Crown Princess Delay - Norwalk Virus

[zacc]

We have stopped eating the samples of fruits, nuts, etc that your tour guide stops for on the side of the road and cuts with a knife that he pulls out of his back pocket where it's been for who knows how long and may or may not have ever been washed. We've all seen ourselves and fellow cruisers without hesitation dipping into bowls to try this or that because the guide recommended it.We tend to blame the cruise lines because that's where the illness shows itself, but in all likelihood, we are bringing it on board from the stuff we're eating, drinking or touching while in port. While the locals' systems have acclimated to the germs, ours have not and revolt against them. My motto is.....if I wouldn't eat it at home prepared that way, I'm not trying it here. Washing our hands is great, but once it's inside..........

 

 

I guess the way society thinks today has made me a skeptic. I think it is safe to say that many of those complaining are not really looking for a change in the way things were handled. Instead they are hoping that the squeaky wheel gets "greased". It seems that more and more, no matter how much you do for people it just isn't enough.

[jchris50]

Anyone who has had this virus would be happy for the delay and hopefully deep cleaning of the ship before embarkment! I became ill early Friday morning and not a fun way to end our cruise. I washed my hands with soap/water - used purell - avoided pubic restrooms as much as possible and still became ill. I had to stay in my cabin (couldn't imagine even leaving for the first 12 hrs or so anyway). No one cleaned my cabin Friday but our room attendant was wonderful in proving me with addl. linens, paper goods and ice AND believe me I didn't want anyone in my cabin at all! Due to me being quarantined we had a choice of getting off the ship Sat. @ 6 am before anyone else or 10:30 am after the ship was cleared of passengers. They also sent someone up with breakfast room service Sat. morning since we weren't allowed to leave our cabin - only to get the heck off the ship! Thankfully I was much better by then - can't imagine what happened to folks who were still 'dealing' with norovirus on disembarkment day - yikes

 

travelgal Which ship were you on? I was on Crown and became ill at 1:15am Friday morning. Our room attendant was invisible and we were left with same linens until my husband went and found new towels and washcloths. I too didnt want to leave the room and didnt want anyone in my room but I was concerned with the cleanliness for my husband. We also didnt get any room service Sat morning but I couldnt eat anyway. Sounds like a hit and miss as far as service was concerned. Glad to be home and feeling better although still rocky a bit.

[pineapple_mommy]

Anyone who has had this virus would be happy for the delay and hopefully deep cleaning of the ship before embarkment! I became ill early Friday morning and not a fun way to end our cruise. I washed my hands with soap/water - used purell - avoided pubic restrooms as much as possible and still became ill. I had to stay in my cabin (couldn't imagine even leaving for the first 12 hrs or so anyway). No one cleaned my cabin Friday but our room attendant was wonderful in proving me with addl. linens, paper goods and ice AND believe me I didn't want anyone in my cabin at all! Due to me being quarantined we had a choice of getting off the ship Sat. @ 6 am before anyone else or 10:30 am after the ship was cleared of passengers. They also sent someone up with breakfast room service Sat. morning since we weren't allowed to leave our cabin - only to get the heck off the ship! Thankfully I was much better by then - can't imagine what happened to folks who were still 'dealing' with norovirus on disembarkment day - yikes

 

You were very lucky! My Mom got the virus early Friday morning and by nine Friday morning we were out of towels and very low on toilet paper. We did not receive clean towels and more toilet paper until after 8:30 pm- we spoke to our room steward several times, called the front desk three times- we only got fresh towels after we cornered our room steward and personally got the supplies off his cart. Our room steward told us that someone special had to clean our room, remove the soiled linens and provide clean items. Our room was not cleaned(we understand this) but it was unacceptable that we went so long with soiled towels and no toilet paper. My cousin and I had to remove the soiled linens and place them in a special bag provided by the room steward(after 8pm). Also, the medical staff called our room until three to check on my Mom, but never sent anyone to the room and stopped checking on us at three. My Mom finished chemo treatments in August and radiation in November, we told the staff that she was immuno compromised but they still never sent anyone to see her. Also, we were told that due to gastro illness we were not able to use the BAGS program and our luggage was to stay in our room and we could either get off between 6 and 6:40 or leave the ship after 10:30. Of course we were told this Friday night at 10 pm, we chose the 6-6:40 option since we had 12:40 and 12:45 flights. They forgot about us and had to hustle us off the ship at 10:30 and we were not able to use our pre-paid Princess transfers but had to grab a shuttle and race to the airport. I spoke with three ship officers(white uniforms) until they put us in contact with Dana the head of Customer Service who at first was very "snippy" that she had personally called all the 6 am gastro crowd- she later apologized once she realized that they had left us off the list and they were at fault. We did get home and all is well, but we would have been better off not reporting the illness- we would not do this but our experience with reporting was bad!

[pineapple_mommy]

Before I get "attacked" for my previous post, please know that we do understand the importance of reporting any illness and do not hold Princess accountable for my Mom getting sick- we just had a hard time on Friday and a really rough time on Saturday.

[cruzinchris]

I'm sure that those of you who continually remind others to wash their hands don't mean to sound unkind, but it comes across as though you think that anyone who gets sick onboard doesn't practice good hygiene. My DH and I are fastidious to a fault, and yet both of us has been affected by Noro on two different Princess ships at different times.

 

I had a 24-hour case of the virus on the Emerald a few years ago, and DH was among the unwell passengers aboard the Crown on Friday. He started feeling ill late Saturday afternoon after we'd been for a quick swim before getting ready for dinner. He stayed in our stateroom for the remainder of the night, took Tylenol and Immodium, and drank plenty of water. I went to dinner alone because it was the final night of the cruise, and we wanted to recognize our waiter and his assistant. The table beside us was missing a diner, too, with her DH reporting that she was downed by the fast-paced virus.

 

When the Norovirus is running rampant around the ship, all the hand-washing, hand-sanitizing, Costco-anti-bacterial-wiping our stateroom daily, etc. wasn't enough to protect one of us from the virulent strain of illness.

 

Be well.

Chris and Mike - glad to be home in Michgan :)

[JustinPlusLauren]

We just boarded as well. Honestly I thought a $20 credit when we only spent about $8 on lunch was fair. Emergency drill is at 10 and I believe we are leaving at 10:30. We stopped in a bar and talked to a bartender a short while ago and he said there was discussion that the virus started with the food or in the kitchen and aLl food was removed from the ship and the ship could not board until the CDC cleared things which led to the extra delay. He also stated they had to scrub everything and then restock with fresh food so that led to the 8 hour turnaround. Makes sense and right now it really doesn't matter to me because I'm on vacation. For anyone who had to leave the ship this morning sick, I hope you all get well and made it home ok.

 

Dave

 

i'm very diligent about washing my hands, not touching railings or anything that I don't have to, hand sanitizer, etc. and I got sick on the crown on February 3 with noro. We were thinking that first of all, the numbers are way under reported...and second of all, perhaps we got sick from eating in the dining room or buffet. It seems more likely that such a huge outbreak happens so fast all at around the same time from the food, doesn't it? The only other place I was at that day was at the captains circle party as well.

 

We had a fantastic 14 day cruise but the fact we had to deal with all of this on our last day, packing, disembarking, sadly it has turned us off from cruising for a while :(

[blackfoot]

Good luck to all! The crown has had problems since mid Dec. My wife and I both got sick on the Crown the 1st week of Jan. we are just getting better as of this week!

 

We were very careful when we were on board- I felt like a scrub nurse in a operating room BUT we both got sick 5 days into the cruise and there were many more, but the ship did not let any of the passengers know what was going on.

 

Bottom line, I think Princess does all they can do but when you have over 4000 people confined in tight quarters, disease outbreaks happen.We are not going on large cruise ships again because this was the 2nd time in the last 2 years this has happened- both on Princess.

 

We are going to take fewer but higher quality smaller sized cruise ships in the future and stay away from the large ships.I know ,I know, small ships get it too but I believe the odds are better.Just one guy's opinion, I'm just getting tired of paying $ to go on a cruise and get seriously ill.

[cruzinchris]

i'm very diligent about washing my hands, not touching railings or anything that I don't have to, hand sanitizer, etc. and I got sick on the crown on February 3 with noro. We were thinking that first of all, the numbers are way under reported...and second of all, perhaps we got sick from eating in the dining room or buffet. It seems more likely that such a huge outbreak happens so fast all at around the same time from the food, doesn't it? The only other place I was at that day was at the captains circle party as well.

 

We had a fantastic 14 day cruise but the fact we had to deal with all of this on our last day, packing, disembarking, sadly it has turned us off from cruising for a while :(

 

DH and I would agree; he didn't report his symptoms because he began feeling unwell late on Friday and knew that there were many more serious cases that required prompt medical attention.

 

We're leaning in the direction of the outbreak having begun after our port calls in Curacao and/or Aruba when most passengers and a lot of crew members disembarked to enjoy the islands. We didn't eat anything while off the ship but many likely went to restaurants, bars, or had meals while on shore excursions any of which could have been the source of the illness.

 

We made a deposit on a future Princess cruise as we are now both Elite, but we might be thinking about a vacation on dry land next winter ;)

 

Be well.

Chris

[AttilaTheFun]

I'm sure that those of you who continually remind others to wash their hands don't mean to sound unkind, but it comes across as though you think that anyone who gets sick onboard doesn't practice good hygiene. My DH and I are fastidious to a fault, and yet both of us has been affected by Noro on two different Princess ships at different times.

 

I had a 24-hour case of the virus on the Emerald a few years ago, and DH was among the unwell passengers aboard the Crown on Friday. He started feeling ill late Saturday afternoon after we'd been for a quick swim before getting ready for dinner. He stayed in our stateroom for the remainder of the night, took Tylenol and Immodium, and drank plenty of water. I went to dinner alone because it was the final night of the cruise, and we wanted to recognize our waiter and his assistant. The table beside us was missing a diner, too, with her DH reporting that she was downed by the fast-paced virus.

 

When the Norovirus is running rampant around the ship, all the hand-washing, hand-sanitizing, Costco-anti-bacterial-wiping our stateroom daily, etc. wasn't enough to protect one of us from the virulent strain of illness.

 

Be well.

Chris and Mike - glad to be home in Michgan :)

 

Great point! I really enjoyed reading your live thread and hope your DH feels better soon. Go Blue!

[Coral]

I'm sure that those of you who continually remind others to wash their hands don't mean to sound unkind, but it comes across as though you think that anyone who gets sick onboard doesn't practice good hygiene. My DH and I are fastidious to a fault, and yet both of us has been affected by Noro on two different Princess ships at different times.

 

Chris and Mike - glad to be home in Michgan :)

 

You have a very good point. I don't know why some get sick when others don't - probably why some get colds easier than others. I have been on several ships with norovirus and have never been sick - I am guessing I may have a better immune system than others but that is purely a guess.

 

Hopefully in the near future there will be a vaccine or pill of some sort that help prevent this (I hear there is something in research at the moment).

 

Glad you are home and hope your husband is feeling better.

[cwayne]

I agree CruisingBees, the Princess ship have the least amount of hand santizers of any other cruise line and we also noticed that the soap dispensers were usually empty in the public restrooms.

 

We did not find this on our recent Island Princess cruise, nor on our previous cruises. If you will look at the itineraries of the affected ships, I think the majority are sailing the Caribbean right now, and people tend to let down their guard as far as eating and drinking habits go. I've also seen people who are very careful to carry bottled water, but then eat in local restaurants....I don't think they are cooking or washing with bottled water. Also, this time of year, more people are sick with "flu" like illnesses and after paying and waiting for a cruise, they may not be totally honest on the health questionnaire that is signed before boarding. I'm actually convinced that you should drink more alcohol on a ship to ward off germs.......okay, I may be reaching, but so far it's working.......:rolleyes:

[bab123]

How safe is it to eat and drink at the ports? We will be on the Crown next week, Feb 11-18, going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. Should we not drink anything that has water - coffee, tea while at the ports/islands? I feel pretty discouraged reading about the noro and I just want to make sure we do everything possible not to expose ourselves to food poisoning, bad water, as well.

Thanks.

JB

[preschool teacher]

We always eat and drink in ports (16) cruises and have never gotten sick from anything.....

[JustinPlusLauren]

DH and I would agree; he didn't report his symptoms because he began feeling unwell late on Friday and knew that there were many more serious cases that required prompt medical attention.

 

We're leaning in the direction of the outbreak having begun after our port calls in Curacao and/or Aruba when most passengers and a lot of crew members disembarked to enjoy the islands. We didn't eat anything while off the ship but many likely went to restaurants, bars, or had meals while on shore excursions any of which could have been the source of the illness.

 

We made a deposit on a future Princess cruise as we are now both Elite, but we might be thinking about a vacation on dry land next winter ;)

 

Be well.

Chris

 

hope your DH is feeling a lot better now! we didn't eat or drink anything on shore excursions either. It does make sense that some people would have on the islands though, you are right.

 

We are thinking that our next vacation will be on dry land as well!

 

On the plus side...at least we didn't come home from vacation to any snow! :)

[jchris50]

My hunch is that this came from kitchen on the ship. CWayne I tried the alcohol vaccine but itfailed me.

[Mr XFT]

My hunch is that this came from kitchen on the ship.

 

It's possible, but keep in mind that there is something "going around" all over the East Coast in the last few weeks. Most people on land call it a stomach flu. It's not hard at all to imagine a large number of passengers sail already infected with something that is Noro-like.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

About two years ago some cruise lines removed all hand santizers,

 

to see what would happen

 

because passengers were using them instead of washing there hands

 

as result noro was spreading more, after removing them rate of noro

 

spreading fell as folks started washing their hands more, however

 

passenger complaints went through the roof as folks did not feel safe

 

without their hand santizers. So the ships just can not win.

 

 

yours Shogun

[WiseGirl]

It is interesting to read about the experiences of others that just got off the Crown yesterday. I posted on another thread that my BF became ill at 4 AM on Saturday morning - just before we had to disembark the ship. I reported it, but never heard back from the medical staff for two hours so I called the purser and asked about leaving the ship. She told me that we should have received a letter and that the sick ones could get off from 6:10 - 6:40 AM or after 10:30 AM. Presumably to get the affected PAX off before or after the healthy PAX? That was at 6:05 AM yesterday. We were not ill on Friday evening so of course we didn't get the memo. I checked with my BF and he was "OK enough" to go for it so I grabbed our stuff and we disembarked. We waited about an hour for our luggage. While waiting for our luggage everyone around us had someone in their group affected by the virus. One woman was screaming at the attendant that she wanted her luggage NOW!! Ummm... it is in the cargo hold of a huge ship along with 3000 other PAX luggage - do you really expect them to single out your bags? The Princess attendants actually went to get our bags for us and brought them out of the luggage pen. I thought that was a very nice gesture.

 

Yesterday was stressful and tiring, but my BF is much better today and he is on the mend. I wonder how many others came down with it at the last minute of the cruise and were not officially reported? I did call 911 to report it so I really hope that our cabin was deep cleaned.

 

You don't really know now miserable it is until you or a loved one experiences Noro. I'm sorry for everyone that embarked yesterday and lost vacation time on the ship, but you should be happy they did a good cleaning. On the flip side of those losing vacation time and buffet time while waiting to embark yesterday, we lost most of this weekend due to his illness, couldn't go to a great concert last night, and I still don't want to see friends and family for fear of infecting them. Thankfully I haven't come down with it. It put a huge damper to the end of many vacations and many lost the last full day on the ship (or more) and I feel for everyone affected. I also feel really bad for the crew - both those ill and those who have to clean the ship after all the sick people get off.

 

I've cruised many times, but neither of us is ready to board a ship any time soon. I don't blame Princess in any way - it is the chance you taking when traveling. But with an outbreak this large it demonstrates how easily it can spread.

[srpilo]

We always eat and drink in ports (16) cruises and have never gotten sick from anything.....

 

 

Us either.. 37 cruises and over a hundred of ports of calls, with meals & drinks

 

 

 

 

Not stating that you can't get sick from eating in port, but just that we haven't

Srpilo

[cwayne]

My hunch is that this came from kitchen on the ship. CWayne I tried the alcohol vaccine but itfailed me.

 

Maybe you need to increase the doesage.....;)

[cruzinchris]

My hunch is that this came from kitchen on the ship. CWayne I tried the alcohol vaccine but itfailed me.

 

Given that there were a number of crew members, including the Chef, afflicted with the virus, it's entirely possible that the illness originated in the galley. DH and I have done the Chef's Table previously and weren't interested on this cruise but know that it was offered twice. The Chef would have come into close contact with food/passengers during this special private event.

 

So glad to be home...

Chris

[geocruiser]

Our friends are on Crown now. We got off Sat. They said that they also missed Princess Cay. And have not eaten in the dinning room yet. Why I don't know. Will try to find out.

[cruzinchris]

It is interesting to read about the experiences of others that just got off the Crown yesterday. I posted on another thread that my BF became ill at 4 AM on Saturday morning - just before we had to disembark the ship. I reported it, but never heard back from the medical staff for two hours so I called the purser and asked about leaving the ship. She told me that we should have received a letter and that the sick ones could get off from 6:10 - 6:40 AM or after 10:30 AM. Presumably to get the affected PAX off before or after the healthy PAX? That was at 6:05 AM yesterday. We were not ill on Friday evening so of course we didn't get the memo. I checked with my BF and he was "OK enough" to go for it so I grabbed our stuff and we disembarked. We waited about an hour for our luggage. While waiting for our luggage everyone around us had someone in their group affected by the virus. One woman was screaming at the attendant that she wanted her luggage NOW!! Ummm... it is in the cargo hold of a huge ship along with 3000 other PAX luggage - do you really expect them to single out your bags? The Princess attendants actually went to get our bags for us and brought them out of the luggage pen. I thought that was a very nice gesture.

 

Yesterday was stressful and tiring, but my BF is much better today and he is on the mend. I wonder how many others came down with it at the last minute of the cruise and were not officially reported? I did call 911 to report it so I really hope that our cabin was deep cleaned.

 

You don't really know now miserable it is until you or a loved one experiences Noro. I'm sorry for everyone that embarked yesterday and lost vacation time on the ship, but you should be happy they did a good cleaning. On the flip side of those losing vacation time and buffet time while waiting to embark yesterday, we lost most of this weekend due to his illness, couldn't go to a great concert last night, and I still don't want to see friends and family for fear of infecting them. Thankfully I haven't come down with it. It put a huge damper to the end of many vacations and many lost the last full day on the ship (or more) and I feel for everyone affected. I also feel really bad for the crew - both those ill and those who have to clean the ship after all the sick people get off.

 

I've cruised many times, but neither of us is ready to board a ship any time soon. I don't blame Princess in any way - it is the chance you taking when traveling. But with an outbreak this large it demonstrates how easily it can spread.

 

WiseGirl, I hope your BF is feeling better and that you don't become ill yourself. DH was basically unwell for about 12 hours and is doing better now that we are home and both slept well in our own bed last night. I wasn't ill but thought that this was the bumpiest cruise that we'd ever experienced and have no desire to embark a ship anytime soon.

 

Be well.

Chris

[travelgal]

@ jchris50 - we were on deck 10 Caribe deck - my husband called the room attendant for the supplies. We kept the privacy tag on the door.... Room service was soooo slow but we figured a lot of 'well' folks were calling to eat in their cabin vs eating out on Friday evening. What struck me as a bit weird - they gave us bran muffins and oatmeal on disembarkment day - now who would eat a bran muffin and oatmeal after noro? Husband requested a banana through room service (BRATS diet) and was told by room service the dr. said no bananas for noro patients???? I think they were out of bananas or was there an issue with the bananas??

 

@ pineapple mom - so sorry to hear about your mom - hope she's feeling better today. We had to fly home - I'm sure FLL is also a spreading ground for the noro too.

 

btw: my husband became ill last night - still battling the awful virus a I type this. I just read that you are considered contagious at least 3 days after recovery! This was from the CDC site!

[travelgal]

@ jchris50 - we were on the Crown!