Noro Virus and the Cruiselines

[coolcat12]

I was reading some of the posts about the recent Norwalk Virus issues on recent sailings. What do any of the cruiselines do if a passenger get sick right before their cruise? If a passenger calls Royal Caribbean the night before about a stomach illness they are having will RC cancel or rebook their cruise with no penalty? Do you think that the cruiselines are contributing to the Noro breakouts if they don't allow for last minute illness cancellations? I would hope a responsible cruise company like Royal Caribbean would allow for cancellations or rebookings during Noro outbreaks. What do you all think? What should the cruiselines' responsilbity be? It would be a perfect world if the sick passengers would just stay home and spare us all...but you know some of them will board sick anyway.

 

Jill

[ckrobyn]

Unfortunately, most of the recent noro virus outbreaks can be traced back to a single ill passenger who managed to spread the illness through the ship. I don't know what RCI's policy is on cancellations....but my advice to anyone that is ill with anything gastrointestinal within 48 hours of a cruise....do yourself and 2500 passengers a favour, stay home......:(

[TPKeller]

This is a very interesting and important question. As hard nosed as the cruise lines tend to be about not refunding money for any reason (this isn't about insurance, so I'm not talking about that) if you can't make your cruise, I would personally be very reluctant to even ask the question.

 

I would expect them to ban you from the ship (they seem to have no problem putting you in quarantine if you are sick while on board) and offer no refund at all. This would clearly seem to be contrary to smart business practice (keep the sick person off the ship, so they won't infect others).

 

I think from a passenger's standpoint, if I were going to lose all my money, I'd rather board the ship, be sick for a couple days, then enjoy the rest of the cruise. What incentive do I have to give up thousands of dollars?

 

I would not admit that I was feeling ill unless I had a guarantee of refund in writing. Maybe a few would take advantage and abuse that policy. The alternative is what we have now, with CNN coverage putting bad light on the whole industry. Which costs more?

 

They need to address this.

 

Theron

[sailor moon]

I still haven't figured out how they "trace" the illness to one or more person. How do they figure it out?

[JeannetteC]

We cruised on Princess last summer in Alaska. A couple of passengers were let on the ship even though they were ill. They were confined to their cabins. We were told about this by their friends who were not ill and not confined. I've heard that if you're vomiting, they won't let you board.

 

On the last night of the cruise, both my husband and I got the Norovirus. The ship's doctor and nurse told us that they had been up all night tending to others with the virus as well. Disembarking was a nightmare and would have been impossible except for the shots and pills they gave us to stop the vomiting and diarrhea. We were sick for two days in port.

 

The cruise lines do all they can to stop the spread. They encourage you to disinfect your hands before using the buffet and after going to the bathroom. However, we saw several people refuse to clean their hands and being indignant that they were asked to do so. There are a lot of stupid people crusing with you so you must take precautions.

 

We made a special effort not to touch handrails and to use anti-baterial gel to clean our hands often (particularly when returning from port) but our luck ran out the last night.