Food Poisoning on QM2??

[Daneite]

Just had an email from a friend who disembarked QM2 on the 12th October after doing a 5 day cruise NY to NY. He is very ill with what appears to be food poisoning and just wondered if anyone else has heard of anyone with the same thing or was he just unlucky?

Thanks!

[scrozuk]

Just had an email from a friend who disembarked QM2 on the 12th October after doing a 5 day cruise NY to NY. He is very ill with what appears to be food poisoning and just wondered if anyone else has heard of anyone with the same thing or was he just unlucky?

Thanks!

 

Not heard any other cases so far from other forums about this. Think if there was a general problem, I'm sure we would have started to hear about it by now from other people/media sources.

 

Hope your friend is feeling better real soon.

 

ScrozUK

[grandsix]

Not heard any other cases so far from other forums about this. Think if there was a general problem, I'm sure we would have started to hear about it by now from other people/media sources.

 

Hope your friend is feeling better real soon.

 

ScrozUK

 

Currently aboard and there does not seem to be an any major problem.

Many passengers both women and men do not wash after using the restroom. A sad state, but true. These people then touch the doors, railings, food tongs etc. and sometimes even grab food with their bare hands. All of this encourages noro type breakouts which not only effect the passengers , but also the crew. The ship does a fine job in reminding the passengers to wash hands with soap and water.

[CosmoKramer37]

Currently aboard and there does not seem to be an any major problem.

Many passengers both women and men do not wash after using the restroom. A sad state, but true. These people then touch the doors, railings, food tongs etc. and sometimes even grab food with their bare hands. All of this encourages noro type breakouts which not only effect the passengers , but also the crew. The ship does a fine job in reminding the passengers to wash hands with soap and water.

 

What many people attribute to food poisoning (especially in the Western World) is in fact Norovirus or a similar variant, which gives similar symptoms.

[milkcow]

Our eastbound QM2 crossing Sept 12, for the first three days, all of the men's and most of the women's public rest room doors were blocked open. So no touching the handles. And no sickness.

 

Our westbound Grand Princess crossing Sept 25, one feature which I though was really helpful: all the (men's anyway) restrooms had a small supplemental paper towel disposal can within reach of the exit door: so you could grab the door handle with paper towel in your hand, open the door, then toss the paper towel into the trash within easy reach.

 

Agreed: too many guys rush out without washing, even on ships.

 

David

[MCC retired]

Sure , blocking the restroom doors open may help . What about the next 50 things that get touched ? (elevator buttons, railngs , buffet serving utensils, etc..):(

 

My wife says I would be astounded as to how many women also fail to wash their hands , or even flush ?:(

 

It's an ugly problem everywhere , not just aboard ships.:o

[Salacia]

Just had an email from a friend who disembarked QM2 on the 12th October after doing a 5 day cruise NY to NY. He is very ill with what appears to be food poisoning and just wondered if anyone else has heard of anyone with the same thing or was he just unlucky?

Thanks!

 

Hi Daneite. Best wishes to your friend, and I hope he is feeling better. May I suggest that if he is still unwell, a visit to a doctor might be necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment. (If he did contract Norvirus---which is not caused by food but rather a virus, my understanding is that by now it would have resolved itself as symptoms last for only a couple of days.)

 

Regards,

Salacia

[AirbusPat]

We were on the same cruise and have had no problems.

 

 

Pat

[scrozuk]

I think it just comes down to the age old problem of people not washing their hands after they've been to the toilet.

 

Then of course there's the people who decide not to carry a hanky and sneeze into their hands, then inadvertantly either touch a hand rail, a door handle, a lift button, the list goes on.

 

It's not a problem that will go away I'm afraid, not without cruise lines taking extreme steps with hygiene controls.

 

When on a cruise, I don't want to be paranoid about hygiene and wanting to make sure absolutely every surface is sterilised, but where there's risk, notably near toilets and the restaurants, you just cannot be too careful.

 

ScrozUK

[capnpugwash]

Just heard from passenger on board confirms that there is no word of any food poisoning on QE. She says the food is better than ever and is having a great time.

[brigittetom]

Our eastbound QM2 crossing Sept 12, for the first three days, all of the men's and most of the women's public rest room doors were blocked open. So no touching the handles. And no sickness.

 

David

 

They had the doors blocked open during our entire 26 days before your crossing and for the life of me, I couldn't imagine why and never got around to asking. Personally, I thought this was very awkward. I would much rather see them put up huge signs..or whatever...but keep the doors closed.

 

I don't remember ever seeing anyone leaving the restroom without hand washing but I don't think it's too much to ask......to not have people sneezing and coughing into their hands and picking up tongs in the buffet or anything else. Really, wasn't that basic training from our parents? :)

[david,Mississauga]

Currently aboard and there does not seem to be an any major problem.

Many passengers both women and men do not wash after using the restroom. A sad state, but true. These people then touch the doors, railings, food tongs etc. and sometimes even grab food with their bare hands. All of this encourages noro type breakouts which not only effect the passengers , but also the crew. The ship does a fine job in reminding the passengers to wash hands with soap and water.

 

There are many reasons why I never go to a buffet at sea and the fear of sickness is but one. If I did, I would be certain to wash my hands and use the sanitiser, but who knows what sanitation standards are observed by the hundreds of other passengers who may have previously touched the serving utensils. I can use the tip of a pen to push a button on the lifts, but handrails are a problem.

[pnhmrk]

to not have people sneezing and coughing into their hands and picking up tongs in the buffet or anything else.

 

Funny - I remember a steward coughing and sneezing into his hands as he dished out the hand sanitiser gel to returning passengers :D

[milkcow]

My wife says maybe the answer is to bring a bunch of washable white gloves and be stylish.

 

If the ship is not moving too much I try to just run my arm along the railings and not hold on and not use the elevators at all, but if we are rough seas, safety is more important than germs!

 

David

[pnhmrk]

My wife says maybe the answer is to bring a bunch of washable white gloves and be stylish.

 

Unless you are changing your gloves every couple of minutes you'll find that they harbour more unpleasant substances than your hands do :( (Not just bacteria :eek: ) Would YOU want to be responsible for causing illness amongst a lot of other passengers? :confused:

[brigittetom]

Funny - I remember a steward coughing and sneezing into his hands as he dished out the hand sanitiser gel to returning passengers :D

 

I think that if we knew everything that went on, our heads would explode.:D

[pnhmrk]

our heads would explode.:D

 

Or our stomachs :eek: :D

[Salacia]

Unless you are changing your gloves every couple of minutes you'll find that they harbour more unpleasant substances than your hands do :( (Not just bacteria :eek: ) Would YOU want to be responsible for causing illness amongst a lot of other passengers? :confused:

 

Yikes, pnhmrk, If I remember correctly, white gloves are worn by the Captain and the senior officers on formal nights.

 

Gloves, worn while shaking hands, are removed prior to eating. I'm missing why wearing gloves would be more responsible for causing illness than bare hands?:confused:

[pnhmrk]

Yikes, pnhmrk, If I remember correctly, white gloves are worn by the Captain and the senior officers on formal nights.

 

One of the reasons is to stop them having contact with so many ditry hands :(

 

Gloves, worn while shaking hands, are removed prior to eating.

 

And why do you think that is? :confused: Could it be something to do with the fact that they're not very clean when they've shaken a lot of hands?

 

I'm missing why wearing gloves would be more responsible for causing illness than bare hands?:confused:

 

You can wash your hands with soap and water and then dry them in a few seconds - you've got clean hands. Gloves take more than a few seconds to dry so you end up not washing them lots of times in the evening.

[Salacia]

Okie dokie.

[Seacucumber]

Sometimes fellow passnegers with mild Norovirus get on the board without admitting them and it spreads through unhygenic habits of not washing the hand etc. People also eats outside the ship when they go outside like visitng clam-bar or eating raw Oysters and then when they reboard the ship they get sick after their regular meals. Then they blame it on the ship's food. We generally don't eat on shore, and we wash out hand throughly, don't touch any food in buffet with bare hands.

[The Real PM]

Sometimes fellow passnegers with mild Norovirus get on the board without admitting them and it spreads through unhygenic habits of not washing the hand etc. People also eats outside the ship when they go outside like visitng clam-bar or eating raw Oysters and then when they reboard the ship they get sick after their regular meals. Then they blame it on the ship's food. We generally don't eat on shore, and we wash out hand throughly, don't touch any food in buffet with bare hands.

Well, there is but one answer then. I propose that we insist upon a monitor in each public bathroom on our ships who checks each person after he has departed from the stall--or urinal, making sure that he/she correctly washes his/her hands. Oh, and perhaps a small camera in each cabin's bathroom to monitor the passenger's hand washing skills. We can't be too safe these day!

[brigittetom]

Well...I do think the basic precaution is to keep your hands away from your face after touching most anything on the ship. Better yet, don't touch anything on your face before touching anything on the ship. :D

[Salacia]

quote=brigittetom;26540468]Well...I do think the basic precaution is to keep your hands away from your face after touching most anything on the ship. Better yet, don't touch anything on your face before touching anything on the ship. :D

 

 

[laughing]

 

We'd all be shipped faced!:D:eek::D

[lannp]

Tummy upsets, etc. can also be blamed on what you eat and how much. There might be something normally not in your diet that can disagree with you. Some people don't have the cast-iron stomach they think they do.