ,

is there anything like it that you can get from a store? Supermarket/chemist/healthfood store?

Thanks

Thank you OzKiwiJJ,

 

is there anything like it that you can get from a store? Supermarket/chemist/healthfood store?

 

Thanks

All chemists have hand sanitisers, maybe even supermarkets.

It's a very small amount of time to use and the benefits are huge:)

All chemists have hand sanitisers, maybe even supermarkets.

It's a very small amount of time to use and the benefits are huge:)

Thanks Nanaof2, I have an adult daughter with Cystic Fibrosis, so definitely understand the art of keeping germs at bay, it was just OzKiwiJJ mentioned about a particular one that isn't drying. I find most of them dry out my hands making them feel tight and itchy, so wondered about what brand she was using.

Thanks for your note of caution anyway.

I wonder if the NEW rearranged Horizon layout might contribute to this break out with more food stations and thus more opportunity for the spread of those blasted GERMS

 

We always feel that the buffet is always were the germs are prevalent due to the number of pax who you see just walk straight through to the food without even visiting the hand sanitiser stand.....terrible.

I feel like tapping them on the shoulder and telling them to clean their hands :-(

I agree about the gross people who don't sanitize their hands too. But I don't think the layout of the new horizon court is the cause. As before the dawn was refurbished it suffered norovirus outbreaks many times including a major outbreak affecting over 600 people not long ago.

Thank you OzKiwiJJ,

 

is there anything like it that you can get from a store? Supermarket/chemist/healthfood store?

 

Thanks

I don't think so. All of the ones I've seen in the stores are all alcohol-based like the ones used onboard.

Hands First is a foam.

Most of the hand sanitisers including the ones on board actually are not effective against noro virus. There are very few that are useful - I think the Hands First one which has been mentioned is one (but not available in shops). The other one I have heard as being useful is the good old Wet Ones. Antibacterial washes are useless against a virus (like true Noro). The best thing is thorough washing - for two full run throughs of "happy birthday to you".

There have even been studies that show that the use of hand sanitisers instead of washing with soap and water can actually increase outbreaks.

It's an awful thing - hope the OP is still keeping well.

Yes, thorough hand washing is the key. A good sanitiser is really just a back-up.

Both Hands First and Wet Ones contain Benzalkonium Chloride. I understand that Hands First remains effective on your skin for some time after you've used it. Not sure about Wet Ones.

here's a quote from Wikipedia.

"Alcohol rubs kill many different kinds of bacteria, including antibiotic resistant bacteria and TB bacteria. 90% alcohol rubs also have high virucidal activity against many different kinds of viruses (but are highly flammable), including enveloped viruses such as the flu virus, the common cold virus, and HIV, though is notably ineffective against the rabies virus.[14][15][16] Alcohol rub sanitizers are not very effective against Norovirus (winter vomiting virus) unless they are combined with benzalkonium chloride in a hand sanitizer."

So, does the sanitiser the ships use contain benzalkonium chloride? If not they're next to useless against noro but I suppose it makes people feel good that they're doing something.

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So, does the sanitiser the ships use contain benzalkonium chloride? If not they're next to useless against noro but I suppose it makes people feel good that they're doing something.

 

As far as I know, it doesn't.