Norovirus on the Ruby

[Bowie MeMe]

Flew from Santiago Chile to Miami on Sunday/Monday. Getting off the plane after 8 hours had to go around a poor soul barfing all over the jetway. Even handwashing wasn't making me feel secure about that one!!! Hope someone helped her but as for me and mine -- left the scene as fast as possible.

 

So far not sick (Mon. to Weds). I went from that plane with 200 people on it through the passport/customs/checkin/baggage/and coffeshop stops then boarded another plane within 2 hours for flight to BWI. Just imagine the germs and exposure rates I experienced just getting from ship to home and this happens on the way to the ship also. I think it is just luck and excellent cleaning methods/procedures that more outbreaks are not happening.

 

By the way the airline does not record nor must they notify anyone but the cleanup crew that a very ill vomiting young women was on our flight of 9 hours. Within an hour some other person will be on that airline seat (with no major cleaning and probably not a minor cleaning and certainly not with chlorine bleach) and the one next to it etc and using the bathroom with only cold water. This person might just be a fellow passenger on a cruise. Still want to blame just Princess or the lettuce producer??? You live and take your chances and pray that you and yours are lucky.

[lynwar]

Hello

I'd love to take a B2B sometime for the experience. However, both of us are retired now so wait for our annual cruise. The majority of the time there are no major problems -only this time, 2 ships got caught in the net.

 

Cruising is still a very good deal and I would hope that the lines don't overly suffer from this this.

 

Lynne

The Ruby is doing much better, from what I've read. The Commodore is on top of things there.

[ChevyCruiser]

Actually, wouldn't people bringing their own PERSONAL cups help at the buffet - as long as they don't touch the spout itself? Several people have mentioned that crew at the buffet tend to clean up dirty tables and then put out new silverware/cups with no regard as to what part they touch, thereby contaminating all those "clean" silverware and cups they put out!

 

I'm one of those who have observed cross-contamination practices on Princess and from what I have observed on Princess ships, it's the staff that we need to worry about.

 

I've observed them clearing dirty dishes from tables in the Horizon Court, and then turn around a reset a table with clean silverware without washing or sanitizing their hands.

 

I've observed staff in the Horizon Court remove unused tumblers from my table by setting them upright and then carying them by reaching down inside the tumblers to hold them. These formerly "clean" tumblers were placed on the "clean" tumbler tray for use in setting another table.

 

I've observed staff, after clearing dirty dishes, grab a handfull of forks and spoons and cradle the business ends in the palm of one hand to line them up, and then procede to set tables with them.

 

I've onserved staff wearing plastic gloves handle soiled utensils and then, without changing the gloves, handle clean items.

 

I always take my own insulated mug to the buffet, because I refuse to drink from a coffee cup that was placed upside down on a table top that may or may not have been cleaned.

[ChevyCruiser]

Here are some thoughts that I posted on another thread:

 

Concern about cross-contamination was and still is the key. Think of any public surface or any surface touched by another person as "unclean". Therefore, if that surface is unclean and you've touched it with your hand, your hand is now unclean and thus anything your hand touches is now unclean - such as your eating utensils, your food, etc. You need to break that chain of cross-contamination bewteen the unclean public surface and your mouth.

 

Common "unclean" surfaces on the ship are:

 

Restroom doors,

Elevator buttons,

Door knobs and handles,

TV remotes,

Telephones,

Handrails,

dining room menus,

salt and pepper shakers,

Tongs and serving spoons in the buffet line,

Tabletops,

Drinking vessels placed upside down on the tabletop,

Knives, forks, and spoons placed on the tabletop,

 

Other things to keep in mind are:

 

Servers wear gloves for their protection, not yours UNLESS they change the gloves between toucing unclean and clean surfaces.:(

 

Food service staff are supposed to wash their hands between handling soiled eating utensils and then handling clean utensils - how often do you observe that by the attendants in the Horizon Court?:(

 

That person you see leave the toilet stall and head on out the door without any handwashing is out there touching everything on the ship just before you do!:eek:

 

YOU are your own best advocate and protection. Take a few simple steps to break the chain of cross-contamination between everyone else on the ship and your hands/mouth and you'll increase your odds of staying healthy and disease free.

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

anytime you take two cruises in a row, it is called a back to back cruise. You could do 4 - B2B2B2B and many do. Princess is doing more 7 day cruises in the Caribbean and that isn't long enough for many of us so you do two.

 

I know what a b2b is. Otherwise, you provided the information I was looking for.

Why doesn't Princess just have a 14 day Caribbean itinerary? I mean, if so many people want longer cruises, why don't they provide that option?

[AttilaTheFun]

I'm one of those who have observed cross-contamination practices on Princess and from what I have observed on Princess ships, it's the staff that we need to worry about.

 

I've observed them clearing dirty dishes from tables in the Horizon Court, and then turn around a reset a table with clean silverware without washing or sanitizing their hands.

 

I've observed staff in the Horizon Court remove unused tumblers from my table by setting them upright and then carying them by reaching down inside the tumblers to hold them. These formerly "clean" tumblers were placed on the "clean" tumbler tray for use in setting another table.

 

I've observed staff, after clearing dirty dishes, grab a handfull of forks and spoons and cradle the business ends in the palm of one hand to line them up, and then procede to set tables with them.

 

I've onserved staff wearing plastic gloves handle soiled utensils and then, without changing the gloves, handle clean items.

 

I always take my own insulated mug to the buffet, because I refuse to drink from a coffee cup that was placed upside down on a table top that may or may not have been cleaned.

 

Thank you for confirming. I'm definitely going to pack 2 tumblers in my luggage for us to use at the buffet now. I'm also going to avoid any finger-foods as much as possible, since as you pointed out, the silverware could definitely be contaminated too. I really hope Princess re-trains staff on how to better prevent the spread of the virus and cross-contamination.

[billie5]

Why doesn't Princess just have a 14 day Caribbean itinerary?

Sea Princess used to do a lovely 14 day 'round the Caribbean cruise, with boarding in both Ft. Lauderdale and Barbados. Then it changed to boarding only in Barbados, as I recall. I don't know what they are doing now.

 

Coincidentally, when we did the cruise, Capt. Nash, the same one skippering the Crown, was in command. He had evidently missed a number of ports prior to our boarding in Ft. Lauderdale, and the Barbados customers were furious. (Yes, even among the Brits, there are those who second guess a captain) They seemed to have convinced themselves that Nash was gun-shy, so to speak, because of two crashes earlier in his Princess career. Fortunately, during our 14 days only one port was missed. In fact, we remember it as our loveliest Caribbean cruise.

[big_schots]

Just returned from the Ruby today. The virus was contained, We had additional sanitation conditions (no helping yourself at the buffet, Purell stations everywhere, no salt and pepper shakers, etc.) through Friday night. According to the captain there was very little Norovirus on the ship. He pretty much said they continued with the extra procedures as a precaution. I had no problems and the extra things didn't affect my cruise enjoyment, in the slightest. I actually missed having the crew serve me. The buffet lines actually seemed to have a better flow when they served us. It seems like people are less decisive when they need to help themselves. I don't think the ship, leaving today, will be under any extra scrutiny.

[tcs1366]

I would be very interested to hear updates from people that just left this ship or just boarded it today.... it seems the crown had it really bad and the Ruby didn't have such an extreme situation on-board... but I'm guessing Ruby passengers had to get off further away from the other ships to prevent it from spreading.

 

I too was on the Ruby on the 2nd cruise, Feb 5-12

 

there really was not much talk about it. our table staff did say on Tuesday of our cruise that some were stricken with the virus, and that is when she told us about the Crown having to turn back around early. She told us that they all had to keep cleaning their rooms too. Later in the week we asked about it again, and she said it was much better and those contained to their rooms and they were let out and no new cases were reported.

 

By Saturday, we were allowed to use the tongs at the buffet line but never did see salt and pepper shakers.

 

I'm hoping the virus is now "nipped" and the ship is nice and clean. Hoping the same for the Crown -- that one seemed pretty bad.

 

I think the crew did a great job. It was suggested to only use your own personal bathroom, but did notice that the doors on the public restrooms were open, so one less door handle to touch.

 

I will also echo someone mentioned no hand sanitizer in the casino. which i thought was odd, and also in the restrooms, only at the buffets and the dining rooms, where they made you use it.

[Sea&Me]

I know what a b2b is. Otherwise, you provided the information I was looking for.

Why doesn't Princess just have a 14 day Caribbean itinerary? I mean, if so many people want longer cruises, why don't they provide that option?

 

Good question. I keep asking Princess that. Maybe they make more money with the 7 day:rolleyes:. We've taken a lot of "true" 14 days and really miss them:(. Every January we do 14 days, except this year it was the b2b Jan 22 and 29. We had a great time on both segments and didn't get sick:). It's just not the same. I'll continue asking Princess to bring back the "true" 14 days.

[TorontoTL]

A b2b 7 days each is actually more flexible with sailing dates than 14 d cruises. Princess has had 14 d cruises in the Caribbean in the past, I suppose they didn't sell well enough to justify continuing them.

[bcgrad98]

My husband and I also just returned yesterday from the Ruby. We learned there were a lot of precautions being taken that weren't even noticeable until we knew about them. For instance, there were no ballroom dance lessons, crafting classes, or exchanging of papers for "grading" in the trivia contests during the heightened alert level. The last day and a half they were trying to squeeze in these activities they couldn't hold for the first part of the cruise.

 

We had a great trip and thought the staff did a wonderful job and kept wonderful attitudes about all the extra stuff going on. The only major thing we noticed was it took a while to get drinks at the HC sometimes because so many staff were serving the food and not available otherwise.