Just back from Allure - Norovirus status update

Got off the ship yesterday after a wonderful week on board Allure - still my favorite ship. After the delay in boarding due to the norovirus deep cleaning, I have never seen such a clean ship. The staff were constantly wiping down surfaces. At the beginning of the week, we would get up from our chairs in a restaurant, and the chair arms would be wiped down before the next person sat down. Towards the end of the week I was beginning to think that norovirus had been successfully wiped out, until the person sitting behind me in Cafe Promenade suddenly vomited. To put things in perspective, I witnessed one sick person on a ship with over 5000 passengers. If you have an upcoming cruise on Allure, I would say that you will still need to be extra careful with hand washing, but relax and look forward to a great vacation.

And here's a footnote - much is written about the quality of the entertainment on Allure/Oasis and it's all true. Amazing shows - don't miss them. And yet my favorite memory from this cruise was enjoying a glass of wine at Vintages in Central Park at night listening to the extraordinary classical guitarist and violinist. Simple perfection in the midst of all the 'Wow"!

Thanks so much for this update! We leave on Sunday. Noro or not, we always try to be vigilant. I have my Clorox wipes ready to go;)

Ali

Thanks for the update we leave in 2 weeks.

Thank you for the information. We sail on her 3/1.

We were on Allure last week also. The Noro is still around..... We were talking to a member of the staff around 'Day 4' and were told that there were some 8 or so cabins that were quarantined for Noro. That is not very many considering how may people were aboard, but it is still there to some extent.

A couple days before leaving the ship, the room steward left a form to check off (yes/no) if anyone in the cabin had experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms during the cruise. I guess they wanted to know which cabins to do a 'deep-clean' on before the new passengers boarded. We were happy to check 'NO' on the form....

An excellent rule to follow is to wash your hands A LOT. We washed before eating, after eating and every time we entered our cabin. Avoided touching our face with our hands. We avoided using the stair handrails and used our knuckles to push any buttons/switches.

What was of more concern to me were the numerous "Code Alpha" announcements we heard throughout the cruise. :eek:

Thank you for the update. We sail on 3/15 and hope this is in check by then.:)

What was of more concern to me were the numerous "Code Alpha" announcements we heard throughout the cruise. :eek:

I was on this sailing and we were wondering what "alpha" meant. Anyone know?

We were on this sailing also. We and 4 others were traveling on this cruise. We are extremely diligent, wipes, sanitizer, washing, washing, washing.Even sanitizer after reading the menu. On day 6 one of our 6 came down with the virus, on day 7 so did her husband.

The staff was constantly cleaning walls, rails, chairs, even salt and pepper shakers. I have never in our 16 cruises seen such cleaning.

Code Alpha means medical emergency. On one cruise, while in the solarium, we heard the code announced and medical personnel came running to help someone in the area. They were very swift and efficient.

I was on this sailing and we were wondering what "alpha" meant. Anyone know?

Here is the list of 'codes' that I have found the ships use.

Ship Announcement Codes

Alpha, Alpha, Alpha - Medical emergency

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo - Fire

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie - Security threat

Delta, Delta, Delta - is used by some lines for damage to the ship

Echo, Echo, Echo - Possible collision with another ship or the shore

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar - Man overboard

Papa, Papa, Papa - is used by some lines for a pollution incident, whether oil in the water or spilled dry cleaning chemicals

interesting to know

on our cruise Jan 18 on Allure I think there were two Alphas and one Charlie.

When we left the ship, we were very early, we first saw how someone in a hospital bed got out of the ship. 10 seconds later, a man with handcuffs was escorted from the ship by policemen. I think that was "Charlie"

 

And here's a footnote - much is written about the quality of the entertainment on Allure/Oasis and it's all true. Amazing shows - don't miss them. And yet my favorite memory from this cruise was enjoying a glass of wine at Vintages in Central Park at night listening to the extraordinary classical guitarist and violinist. Simple perfection in the midst of all the 'Wow"!

Looking forward to Vintages ourselves, especially 15% off evenings! did they have tapas or any type of food their that was enjoyable?

Looking forward to Vintages ourselves, especially 15% off evenings! did they have tapas or any type of food their that was enjoyable?

I don't have a link to a menu, but Vintages on Allure offers a variety of tapas items.

I probably shouldn't be reading this thread since the 3/15 sailing is my first cruise ever and I have apprehensions enough. But I appreciate the info and all the good advice. Hello, Purell!

And Vintages sounds good too...