Health and Medical on a Cruise Ship Particularly Silverseas New Ships.

[flyers]

Having recently come off 23 days on the Silver Nova https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3003961-live-from-the-nova-fort-lauderdale-to-vancouver/ it has occurred to me that this is a subject that bears rethinking especially with the New Nova and soon Ray that have shown a preponderance to harboring and even propagating many sick guests. A recent guest on the same cruise had this to say :

 

“We boarded the Silver Nova on 16th. April 2024 in Ft. Lauderdale to be met initially by a very uncertain situation where we were unable to access our suites for over four hours.  Rumours swirled around and as many of the passengers were receiving information from outside the Silver Nova, authorities finally admitted to us that there had been an occurrence of Nova virus on board and they were having to do additional disinfecting protocols.  Anyway we got past that one.

 

During the cruise I noticed that many people had what we began to call "cruise cough" - two of my Trivia team members had it - one of them had been put in quarantine in her cabin by the doctor for one day ( I am not sure of the efficacy of that action)  The other team member was told by the doctor to buy Nyquil and Dayquil from the shop on board,  but as we were in port of all day - that meant she had to wait over 24 hours to purchase any medication.  I also noticed when I attended lectures many of the other attendees were coughing and spluttering. 

 

The day we disembarked in San Francisco I began to feel that I was coming down with a bad throat.  We had planned to meet family and go to the Napa Valley which we did but by day 3 my health deteriorated badly and I ended up in the Napa Hospital with a very high fever and blood pressure.  They stabilized me and took many tests and advised I had "human metapneumovirus hMPV", which  I caught on the ship. 

 

My concern is that air conditioning and filtration system on this and other Silverseas  ships is not robust enough to filter out all the germs that were swirling about during this last voyage.  Because of the configuration of Decks 10 and 11 The Marquee Restaurant and the Dusk Bar are mainly outdoor spaces and became unusable as the weather became colder and wetter.  This meant that more people were using the other restaurants and bars on decks 3,4 and 5 these became very crowded and thus ideal places for viruses to be spread.” 

 

Many Silversea's Guests are like ourselves getting up there in age and our experience on board would indicate that the Company is woefully lacking in providing adequate prevention and medical help and expertise. Our trips to the medical department showed only three chairs close together to sit in while waiting for the one ‘Junior Doctor’ to attend to us. When we finally got to see him he prescribed a nebulizer to help clear our lungs the only problem was the ship had only one nebulizer amongst we estimated more than 300+ sick people and not even counting the crew!

 

It is painfully obvious that the two new ships of the Nova and Ray are designed for warmer weather cruising and the effects of consigning 700+ people to the lower decks of 3,4 and 5 where the rest of the bars and Restaurants were located only served to incubate any sickness that is brought on board by boarding passengers. Heaven forbid that there is a COVID outbreak on one of these ships when in colder climbs particularly. 

 

We had booked a 30 day back-to-back from Tokyo to Vancouver in 2025 in a top suite on the Nova however after this experience we have cancelled this cruise and in fact are wondering if we will even go back to Silverseas which is now so different from the Silverseas that we knew and loved when owned by Manfredi!

 

We recently were on the Regent Mariner in September/October and did not get sick nor did we notice a any incidence of coughing as we experienced on the Nova and would be keen to hear from other guests if their experiences on other lines.

 

Here is a photo that we took in the middle of the day halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco as you can see there is not a single person on Pool deck 10. and so it was on deck 11 as the swirling wind and temperatures made these areas untenable.

[Mahogany]

I hope you meant "norovirus" unless this is a new Silver Nova virus! 🤧

[flyers]

Thats a straight quote from another guest.....

[flyers]

But then you never know!

[drron29]

It doesn't matter which ship you are on they all are wonderful places to pick up a virus. the problem is not the ship but the passengers. it only takes one with a communicable disease to board. If that passenger doesn't take some precautions such as self isolating the whole ship is at risk.

Just because there was no apparent illness on 1 Regent cruise is no quarantee that your next cruise on Regent will also have no illness spreading around the ship.

 

Just because a doctor is a "junior" doctor doesn't make them a bad doctor. It is often said that the most knowledgeable doctor is the one who has just finished his exams.

I have been on at least 2 Silversea cruises where the ships doctor was excellent. The last was on our recent Muse cruise where an older gent had a heart attack and had 8 cardiac arrests whilst still on board. He was evacuated by helicopter to a Japanese hospital where after a week he was conscious and talking and 2 weeks after the message was they were contemplating releasing him from hospital to fly home.

The second was on the Explorer cruising from Japan to Fiji where the ship's doctor arranged clinics at several places in New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. 5 of us older docs joined him. One of the best experiences in my career.

[pavementends]

God I hope it's not a nova (new) virus. We're just getting past the old one.

 

Seriously. Cruise ships represent a risk for the propagation of contagions. Maybe not as bad as tour buses or rock concerts, but more than a walk in the wilderness. I do not believe (and have not seen) any slackness about this on the part of crew. Now passengers are another story. Not everyone cleans hands as appropriate (and that is the principal means of transmission of the norovirus).

 

If you are unusually vulnerable don't cruise and stay home. If you want to reduce risk wear masks in a crowd. Last summer some did. We didn't, and survived. Although the covid experience has led to avoiding crowds when possible.

[jollyjones]

I’d suggest reading up about hMPV - it’s highly infectious and extremely common. 
 

 

[alainciao]

Just got off Nova 14 days Vancouver to Seward and back. I had followed flyers posts and appreciated all the information including the warning about not being able to use the outdoor facilities.  I agree that the optimum cruise for the Nova is warmer weather.  The outdoor areas are fantastic.  We had 628 guests on the first leg and there was no problem handling us inside. Second leg the same although I did not ask for the guest count.  There was some coughing going on but nothing like an outbreak.  No one talked about it as an issue. This was our first SS cruise (Regent, Seabourn mostly) and SS is an excellent cruise line.  Nova takes a little getting used to with its unique layout.  Never met anyone who wasn’t loving the cruise.  Little nitpicks?  Of course.

[turtlemichael]

6 hours ago, alainciao said:

 Never met anyone who wasn’t loving the cruise.  Little nitpicks?  Of course.

We have an upcoming Nova cruise. In this day and age, it is always good to see an experienced cruiser who is happy with their vacation.

[labrasett]

Face the fact - cruise ships are floating petri dishes, you either cruise and run the risk of picking something up or you dont.  SSC do their level best to sanitise and clean the ships fully on turn arounds and in daily and constant cleaning but stuff happens.    Passengers are significantly inconsiderate of others and hand washing/sanitising is another subject all of its own!   Norovirus runs through ships so very easily but also just easily through resorts and hotels or in fact anywhere there are a lot of people in a relatively confined space.   You either run the risks associated with travel or you stay at home.   I know what I choose. 

[Techno123]

Norovirus elimination requires frequent handwashing with hot water and soap - sanitiser is not as effective. Seabourn Ovation actually had sinks outside the main public areas as well as sanitiser. It is no good washing your hands in your suite/cabin/room prior to dining either if you then go on to touch handrails/door handle/elevator buttons etc on your way to meals as you can guarantee these have been touched by those who don't believe in hand washing or who cough or sneeze into their hands rather than elbows.
 

Perhaps as well as a muster drill we should all be given a hygiene drill at the beginning of each cruise 😂😜

[flyers]

Well, it`s been nearly a month since we disembarked the Nova and are only finally starting to feel ourselves again. What was very obvious from this cruise was the number of guests that came aboard sick and thought nothing of spreading their germs. In fact, there was one 'gentleman` who was in the Gym everyday coughing and spitting into the provided towels then went and used the Steam bath to make sure that his germs continued to be spread widely. I did report this to fitness instructor and finally to the Hotel G.M. but nothing was ever done to stop this individual and I believe this is who I caught the virus from which ended up ruining our last week on the ship. This also emphasized that the Room Service menu was far too abbreviated and of questionable use when one is confined to one`s suite. In the Old days of Silverseas and in fact most luxury Cruise Lines one can order from some of the Restaurant Menu`s. Silverseas, at least on the Nova, has done away with this and is just another indicator that Guest comfort is no longer important to the RCI management.

Presumably this is why they have combined the status to find more willing to take over from those that they will lose!

 

[LAexNY]

We are on the Wind now.  You can order room service from any restaurant menu during that restaurant’s hours.

[Port Power]

2 hours ago, flyers said:

Well, it`s been nearly a month since we disembarked the Nova and are only finally starting to feel ourselves again. What was very obvious from this cruise was the number of guests that came aboard sick and thought nothing of spreading their germs. In fact, there was one 'gentleman` who was in the Gym everyday coughing and spitting into the provided towels then went and used the Steam bath to make sure that his germs continued to be spread widely. I did report this to fitness instructor and finally to the Hotel G.M. but nothing was ever done to stop this individual and I believe this is who I caught the virus from which ended up ruining our last week on the ship. This also emphasized that the Room Service menu was far too abbreviated and of questionable use when one is confined to one`s suite. In the Old days of Silverseas and in fact most luxury Cruise Lines one can order from some of the Restaurant Menu`s. Silverseas, at least on the Nova, has done away with this and is just another indicator that Guest comfort is no longer important to the RCI management.

Presumably this is why they have combined the status to find more willing to take over from those that they will lose!

Unfortunately the staff have no authority to tell a guest to go away.  Not even the doctor or nurse can insist a passenger take a COVID test bless it is ship wide.  I’ve just been in the same situation on a bus tour where people cough into their hands and then touch various surfaces. Or don’t cover their mouths at all!  I took precautions myself.

 

As mentioned by @LAexNY, restaurant menus are available for room service when the restaurant is open.  You cannot view the menu before 7:00pm though.

 

You have not been happy with Silver Nova or Silversea.  I’m sure you’ll find another cruise line to suit you.

[LAexNY]

Actually, each day’s menus are distributed the night before - both lunch and dinner.

[drron29]

7 hours ago, LAexNY said:

Actually, each day’s menus are distributed the night before - both lunch and dinner.

Indeed they are on the TV under restaurants.

 

As to those who cough there was one spectacular failure on our last cruise on an excursion. A couple were wearing masks but took them off to cough!

[mysty]

7 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Indeed they are on the TV under restaurants.

 

As to those who cough there was one spectacular failure on our last cruise on an excursion. A couple were wearing masks but took them off to cough!

 

Took them off to cough?  Some dots are not being connected there!  🙄

[Port Power]

20 hours ago, LAexNY said:

Actually, each day’s menus are distributed the night before - both lunch and dinner.

I should have elaborated that the meals are not on the room service menu as seen on the suite’s television screen until 7:00pm.