Solstice Continued Noro Problems

[DrJJ]

Just off the Dec 18 to 26 Solstice Holiday cruise. It was a great cruise until December 25 evening when a family member developed severe GI problems. The nurse practitioner who visited our cabin informed us that multiple cases of GI distress had begun occurring that evening and that 3 medical teams were "swamped" dealing with the outbreak. Although the nurse practitioner thought the outbreak was due to Noro virus, I am suspicious that the outbreak may have been due to food poisoning, as no other family members (who shared close quarters), developed symptoms. Symptoms resolved after about 18 hours.

[Amagamma]

We were on the previous cruise, and after a major cleaning on embarkation day, no self service all week at buffet and "purell people" at every door, including to the shops, we were told by a sr. officer that as of Friday, there were no new cases of noro onboard. Not sure why it keeps showing up on the Solstice, I guess it can happen anywhere though.

[DrJJ]

There was self service buffet the entire cruise, but staff offering Purell were still omnipresent. Of course if this current outbreak was caused by food poisoning rather than Noro Virus then all the Purell in the world would not have prevented it.

[miXterOB]

We were on the 12/18-26 cruise as well and this is the first I've heard of any such issue.

We had a wonderful time...food and service were excellent.

Sounds likd an isolated case to me.

[Gonzo70]

We were on the 12/18-26 cruise as well and this is the first I've heard of any such issue.

We had a wonderful time...food and service were excellent.

Sounds likd an isolated case to me.

 

Exactly. I think some people are over scrutinizing every sickness (or suspected sickness) on Solstice as "proof" there is something wrong with the ship. This is flu season. Anytime you have thousands of people in one place for several days in a row, some people are going to become ill at some point. It would be a miracle if nobody at all became sick during a week or longer cruise on any large cruise ship.

[DrJJ]

Unfortunately when an outbreak of GI distress occurs on the same day (as it did on December 25 on the Solstice) with many guests either the cause is Noro virus or food poisoning. Given that one of my family members became ill on that day and no other family members did despite close contact with the index case, but others on the ship became ill, I think food poisoning is more likely.

[CelebCruiser1]

I know of at least 3 additional cases from the December 18th, all of which occurred within 24 hours of disembarkation. The three people all had different meals the final day.

[GregNVNY]

Although the flu is not discussed much, it can be easily transmitted as well in around this time of year. I think a flu shot is a good precaution to help prevent an illness that can be just as miserable and last a lot longer than Noro and has the potential to have serious effects on the elderly. It is so easy to go to CVS, pay $30 and get this year's vaccine. The needles are so thin now, when I received mine I barely felt anything.

[ccletzgo]

Unfortunately when an outbreak of GI distress occurs on the same day (as it did on December 25 on the Solstice) with many guests either the cause is Noro virus or food poisoning. Given that one of my family members became ill on that day and no other family members did despite close contact with the index case, but others on the ship became ill, I think food poisoning is more likely.

 

Noro is also transmitted through food.

[j1jazzy]

Our kids got it as well. They ate different things that day, seemed like it was the 20'somethings that got it. The only place they were that we weren't was the night club

[PS90]

I was also onboard, and never heard of or knew of any cases of GI issues. In any case, they never changed any of the buffet protocols back to "Noro-guard" (no self-service), as they had on the previous cruise.

 

I would expect food poisoning to impact many more people than just a couple in a family, considering the amount of food that is put together at one time.

 

Of course, we ate in Blu most of the time, so we may have been ignorant to other goings-on.

[Boo2]

We were on the same cruise; it was the second half of a B2B. On disembarkation day, as I was leaving one of the public restrooms, there were people being ill in two of the stalls. They were not together so it was two separate cases. I'm not saying it was definitely Noro but we were told by a staff member on the previous cruise (Dec 11) that there had been two cases of Noro reported, even after the "deep clean".