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NoroVirus on the Sun

Eddie4Paws

By Eddie4Paws,
in Princess Cruises

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spongerob

spongerob

Posted
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With cold weather gripping much of the country, it's no surprise that it's showing up on ships. I do wish the newspeople who so diligently report these stories would also report the outbreaks at hospitals, schools, and offices. It is the second most common illness after the rhinovirus a.k.a. the common cold. I'm glad the CDC doesn't require cruise ships to report each occurrence of the sniffles or we'd never get any real news.

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kryos

kryos

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Yikes! Bring your anit-bacterial wipes! Can't be too careful these days.

I just got off the Sun this morning. Yes, there was an outbreak of the Norovirus ... and the captain got on the public address system (right in the middle of first seating dinner) on like the third day of the cruise to inform the passengers of the problem. He also strongly urged any passengers experiencing symptoms to seek medical attention, and assured everyone that there would be NO CHARGE assessed for consulting with the medical staff for such symptoms. We were also advised to attempt to use our own bathroom facilities instead of making use of the public restrooms whenever possible. Hand sanitizers were placed outside of all eating and drinking areas on the ship and passengers were advised to always use them before and after meals.

 

Passengers who were striken with the virus were placed into quaranteen (sp?) for about four days, and I heard some interesting stories about that. Apparently, one was not too happy to have missed four out of five ports and expected the cruiseline to compensate her for that. Also, every time I turned around the ship's staff was sanitizing public areas including bars, tables ... you name it. Also, the wait staff in the dining room gave out rolls and butter. They were not placed on the table. Same was true in the Horizon Court. In fact, in Horizon Court, all pepper and salt shakers were removed, and you got your salt and pepper in little sealed packets, instead.

 

I heard a rumor that this morning ... after all passengers were off the ship ... the ship was going to be "fogged." I have no idea what this entails, but apparently it is some major sanitizing procedure. From what I heard, even those passengers staying onboard for the next cruise (some 30 or so lucky folks) would have to stay on the open air decks during this time ... or stay ashore in Fort Lauderdale if they would prefer.

 

From what the captain said, a passenger in Fort Lauderdale embarked the ship with the virus. If he/she was experiencing symptoms at the time, that kinda sucked since we all had to fill out a questionnaire asking if we had any symptoms such as vomiting and diareeah (sp?) during embarkation. If someone had those symptoms, declined to reveal them, and went ahead and got on the ship knowing they were sick, well ... shame on them. :(

 

I don't know what else the captain and crew of the Sun could have done to protect passengers from this virus, and I think their immediate proactive efforts prevented this problem from becoming much worse than it apparently was. All it takes is one sick passenger to infect a boatload of people, and I certainly can't see how it can be seen as the fault of the cruiseline or a black mark on the ship when such an outbreak occurs.

 

Fortunately, I was not afflicted with any of the symptoms of this virus, and I think that is largely due to the immediate and aggressive efforts of the captain and crew of the Sun to contain the outbreak.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

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Eddie4Paws

Eddie4Paws

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Kryos,

 

Thanks for the report on how the ship handled it. Its good to know that they don't try to "hide" it from the other passengers. When I was on the Sun in December, I went to the Horizon Court for a little snack, and the hand sanitizer was empty. I asked one of the employees if she could refill it, and it was done immediately. Throughout the cruise, it was the minority of passengers that utilized the sanitizer. Most just barged right into the food line. I, too, always carried (and still do on land), little packaged towelettes to clean my hands if soap/water isn't readily available. I'm glad you weren't stricken ill during your cruise. : )

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kryos

kryos

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Rita..

 

Other than the stress of avoiding the virus, how was your cruise on the Sun..(was this your 1st Princess cruise?)

First Princess cruise ... but it certainly WON'T be my last! I had a blast. I plan to write up a detailed review this weekend and hopefully post it on Saturday. I would have written it tonight, but I left all my materials at home when I left for work tonight.

 

This cruise was by far my best to date and I enjoyed it so much that I booked the Island Princess to Hawaii on 4-19. Of course, that's gonna about break the travel budget for the rest of this year (and pretty much the better part of next one too), but ... hey, I'll fret about that when the time comes. :)

 

Blue skies!

 

--rita

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kryos

kryos

Posted
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Hey Rita,

I did notice that the Island Princess on her return from Hawaii makes a 'service call' in Mexico in order to sail back into Los Angeles. No more bus trip. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Yeah, in fact ... I guess depending on the time, some of those calls allow the passengers to get off the ship ... they linger there for about four hours. Not much time to do anything, but you can at least explore the shops, etc. I think this "service call" takes place the day before disembarkation.

 

You guys have a great time too ... on your next cruise! :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

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cruisequeen007

cruisequeen007

Posted
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Hi Rita,

 

This is the first time I have been able to get online. We arrived safely home Thursday evening. I was susprised to see the hullabaloo about the virus. The woman I walked with was not expecting a free cruise, she was just expecting Princess to show some empathy. Even if they offered some discount for a future cruise she would have been happy. Now I'm afraid she will bad mouth the cruise line for a lone time to come.

I will be writing my review as soon as I can.

 

Joanne

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ga-shel

ga-shel

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Here is what the CDC has to say about Noroviruses on Cruise ships and how to prevent it. If we could just get everyone to practice good hygiene and use a little caution the cases would go down extremely.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=128231

 

Good luck to those that have cruises coming up. I haven't cruised Princess, but I thought the more boards that I put this on the more people that would see it and maybe spread the word of how to protect yourselves.

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nancyox

nancyox

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we just returned from the 1/18 sailing of the sun.

 

our embarkation was a bit delayed (we couldn't board until about 12:15) because of a thorough disinfecting of the ship.....fine with me!!!

 

there were hand sanitizers at every dining entrance and food was served in the buffet...as mentioned before, no salt and pepper shakers on the tables at the buffet and rolls were served in the dining rooms. also, none of the perfume test bottles were out in the boutique until the last day....

 

we didn't hear of anyone getting sick with norovirus on our sailing, so i guess the time they took cleaning before we embarked helped out.

 

nancy

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