Outbreak Of Norovirus On Connie!

[stuNYC]

We Are Leaving On The Connie Today. A Friend Who Just Came Off The Connie This Am Called To Tell Me That The Cdc Has Been On The Boat For The Past Day And Half. Sick Passengers Were Quarantined! They Docked At 5am This Morning And Disembarked Earlier Than Usual So That They Could Presumably Bleach The Ship Before They Take On New Passengers.

We All Know That This Will Last For Several Sailings

Wish Me Luck As I Run Out To Buy Bottles Of Hand Sanitizers!

Fortunately I Have Rx Medicine To Hopefully Control The Syptoms, If My Dw And I Get Sick

What A Bummer To Find Out On The Day Of Sailing!

Of Course, Celebrity Will Not Tell You And Give The Option To Cancel! I Would Since My Dw Resistance Is Very Low And We Live In Ny So No Airfare Involved. I Am Going To Ask If I Can, But I Know That There Will Be A Cover-up Rather Than Mass Hysteria!

[espmass]

I'm sure it will be all cleaned up for you so have a great time. Hope the bleaching keeps it "clean" for my 12/8 sailing.

[RodPat]

We had bleaching on our 10/21 sailing on Zenith. That lasted for two days and we had a stop in Miami and the CDC boarded and they passed. Fine for a few days and then the bleaching continued. No one I knew personally got sick but when this happens you will have no shrimp cocktail, no sushi, all meat done well done and everything will be served to you from the buffet. Even the coffee and water will be served to you. This takes alot of work for the staff so no one will carry your tray for you. If you do get sick, you can go to the sick bay for no charge but everyone in your room will be quarinteend (sp) so some people don't want to go to the doctor so it just mushrooms from there. You would be surprised how many people passed up the hand cleaner station. Keep your hands clean, don't touch your face with your fingers and you should be fine. I even learned to work the elevator with my elbow. Remember it is that time of the year and you could just as easily get sick in a crowd in NYC. Go have a good time, Connie is a wonderful ship. Pat

[caviargal]

Having been stricken with the noro on an NCL cruise a few years ago, personally I would do all I can to opt out of cruising.

Not only does the entire cruise experience change, but this virus can hit hard and is very nasty. I was miserable and it did not clear up quickly.

Good luck!

[Sky Sweet]

Originally Posted by espmass

I'm sure it will be all cleaned up for you so have a great time. Hope the bleaching keeps it "clean" for my 12/8 sailing.

Hi Espmass

Instead of doing a reposition cruise from NJ to Florida, Constellation's cruise that leaves today was scheduled as round trip from NJ and will then sail without passengers to Florida. In light of this Norovirus Outbreak, this has turned out to be a real plus because it will give Celebrity an opportunity to do a good bleach job during those few days that the ship has no passengers.

[DeputyBob]

I just came off the Connie, and yes there was an outbreak of norovirus. Our boarding was delayed on the 27th because of Norovirus problems on the previous cruise, and they wanted to do a thorough sanitizing. We had extremely rough seas the 27-28th, and a lot of people were green around the gills from that, and then we started to hear about passengers coming down with the virus. The crew started taking precautions and doing the wipe with the cleaning solution, and the precautions got tighter the more we got into the cruise. Towards the end, the entire crew including casino and singers/dancers were out with spray bottles and wipes, cleaning everything. They had to spray and leave the cleaner on surfaces, so it looked pretty gross, especially the elevators. We heard varying numbers of cases, from 30-60, and we personally knew of two couples (cruisecritic members) that came down with it. Supposedly no new cases for the past three days. CDC came onboard in Jamaica on the 4th. Fortunately, my wife and I had no problems, and it was still a great cruise. Food and service impeccable, and the crew were busting their butts to sanitize everything. I'll try to do a review in a couple of days.

Bob P.

[fllady]

Thanks for the headsup! We board on Nov.27th, hopefully they will get things under control before then. We really need this cruise for RnR!

[most spiders]

StuNYC,
Good luck on your cruise. It is a shame that Celebrity will not allow cruisers to opt out when this kind of a thing comes up. Usually this kind of thing does run for three or four weeks. I know that on the March Mercury bleach cruises it took three weeks before managment would even admit that there was a problem. Hopefully this will be a minor outbreak.

[psupa]

Originally Posted by DeputyBob

I just came off the Connie, and yes there was an outbreak of norovirus. Our boarding was delayed on the 27th because of Norovirus problems on the previous cruise, and they wanted to do a thorough sanitizing. We had extremely rough seas the 27-28th, and a lot of people were green around the gills from that, and then we started to hear about passengers coming down with the virus. The crew started taking precautions and doing the wipe with the cleaning solution, and the precautions got tighter the more we got into the cruise. Towards the end, the entire crew including casino and singers/dancers were out with spray bottles and wipes, cleaning everything. They had to spray and leave the cleaner on surfaces, so it looked pretty gross, especially the elevators. We heard varying numbers of cases, from 30-60, and we personally knew of two couples (cruisecritic members) that came down with it. Supposedly no new cases for the past three days. CDC came onboard in Jamaica on the 4th. Fortunately, my wife and I had no problems, and it was still a great cruise. Food and service impeccable, and the crew were busting their butts to sanitize everything. I'll try to do a review in a couple of days.

Bob P.

We just got off the same cruise and I agree with Bob that the trip was fantastic. The ship, food and service were fabulous. Our waiter Costa and assistant waiter Lubi were great. The weather was fantastic the entire trip, except for the first sea day when we had very rough seas and high winds. Yesterday the seas were so calm you didn't even feel like the ship was moving. What a great ship and trip. As for the norovirus, there was the bleaching and spraying that was left on services. No salt and pepper shakers on tables, all eggs had to be cooked well (actually too overdone), and if you ate at the buffet they had to serve you the food and drinks.

[lysolqn]

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

[l929]

Uh-oh!! We are sailing on 11/20 with two small children 3 and 1 1/2. They touch everything. Think I should try to change to another ship? I guess it would have to be RCI since this is the only X ship in the Carribbean that week.

[shoreless]

Originally Posted by lysolqn

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

I guess just because of what you said -- it's vacation. I have plenty of work days, so if I have to miss a few while I'm sick for a few days it's not a big deal. I don't have plenty of vacation time or lots of money, and I don't live near a cruise port, so a cruise/vacation is a big investment in time and money. It's also something I very much look forward to, unlike work.

[Cruise'n Chrissy]

Originally Posted by DeputyBob

I just came off the Connie, and yes there was an outbreak of norovirus. Our boarding was delayed on the 27th because of Norovirus problems on the previous cruise, and they wanted to do a thorough sanitizing. We had extremely rough seas the 27-28th, and a lot of people were green around the gills from that, and then we started to hear about passengers coming down with the virus. The crew started taking precautions and doing the wipe with the cleaning solution, and the precautions got tighter the more we got into the cruise. Towards the end, the entire crew including casino and singers/dancers were out with spray bottles and wipes, cleaning everything. They had to spray and leave the cleaner on surfaces, so it looked pretty gross, especially the elevators. We heard varying numbers of cases, from 30-60, and we personally knew of two couples (cruisecritic members) that came down with it. Supposedly no new cases for the past three days. CDC came onboard in Jamaica on the 4th. Fortunately, my wife and I had no problems, and it was still a great cruise. Food and service impeccable, and the crew were busting their butts to sanitize everything. I'll try to do a review in a couple of days.

Bob P.

I just got off today as well. There was one more case yesterday that I know. Are you the one who works for NY State?? white hair? hung out in the casino? Sang at the pool? LOL

Agree with you on the great cruise. Had a blast. No drinking for me this whole week.

[TPKeller]

This was reported here: http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html Scroll down to the October 27th entry.

Interesting that nobody reported the heavy seas that both Connie and Grandeur encountered on Saturday the 28th. (Although Norwegian Spirit encountered rough seas on the same day, and was apparently headed north at that same time, which would have actually been worse, since they had following seas, rather than meeting the waves head on!)

Someone reported that during that rough weather, Connie went into the Cheasapeake Bay and dropped anchor, can anyone comment on that?

Theron

[pamkev]

Originally Posted by RodPat

We had bleaching on our 10/21 sailing on Zenith. That lasted for two days and we had a stop in Miami and the CDC boarded and they passed. Fine for a few days and then the bleaching continued. No one I knew personally got sick but when this happens you will have no shrimp cocktail, no sushi, all meat done well done and everything will be served to you from the buffet. Even the coffee and water will be served to you. This takes alot of work for the staff so no one will carry your tray for you. If you do get sick, you can go to the sick bay for no charge but everyone in your room will be quarinteend (sp) so some people don't want to go to the doctor so it just mushrooms from there. You would be surprised how many people passed up the hand cleaner station. Keep your hands clean, don't touch your face with your fingers and you should be fine. I even learned to work the elevator with my elbow. Remember it is that time of the year and you could just as easily get sick in a crowd in NYC. Go have a good time, Connie is a wonderful ship. Pat

I was with Pat on this cruise and she hit it right. Now I was just told that the same time we were cruising the school I work for had the same type of outbreak. Last 24 to 48 hours in most staff and students, so must be this time of year

[pamkev]

Originally Posted by lysolqn

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

Nothing happens at our school when it hits.

[melaniausa]

Can anyone tell me who are the musicians on the Constellation?
Is Perry Grant at Michaels? What is the name of the duo at the Rendez Vous and the band at the poo? Is captain Papanikolaou on the ship?

Yannis

[Lsimon]

We just got off the ship too.

Precautions taken by the crew were indeed extreme. We heard conflicting rumors as to the number of effected passengers - not sure if anyone had the correct statistics on that. It made things very tough on us - no bar snacks at the martini bar! I shouldn't make light of it though as we met a few people that had a very rough time of it for a few days.

We enjoyed the cruise, our 5th on Celebrity, very much. The party band Axis was one of the best we've ever seen on Celebrity and we loved their music and constant energy. A very good band from St. Lucia with a contract running through next April. Yes, Perry Grant was at Michael's. Seemed like a very good entertainer, but playing to a different crowd than us. I believe the duo at the Rendez was the Mozart Duo, but someone said they were out sick the last few days of the cruise. I know that the Celebrity Orchestra played there one day and the last night the party band played before and after dinner sets there - we really enjoyed that!

I will say that we've seen similar measures taken against Noro outbreaks on our last two cruises on the Summit as well, although not as extreme as the measures on this Connie trip. I think they were waging all out war to break the cycle and end the outbreak. I think you might find noro outbreaks on any cruise on any ship or line, as we read about it frequently on the boards for all the lines. Not sure if there is any way to avoid it other than keeping up with healthy practices and crossing your fingers. While we met a few people who had gotten sick, and heard lots of stories - most people were not effected other than minor inconveniences. We wouldn't hesitate to go again ourselves if we had the chance.

Also - the weather and seas were VERY rough overnight the first night and the first morning of the cruise. But the ship didn't anchor anyplace because of this, and did make it to Key West on schedule.

[c-legs]

Originally Posted by lysolqn

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

good evening,

EXACTLY !!!! Even an outbreak at the local hospital hardly gets a whisper unless one of the patient has a friend/relative in the media....
Very good point, lysolqn....Keeps things in perpspective.

Thanks
Claude G

[BILLP1]

The reason it gets mentioned is because this is a board about cruises and people post from current trips.

No one that is not into cruising would have any idea that this is going on.