***live from emerald---norovirus on board!!!*****

[cruzinchris]

Take it for what it's worth, but I saw this on another site:

 

"May 4

 

Coral Princess

Princess Cruises

 

The CDC reports 66 of 1507 passengers (4.38%) and 3 of 874 crew (0.34%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. The ship arrives in Ft. Lauderdale today following a 10-day cruise that began April 24."

 

My email was from CURRENT passengers on the Coral. The ship traversed the Panama Canal today.

Chris

[agreene]

Having a great TA and Northern Europe cruise ending May 13 at Copenhagen. The ship continues for another 12 days to do the Baltics.

 

BUT Norovirus is now on board so heads up to anyone joining the cruise in Copenhagen. During the past 24 hrs, even more cases have been identiified so it is NOT under control as yet.

 

It wasn't until 3 days ago that hand sanitizer stations were put out entering the dining rooms (have always been in the buffets) so that was our first sign of trouble brewing.

The next night, the wait staff had removed all the salt and pepper shakers on the dining tables and were using tongs to hand out breads/buns and butter. That night, the captain came on during dinner with the announcement of many cases of 'DIARRHEA AND VOMITING' which isn't exactly dinner time topics!

 

My husband had commented to the security staff that handles your cruise cards to scan your exit/entry about them not wearing gloves (everyone handles their card, coughs on it, etc then hands to security so viruses/germs can be spread). Next day, they were wearing latex gloves.

 

Advice to those joining the cruise in Copenhagen...bring a container of Chlorox pop up wet wipes to disinfect your cabin each time after the steward has been in (door handles, light switches, TV remote, patio doors..anywhere they have touched) to help stop the spread of disease from cabin to cabin.

Bring your OWN bottle of hand santizer to use in between the stations.

Do not touch the hand rails...use your elbow or sleeve of your shirt (they were cleaning them today finally).

 

Avoid using public washrooms..use your stateroom when possible.

 

Other than that, great weather, great ports, entertainment pretty good and menu is new so food is very good (always was good...now VERY good). Wine and drink prices I find to be reasonable...bottle of Rosemount Shiraz is $32 US and Nobilio Sauv Blanc is $30 US so fine by me.

 

over and out.

 

So sorry to hear this but thanks for letting us know. I am on this cruise later this month. Look forward to hearing more about your cruise and hopefully this gets under control.

[Front Row]

My email was from CURRENT passengers on the Coral. The ship traversed the Panama Canal today.

Chris

 

So the cruise that departed on 4/24/2011 had 69 infected, but now the cruise that departed 5/7/2011 is having an outbreak?

 

Any idea how bad it is Chris? We're on the Coral in 3 weeks.

[hillslife]

Remydiva...what a great person you are to help out a CC friend you have never met. That was so kind and thoughtful of you to contact her parents and report back.

 

Thats why I love CC - People like you make it special:)

[remydiva]

Remydiva...what a great person you are to help out a CC friend you have never met. That was so kind and thoughtful of you to contact her parents and report back.

 

Thats why I love CC - People like you make it special:)

 

No problem and i appreciate your comments. Many a CCer has helped me out in time of need (dd 'lost' between DFW and NO during hurricane...was found thanks to CC) so only too glad to help.

 

today in Dover with sun shining and White Cliffs absolutely gleaming :)

[blue cow dog]

Hi, Tina,

 

Glad to hear your family is ok. I see you've done another Emerald Princess cruise since the one we met. We're scheduled to sail on her again next March on the 10 day Eastern Caribbean Voyager.

 

Are you still playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook? I am.

 

Donna

 

Hi Donna,

 

Sometimes I still play. So many games to play on facebook. LOL We love the emerald as well as the Grand. We are doing the grand in November. Hoping to do a 10 day'er next year.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Remydiva,

 

Cute dog photo in your avatar...is that a schnauzer? (I have a schnauzer!)

[77Network]

Wearing gloves will lessen the chance the crew member will contract an illness, but it won't help passengers. If he handles a card that has noro on it, his gloved hands could transfer that noro to your card.

 

On our last two cruises, crew members scanned our cards without touching them using a hand held optical scanner. That's the way to go to lessen the chance of germ transmission.

 

Lew

 

 

Actually it does nothing for anyone. The virus does not get absorbed through the skin. Unless he has an open wound on his hands there is no point in wearing gloves. The odds of him getting it on his glove and then transferring it to his eyes, nose, mouth are about the same as him getting it on his hands and then transferring it to his eyes, nose, mouth.

[Floridiana]

Although I enjoyed my Princess cruise and booked two more, I am concerned that the line still does not do a good job of preventing Noro virus outbreaks.

 

They should learn from Holland America whose prevention procedures are exemplary. Azamara also had excellent prevention measures. Princess did nothing until there was an outbreak. Shame on them.

 

If there are Noro virus outbreaks again on my next Princess cruises, I will not rebook with them. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there.

 

(I hope somebody from Princess management reads this! If they don't know what procedures to implement, I can list what the Statendam crew did.)

[Carolyn R]

Although I enjoyed my Princess cruise and booked two more, I am concerned that the line still does not do a good job of preventing Noro virus outbreaks.

 

They should learn from Holland America whose prevention procedures are exemplary. Azamara also had excellent prevention measures. Princess did nothing until there was an outbreak. Shame on them.

 

If there are Noro virus outbreaks again on my next Princess cruises, I will not rebook with them. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there.

 

(I hope somebody from Princess management reads this! If they don't know what procedures to implement, I can list what the Statendam crew did.)

 

What does Holland America do that Princess does not? Just curious. I would be interested to see the stats on shipboard noro. :confused:

 

I have never had a noro virus incident on any of my Princess cruises, respiratory infections but no noro.

[geocruiser]

Here is a link to what cruise line and ships have out breaks of the virus. The link is from the CDC. HAL has no out break this year but had its share last year like other cruise lines.

 

 

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm#2011

[geocruiser]

P.S.

 

We were on Niew Ansterdam this Jan. and they were in code Red. But it is not listed on the CDC's web site as having a virus. Any one know why?

 

Maria

[Carolyn R]

I think that the ship only needs to report it to the CDC if a certain (?) percentage of the passengers are confirmed to be ill.

[kerrytens]

Remydiva,

 

Cute dog photo in your avatar...is that a schnauzer? (I have a schnauzer!)

I think it is a Bouvier actually - my family had one way back when I was a kid. Great dogs:D

[Infi]

What does Holland America do that Princess does not? Just curious. I would be interested to see the stats on shipboard noro. :confused:

 

HAL begins all its sailings in "Code Orange" mode: serving passengers food and drinks in the buffet, encouraging hand sanitizers, increased cleaning, etc. to try and stop Noro before it starts. The Code Orange lasts for 48 hours and as far as I've seen, is pretty effective at minimizing the spread of Noro that passengers have possibly brought onboard from their travels, homes, etc.

[Loonbeam]

It's important to note that overall the average age on HAL is a little higher, and compromised immune systems are more likely. An outbreak there can spread a lot quicker and be more severe overall.

[quote name='Infi']HAL begins all its sailings in "Code Orange" mode: serving passengers food and drinks in the buffet, encouraging hand sanitizers, increased cleaning, etc. to try and stop Noro before it starts. The Code Orange lasts for 48 hours and as far as I've seen, is pretty effective at minimizing the spread of Noro that passengers have possibly brought onboard from their travels, homes, etc.[/quote]

[Carolyn R]

[quote name='Loonbeam']It's important to note that overall the average age on HAL is a little higher, and compromised immune systems are more likely. An outbreak there can spread a lot quicker and be more severe overall.[/quote]

:eek::eek::eek:

[argenta01]

I know this is a bit off topic - but could someone on the Emerald now please let me know who the CD is. thanks :)

[Floridiana]

[quote name='Infi']HAL begins all its sailings in "Code Orange" mode: serving passengers food and drinks in the buffet, encouraging hand sanitizers, increased cleaning, etc. to try and stop Noro before it starts. The Code Orange lasts for 48 hours and as far as I've seen, is pretty effective at minimizing the spread of Noro that passengers have possibly brought onboard from their travels, homes, etc.[/quote]

It's true, they encourage the use of hand sanitzers by putting them everywhere: at the entrance to the dining rooms, at the elevators, in hallways. Their presence reminds people to wash their hands as well. Signs in the public bathrooms tell passengers to use a tissue to open the door.

They constantly cleaned everything hands might touch (handrails, elevator buttons and frame). On the Grand Princess (last November), I never saw anyone cleaning the handrails in the staircase until the ship had an outbreak.

The Azamara crew also cleaned handrails all the time. On Azamara as well as on Holland America, passengers did not hand their identity card to the security officer. We held it up to be scanned or put it into the scanner ourselves.

[remydiva]

[quote name='kerrytens']I think it is a Bouvier actually - my family had one way back when I was a kid. Great dogs:D[/quote]

Yes it is a Bouvier....my third and yes, GREAT dogs!

Cruise is over, we stayed healthy but people were still coming down with 'gastro intestinal' problems right up to the end of the cruise. Heard lots of horror stories such as 5 days in quarantine for one lady, two couples both with it from Day 7 of the cruise, etc etc.

This was a great itinerary and we loved the cruise over all. Highly recommend this trip.

Only negative comments was that the two comedians were so good that the Explorer Lounge wasn't big enough to seat all who wanted to go. Even though they played there 2 shows a nite for 2 nites, people were coming over 1 hr early for the 45 min show.

Hats off to Princess ground staff at Copenhagen airport to assist us getting our luggage and doing the self serve check in. We had to leave the ship at 7:30 am even though our flight was 2pm so maybe they wanted us off early to 'sterilze' the ship before the Baltic Sea part started on May 13.

Hope things have settled down for the second half of the cruise.

[pablo222]

[quote name='remydiva']
BUT Norovirus is now on board so heads up to anyone joining the cruise in Copenhagen.
[/quote]

I heard that CODE RED was finally lifted today.

[SJ27]

[quote name='remydiva'] Hats off to Princess ground staff at Copenhagen airport to assist us getting our luggage and doing the self serve check in. We had to leave the ship at 7:30 am even though our flight was 2pm so maybe they wanted us off early to 'sterilze' the ship before the Baltic Sea part started on May 13.

[/quote]

another one slightly off topic, how long did it take you to the airport? we are also on a flight around 2pm the day we dock there (doing emerald baltic next month)

[agreene]

[quote name='pablo222']I heard that CODE RED was finally lifted today.[/QUOTE]

What does code red mean?
I will be boarding next week.

[newyorkjameson]

[quote name='SJ27']another one slightly off topic, how long did it take you to the airport? we are also on a flight around 2pm the day we dock there (doing emerald baltic next month)[/quote]
We just got off the Emerald in Copenhagen after the transatlantic and everything was great. It took about a half hour to get from the ship to the airport. Luggage was in the parking garage and once you took your luggage and showed the color coded tag you went across the street to the counters. Remember to get your boarding pass at the kiosk, slid in your passport and it brings up your info. There did not appear to be a great number of people ill as the tour buses were full although I don't doubt there were people who became ill. This was our second transatlantic (Ruby 2010 and Emerald 2011) and both crossing were excellent, minor rocking one night on each trip. Enjoy your trip next month

[remydiva]

[quote name='argenta01']I know this is a bit off topic - but could someone on the Emerald now please let me know who the CD is. thanks :)[/quote]

CD was Billy London.