Hundreds get sick with intestinal bug on 3rd straight cruise

[MDCruiserz]

A case contains many events. The fact remains that they are near normal in Noro Virus events.

The Cruise line has, according to the CDC, taken all the usual steps and they have not been effective. They are taking some drastic measures to solve the problem for which they should be applauded.

 

Not quite true. A case is confined to an individual. An outbreak is a significant cluster of cases - more than expected. 45 outbreaks is a substantial problem.

[missygirl]

We (two couples) are booked for April 9...hoping and praying that the ship situation will soon be under control. I have also been very sick onboard before resulting in a trip to the ship hospital and not looking forward to a possible repete. Were keeping our fingers crossed for the next trip...

 

I talked with a Celebrity staffmember on a booking matter earlier tonight and the lady stated that they would have men in suits spraying the ship trying to kill the virus. Lets hope it works for all of us .

 

Missygirl

[dzcruisers]

There are lots of cases in SC not related to cruising. Does everyone not cruising go to a doctor or do they go to the pharmacy for what it takes to help them? It's been pretty prevalent down here, not just on cruise ships. 45 OUTBREAKS reported is substantial. A cruise ship would be one outbreak.

[Beach4me]

45 outbreaks is a substantial problem.

 

You are correct. And it IS a problem here in SC. I got hit with it 2 weeks ago. I work with the public and picked it up from a customer who came in shortly after his last "toilet trip".

 

The ironic thing is that I was scheduled to be on the first voyage out of Charleston but had to cancel because of my new job. Then I pick up the "cruise flu" at work. LOL! :eek:

 

btw - I also suffered Noro on a Princess ship a couple years ago. There is NO cruise worth the misery of Noro. Having been through it once on a ship, it is a no-brainer for me. If in the future I find myself in the situation of having to decided between going on a sick ship or getting a refund, I'm taking the money and running as fast as I can in the opposite direction. It's miserable to be sick with Noro at home. It is 100% times worse at sea.

 

Best wishes to all going on upcoming voyages. And to those talking about our sick state, cross your fingers for us, too. Trust me, we don't want to be sick. :(

[Truth_Hunter]

Wonder if they will delay next cruise and clean ship for a day?

 

a little late for that

 

i hope all those on the 3rd cruise file a law suit

 

totally uncalled for

[StevefromOhio]

Not quite true. A case is confined to an individual. An outbreak is a significant cluster of cases - more than expected. 45 outbreaks is a substantial problem.

 

The word cases was mine and incorrect. The article I read said "events".

There are significant Noro events all around.

To blame Celebrity is uncalled for they have taken every precaution.

I hope they are able to eliminate the problem on this cleaning.

My wife and I have taken advantage of Celebrity's offer and have cancelled our cruise.

As has been said earlier we agree and felt it just wasn't worth the risk.

We wish good luck and good health to those that have decided to embark.

[c-legs]

If the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the ship was not safe,

 

 

HUH ??? ''ship was not safe'' ??? Who said that ? Certainly not the CDC.

There was contagious issues which both the cruise line and CDC have already been working together to correct and sanitize, and CDC recommended a ''no sail'' period to assist sanitization efforts, to which the line readily agreed to.

but '' ship not safe'' ??

Whatever.....

[c-legs]

 

This is just another example of corporate greed in my opinion. They do not have the right to risk the health of that many people.

Corporate greed ?? Risk the health of many people ??

Get a grip.....Celebrity has stopped sailing for 4 days to further the sanitization efforts !!!! Which is the exact opposite of what you accuse them of !!!

....whatever....

[dzcruisers]

I have to agree about the hot foods theory. I have only taken about 6 cruises and the first 3 I enjoyed the salad bar and fresh cut fruits. A few hours later I would be in terrible GI distress. The last 3 cruises I totally avoided anything raw and presto...no mad dash back to the cabin to pollute my potty.

 

You know what I find very interesting about this noro season and many past? You rarely see a Disney ship struck with this (not never...just rarely). Those ships are TEAMING with children who are notorious for carrying and spreading germs. I am a mother of 4 children under the age of 8 so I know this first hand! Why could it be that we are not seeing it as much? Because parents take control over the little passengers and force them to wash their hands properly and use plenty of hand sanitizer!!!! Wish the adults traveling on these cruise ships could be so cleanly!

 

Jenn

 

 

Jenn

 

Plus I think starting in nursery school children are taught not to sneeze into their hands as most adults do. I can remember being on elevators with adults sneezing into their hands, wiping it on their pants and then touching elevator buttons and the railings.

In Savannah they have a great public service announcement made by three lovely young ladies (about 8 to !0) about the proper way to sneeze, wash your hands, stay in if you are sick, etc. It would serve X well to get a copy and play it for people as they are waiting to get on the ship.

[c-legs]

IMHO, I don't understand what you are implying. Please explain.

Eileen, it's probably all due to a contaminated CPAP.....Those folks should sign up for membership in the '' friends of ZZZZZZZ '' club....we've got it nailed down shut !!

Cheers

 

p.s.;we're back on Mercury this fall for a B2B from Vancouver-SanDiego-Baltimore, CPAP and all !!! Close to 4 years since the last one...remember ?

Claude

[Germancruiser]

I never would blame X- for such outbrakes- I am sure thousands and thousand of cruise passenger from diffrent parts of the world bring them on board. They can clean as much as they want- and they do- when new passengers arrive and carry the virus- well then is spreads- more or less!

The more people sanatise the less resistand the human body gets- don´t get me wrong, I mean they OVERDO with hygiene.

Sure when the Outbreak is there that one can not cautios enough and wash hands and use the hand sanatizers.

Michael

[CruisingChick]

I'm know the last thing Celebrity wants is for one of their ships to be a major focus of such large outbreaks. It was on the local ABC New York news last night (which I couldn't watch because we still have no cable tv from the HUGE storm we had over the weekend).

 

Anyway, the cruise line will lose way more money with the ship continuing to be sick then they would if they would by docking it for 4 days and disenfecting it.

 

We were on a Constellation cruise that was after an outbreak of noro and everything was fine for our cruise. The regular measures Celebrity uses to clean the ship and contain the virus USUALLY WORK. For some reason they are not working this time on Mercury. I'm not sure why.

[C 2 C]

There was a news streamer at the bottom of our TV this morning concerning an outbreak for a RCL ship.

[Konarina]

People have become very casual about sanitation after using a rest room, about sneezing on food at a buffet line, about making sure utiensils and dishes are thoroughly clean. No lukewarm food should sit outside on the back deck in the sunshine waiting to be served. I also think the cruise lines need to make sure no crew member has a cold, flu, or other problem when they are on duty and moving among cruise passengers or working in food service.

 

Handrails, door knobs, elevator buttons, gym equipment, barware, slot machine handles, countertops all need to be clean, sanitized and inspected. Many crew members and passengers come from societies where hygiene is not a prime essential, so the cruise lines need a strong education program with lots of follow-up and vigilance.

 

Cruise passengers also need to be more proactive. I have seen many passengers try to slip into the buffet line or dining room without using the hand sanitizer. Many people don't feel well when they leave home and hope it goes away while they are on the cruise but don't want to cancel, particularly if they didn't buy insurance. They need to be quarantined immediately to avoid spreading the disease or virus and cruise lines should consider including insurance with all cruise fares to avoid this problem.

 

Sanitation and disease control cannot be over emphasized.:)

[fastrock]

Hey these Celebrity passengers are not all from South Carolina!! That virus is everywhere. There are many other states and countries represented on this ship..

 

Wrong!!! I was on the March 8th Mercury sailing. I estimate from our frequent conversations with random passengers that 20% were from Charleston or close vicinity and 60+% from SoCarolina. Those we met from Canada, NY and WV did not contract noro. The dining room was half full by the 2nd nite, this indicates passengers were infected prior to boarding. So I am confident many came aboard knowingly or unknowingly, sick. We were bummed that Tortola got canceled or my DW suspects Merc was denied porting privileges. Carnival Victory passengers were warned to stay away from Merc passengers in port. This will pass when the noro season ends.

 

I have no axe to grind with Celebrity, they got dealt a losers hand on the noro front. But they need to work with Charleston Port Authority on the Charleston cruise port. I can't speak for embarkation because we were shuttled to N Charleston Performing Arts Ctr while the ship was cleaned. Dis-embarkation alone prevents me from recommending any cruise out of Charleston. Disembarkation from ship was disorganized yet the least frustrating, waiting for a shuttle bus to load & transport luggage & ourselves to parking garage 500 feet away had me shaking my head, but sitting on this shuttle bus for 40 minutes in queue to off-load luggage in garage one 18 shuttle bus at a time convinced me to not seek Charleston departures until corrected.

 

From my knowledge of the cruise industry, Charleston Port Authority needs to reduce or eliminate wasteful activity that doesn't move passengers swiftly out of the port facility. Passengers need to flow from ship to baggage pickup to customs to parking garage/hotel shuttles in one continuous building or CLOSELY connected buildings.

 

Eventually, Charleston cruise lines will need to draw passengers from several surrounding states, the current port operation will make turn distant passengers into one-time Charleston cruisers.

[Germancruiser]

Oh my- some people get ill out of fear of everything!

[cpj]

Washing hands and using sanitizers are great ideas but the virus can get into the food. What then dont eat. And cruise ships do not keep there food hot enough especially in the bacteria buffets.

[FLACRUISER99]

I never would blame X- for such outbrakes- I am sure thousands and thousand of cruise passenger from diffrent parts of the world bring them on board. They can clean as much as they want- and they do- when new passengers arrive and carry the virus- well then is spreads- more or less!

The more people sanatise the less resistand the human body gets- don´t get me wrong, I mean they OVERDO with hygiene.

Sure when the Outbreak is there that one can not cautios enough and wash hands and use the hand sanatizers.

Michael

Sorry, but only the crew has been on all of the trips. I don't fall for the excuse that it's the passengers fault.

[cruzeluver]

Sorry, but only the crew has been on all of the trips. I don't fall for the excuse that it's the passengers fault.

 

But if it was somehow a result of the crew members, wouldn't the number of crew members falling ill be higher? Those numbers have been but a mere fraction of the number of passengers.

[lysolqn]

Sorry, but only the crew has been on all of the trips. I don't fall for the excuse that it's the passengers fault.

 

Of course you don't because in a situation like this it's so much more satisfying to blame the cruise line simply because it's the easiest target out there. And BTW, if it's an "excuse" to blame the passengers as you suggest, it's every bit as much an excuse to blame the crew as you do.

[DocJohnB]

But if it was somehow a result of the crew members, wouldn't the number of crew members falling ill be higher? Those numbers have been but a mere fraction of the number of passengers.

 

Ahhhh, cruzeluver, common sense.

 

jtutak:

 

Did the taxi drivers from the airport, stay the same for all 3? Yep

What about the baggage handlers/porters? Did they stay the same? Yep

Same for the employees of hotels in the Charleston area.

 

There are many, many other people who had a common impact on all three cruises.

 

You don't have to fall for the excuse that it is the passengers "fault", but the odds are great that is the case. But why do you want to assign "fault"? It is happenstance, not fault. IMO

[TravelerThom]

There have been only 40 cases reported across the state of South Carolina. Compared to 36 this time last year.

 

It's now 45 OUTBREAKS (not cases) of Norovirus http://www.scdhec.gov/health/disease/han/docs/HAN-20100226-01.pdf

 

This is an update to the Advisory issued in January[/quote

 

And your point is........?

 

A case contains many events. The fact remains that they are near normal in Noro Virus events.

The Cruise line has, according to the CDC, taken all the usual steps and they have not been effective. They are taking some drastic measures to solve the problem for which they should be applauded.

I'm not sure what the definition is of a "case" and an "event" -neither term is used in the referenced SC DHEC document. They did state however

 

Since January 1, 2010 SC DHEC has investigated forty five (45) outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness that are either laboratory-confirmed Norovirus or have epidemiologic features similar to Norovirus. This represents a three-fold increase in the number of Norovirus outbreaks when compared to the previous three years of data.

 

A "three-fold increase" does not sound "near normal" to me. What is your basis to say "The fact remains that they are near normal in Noro Virus events"?

 

Thom

[wvufan]

I often listen to a daily radio show called Duke and the Doctor. Today they discussed Noro. One of the things they commented on was that most commercial food establishments use stainless steel because that surface is not very porous and is most difficult for a virus to attach to. However, they said that the Noro seems to be able to attach even to stainless steel and can sometimes stay there for weeks. They noted that it is as simple as someone who is contaminated touching a plate or utensil which is later placed on the stainless steel surface and it goes from there.

 

Not sure if all that is true, but it might explain why the noro is so resistant and persistant to cleaning. They also noted that alcohol based chemicals are not that effective and that bleach is the preferred way to kill the virus.

 

Hope they get it taken care of this week. We will be back on the Mercury for the canal cruise and look forward to another great cruise on our favorite ship.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

[cruise53]

I say we blame it on South Carolina and quarantine the state. I still haven't forgiven them for starting the Civil War.

 

Celebrity should get the heck out of there and bring the Mercury back to Baltimore.

 

Stirrin' the pot.

Rich

They should conceder moving the ship to Gulf port MS no virus and still in the south(Deep South)

[DanL]

A lot of disease is linked to how strong the immune system is. In the X CEO interview he made the statement that only 2% of crew had been sick vs 20% of passengers. Younger, stronger immune systems than the 60 plus age of the passengers. Just a fact of life.

 

We were on the 3/8 cruise. Biggest issue IMO was missing Tortola - wanted to do the Baths :(

 

We were on Mercury 10 years ago & IMO it needs major refurbishment or sell. 13 years of passenger bugs onboard.