Covid Onboard Sojourn

[Techno123]

Just been watching something on the morning news programme which says there has been a significant spike in Norovirus including on cruise ships. It used to be the 'biggy' when boarding that you had to state you had no symptoms. Hand washing over sanitising is better for NV and Seabourn are well set up for that (if only the passengers made use of the facilities 😜)

[Mr Luxury]

5 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

Just been watching something on the morning news programme which says there has been a significant spike in Norovirus including on cruise ships. It used to be the 'biggy' when boarding that you had to state you had no symptoms. Hand washing over sanitising is better for NV and Seabourn are well set up for that (if only the passengers made use of the facilities 😜)

You can never trust people that's why you won't catch me near a buffet at sea or on land

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

You can never trust people that's why you won't catch me near a buffet at sea or on land

Exactly.  

Edited August 1, 2023 by SLSD

[jjs217]

I don't care if it is "just a cold".  It's horrible getting sick on vacation, especially a cruise ship where it's difficult to escape from other people.  If you have a cold, certainly don't go to the buffet - order room service.

[2SailingNomads]

We disembarked Ovation last Sunday after 21 days and there were a lot of cases, both of pax and crew.  One crew member we thought had left a week earlier but saw her the day we disembarked and shared she was just released.  At least 6 suites on our floor.  As to HD doing something he was useless the absolute worst ever, totally full of himself and something else that starts with the Same letter.  Most unfriendly HD I ever sailed with, similar take from 5 other couples who also have multiple SB cruises.

[TootyJane]

On 7/31/2023 at 2:29 PM, Techno123 said:

….

 

my issue is the lack of hand hygiene. Seabourn actually has sinks outside most of its public areas and yet so few people actually washed or sanitised their hands and there was no 'encouragement' to do so from staff.

My husband and I did use the sanitizer stations on our recent cruise onboard the Odyssey. I do like the fact that I don’t have to carry sanitizer around. There were no sinks in place that I am aware of. The fact that Seabourn has these stations is the ‘encouragement’. We’re all adults and shouldn’t have to be verbally reminded but we’re living in a world of self-entitlement now. Remember, you can lead a horse to water …

[Techno123]

@TootyJane perhaps Odyssey doesn't have the hand basins but Ovation definitely did.
 

Re the encouragement, adults shouldn't need to be verbally reminded but people often 'forget'. On several occasions people who were entering the Colonnade walked partly in, saw us sanitising and returned to do the same.
 

On a microbe incubator like a ship, infections can very quickly run rife. See @2SailingNomads comment re the Ovation cruise we were on but only for 14 days.
 

I don't know if Odyssey did the Galley lunch (or if you went) but every single passenger was supervised washing their hands prior to entering the galley.

 

To keep me entertained on my next sea day perhaps I will sit outside the Colonnade and count how many people do and don't sanitise 😂 (and don't get me started on the number of people who leave public bathrooms without washing their hands 🤢).

[frantic36]

I asked a friend onboard Sojourn how many cases and she checked for me two days ago. She could only find one case at that time and that person came down with it on Day 2 and my friend has been onboard for a week. So hopefully things have stabilised on Sojourn.

 

@Techno123 I agree the hand sanitiser is always at the entrance to the restaurants, bars and before boarding the ship but the number of times my husband & I have stood used the sanitiser and other people walk straight past. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt that just maybe they have just washed their hands elsewhere or they have a special sanitiser they use due to skin sensitivity, probably very naïve of me.

[Sunprince]

On 8/1/2023 at 8:52 AM, SLSD said:

On 8/1/2023 at 5:45 AM, Mr Luxury said:

You can never trust people that's why you won't catch me near a buffet at sea or on land

Exactly.  

I also do not like buffets and find the behaviour of people at buffets unbelievable. BUT, we also cannot see what goes on behind the walls of a restaurant kitchen/galley, including the handling of plates by servers.  Sometimes I have decided that I just don’t want to know as the alternative leaves me home in the kitchen cooking for myself.   

[hoya68]

28 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

I also do not like buffets and find the behaviour of people at buffets unbelievable. BUT, we also cannot see what goes on behind the walls of a restaurant kitchen/galley, including the handling of plates by servers.  Sometimes I have decided that I just don’t want to know as the alternative leaves me home in the kitchen cooking for myself.   

I am not a medical professional, but I believe COVID is transmitted in the air not on surfaces.

[Sunprince]

2 hours ago, hoya68 said:

I am not a medical professional, but I believe COVID is transmitted in the air not on surfaces.

Yes, you are correct re Covid. My response was more generally focused (and slightly off topic to Covid) about the hygiene surrounding buffets and also restaurants/server practices in general which can spread other health issues such as hepatitis, norovirus etc. 

[Techno123]

@hoya68 and @Sunprince  there was a recent article in the Lancet (April 23) which disputes that Covid is mainly airborne and investigated what happened when people coughed and sneezed into their hands etc. It was a piece of research undertaken in households but as we are one big household on a ship it is probably relevant. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/244251/covid-19-spread-households-linked-virus-hands/

[skybluewaters]

It is well known that there is some transmission of Covid by fomites, but numerous studies have shown that this is markedly less significant than airborne transmission. 

 

Some important quotes from this article:

 

1. "Despite the important findings, the researchers note that this is an observational study and as such cannot prove causation."

 

2. "Since we didn’t systematically sample household air, we cannot rule out airborne transmission occurring in parallel."

 

This last point is critical and seems to make the findings of the article rather meaningless.

 

It is still useful to wash hands and to clean surfaces, but doing so will only put a small dent into the spread of Covid. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by skybluewaters

[Sunprince]

2 hours ago, Techno123 said:

@hoya68 and @Sunprince  there was a recent article in the Lancet (April 23) which disputes that Covid is mainly airborne and investigated what happened when people coughed and sneezed into their hands etc. It was a piece of research undertaken in households but as we are one big household on a ship it is probably relevant. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/244251/covid-19-spread-households-linked-virus-hands/

Thanks, very interesting!  I generally do not enjoy people coughing or sneezing on me or my food, regardless of whether I get Covid or not 😀 but best to avoid if possible. 

[Techno123]

@skybluewaters you are correct with regards to the caveats in the article, however, someone with Covid who coughs or sneezes into their hands will have a significant number of viral particles on their hands and therefore hand washing or sanitising is still , as you say, very useful.

 

our grandmothers used to extol the importance of hand washing after using the 'facilities' and prior to eating and to be honest, whilst this thread is about Covid, my post #26 and @Sunprince #36 referred to some of the myriad of other infections which are transmitted via contact and for which basic hygiene measures such as hand washing have been shown to be effective.

 

 

 

 

[florisdekort]

I don’t understand this thread. We’ve cruised 10+ times since the pandemic and Covid has been on each of those sailings. It’s also at your local grocery store. Get used to it. 
 

[highplanesdrifters]

6 hours ago, florisdekort said:

I don’t understand this thread. We’ve cruised 10+ times since the pandemic and Covid has been on each of those sailings. It’s also at your local grocery store. Get used to it. 
 

If you catch Covid at the grocery store you are not quarantined to your bedroom by local officials with a little table outside your door for meals. 🤣

[Utopia1]

You make a good point-- but on the other hand while you recover all your meals and almost anything you need is delivered to your little table outside your room.

[Sunprince]

7 hours ago, florisdekort said:

I don’t understand this thread. We’ve cruised 10+ times since the pandemic and Covid has been on each of those sailings. It’s also at your local grocery store. Get used to it. 
 

The point to the thread if you read the initial posts, is that it was alleged that Seabourn was not following its stated health and safety protocols re Covid. It has nothing to do with the grocery store. 

[highplanesdrifters]

5 hours ago, Utopia1 said:

You make a good point-- but on the other hand while you recover all your meals and almost anything you need is delivered to your little table outside your room.

You also make a good point!  Let us not forget the doctor on board that makes house calls.  😁

[fdnycruiser]

You definitely do not want to be quarantined in your cabin, no matter how much they bring to your little table. Especially when you’re asymptomatic. Been there, done that, and not fun. 

[2SailingNomads]

And tests are now, so we heard, quite expensive on the ship, you are paying for them.

[Techno123]

Interesting fact - over the last 2 weeks, 5 members of our close family have tested positive for Covid. Mr Techno and I coming back from our Ovation cruise around Norway, Mr Techno's brother who lives 250 miles from us but whose daughter is cabin crew and my sister and her husband who live 20 miles from us and who have just flown back into the UK from the US so none of us have been in direct contact with each other.

It appears travel is the linking factor (not that that is going to stop me 😜)

[whogo]

1 hour ago, Techno123 said:

It appears travel is the linking factor (not that that is going to stop me 😜)

I have come home from travels with a cough or cold too many times. I wore KN95 face masks on our recent flights and remained healthy. Just one data point, but I plan to continue to mask up in crowded, confined places.

[SLSD]

22 minutes ago, whogo said:

I have come home from travels with a cough or cold too many times. I wore KN95 face masks on our recent flights and remained healthy. Just one data point, but I plan to continue to mask up in crowded, confined places.

We wore masks on our flight TO Copenhagen in June, but not on the way back.  We are not concerned about getting terribly ill with Covid at this point--but did not want to get it before our cruise!  We were two of VERY few on our flight(s) who wore masks.