Sick passengers not allowed ashore...

[avalon007]

Hi,

 

Norovirus is not spread via air but can be spread on minute particles of vomit if you are near someone that is vomiting from the virus, also from faeces which if you flush the toilet without closing the lid can be spread in tiny aerolised droplets into the air, which land on surfaces that you touch after you have washed your hands well.

 

Norovirus isn't killed by alcohol based sanitisers as they can't penetrate the 'skin' of the virus, however products that contain Benzalkonium Chloride can.

 

For those interested I recently found an Australian made non alcohol based hand sanitiser that does contain the right sort of stuff to kill Norovirus, it also lasts for hours on your hands & pretty much kills most other nasties as well, without drying out your hands.

 

See all the details in this thread here. :)

[Katana_Geldar]

This is actually how it's spread through food. People not washing their hand properly and touching and/or sharing food. Went right through my university college one year.

[Aussienana]

My husband went down with the norovirus and the "flu". The norovirus was the worst at first. Sorry for details, but this was bad. My husband doesn't usually go down with anything - he's had 2 days off work in 5 years and he works in a job that most people go down with at least 2 bad infections a year.

 

We also washed our hands and sanitised religiously.

 

So it wasn't just the vomiting and diarrhoea. It was the fact the diarrhoea was uncontrollable and he was too sick to be embarrassed about it. He became too ill to stay upright for long to sit on the toilet. He just dribbled from his rear end and I had to deal with it all. So don't take this lightly. It took a lot out of him. The medical staff were wonderful and we understood the quarantining. As I didn't get sick I wasn't quarantined which horrified the cabin staff member who thought I should have been then told me I shouldn't spend any time with my husband???!!! Husband was given an injection to stop the vomiting. The first lot of anti-diarrhoeal pills didn't work but the second lot did.

 

The so-called flu/sore throat might not have been a viral sore throat as we initially thought. My daughter went down with the sore throat on day 3 on board and by day 6 had a scarletina rash - which would make it scarlet fever and we should have sought anti-biotics for her. She recovered slowly over the trip. My husband and grandson though didn't recover and needed antibiotics when they got home. My grandson is still at home after having a relapse and today the rash is rather florid again.

 

Overall family was sick for 16 days out of the 18 day cruise. Not our best experience.

[avalon007]

My husband went down with the norovirus and the "flu". The norovirus was the worst at first. Sorry for details, but this was bad. My husband doesn't usually go down with anything - he's had 2 days off work in 5 years and he works in a job that most people go down with at least 2 bad infections a year.

 

We also washed our hands and sanitised religiously.

 

So it wasn't just the vomiting and diarrhoea. It was the fact the diarrhoea was uncontrollable and he was too sick to be embarrassed about it. He became too ill to stay upright for long to sit on the toilet. He just dribbled from his rear end and I had to deal with it all. So don't take this lightly. It took a lot out of him. The medical staff were wonderful and we understood the quarantining. As I didn't get sick I wasn't quarantined which horrified the cabin staff member who thought I should have been then told me I shouldn't spend any time with my husband???!!! Husband was given an injection to stop the vomiting. The first lot of anti-diarrhoeal pills didn't work but the second lot did.

 

The so-called flu/sore throat might not have been a viral sore throat as we initially thought. My daughter went down with the sore throat on day 3 on board and by day 6 had a scarletina rash - which would make it scarlet fever and we should have sought anti-biotics for her. She recovered slowly over the trip. My husband and grandson though didn't recover and needed antibiotics when they got home. My grandson is still at home after having a relapse and today the rash is rather florid again.

 

Overall family was sick for 16 days out of the 18 day cruise. Not our best experience.

 

Sorry to hear you had such an awful amount of sickness. Seems having the one illness weakened your immune systems & allowed the other illnesses to take hold.

 

The hand santitiser though as we have been discussing on this forum may not have been able to kill Noro if it wasn't the right type.

 

Did anyone else come down with scarlet fever? I guess it is too hard to pinpoint where they got it from, may have been onboard or maybe in port?

It's good the kids didn't develop any complications from it like rheumatic fever considering no anti biotics were taken at the time.

 

My husband had awful Noro in Morocco & into Spain on a land based trip, he was sick from both ends for 4 days.

It only stopped after I found a Chemist in Granada that gave me some excellent tablets for this type of thing (they had info in English on the pack thank goodness).

 

I didn't get sick, but I had to do some charades to decribe his illness to them at the chemist as nobody spoke English! I'm sure they got a chuckle out if it!:D

 

We take a complete kit of medications in case nowadays, sometimes it helps if you have your own & can take something before you get too ill, to at least try & reduce the symptoms.

 

We also keep taking Vit C & Daily multi vitamin etc whilst away nowadays, hopefully all helps boost immunity, can't hurt anyway.:)

 

Hope your next holiday is better.

[Debsta]

I haven't read this entire thread so it may have already been answered, but if your cabin mate comes down with it.....is everyone in the cabin quarantined also?

[avalon007]

I haven't read this entire thread so it may have already been answered, but if your cabin mate comes down with it.....is everyone in the cabin quarantined also?

 

 

Not according to the post by Aussienana, she was allowed to leave the cabin when the rest of the family were quarantined.

[Miamia65]

I haven't read this entire thread so it may have already been answered, but if your cabin mate comes down with it.....is everyone in the cabin quarantined also?

On RCI, only the people with NV are quarantined (other family members in the same cabin were not quarantined) and their process was that you had to contact the medical centre to be cleared. If you didn't have a clearance from the doctor and attempted to get off the ship it would set off the alarm and you would be sent back to your room. This happened to a few people and they were very embarrassed.

[Aussienana]

Lots of people on board had sore throats and we assumed it was a viral sore throat. Then people were doing a lot of coughing and complaining of sinus pain for days afterwards. My daughter (42) got the sore throat on day 3 but it wasn't until about day 5 that she got the rash. She self quarantined but didn't feel like going anywhere with the high fever anyway. Then the following day her two children went down with it - also high fever, but no rash.

 

I was sure I would get it as I usually go down with everything that passes me buy. I got a sore throat but no fever.

 

I've just looked up the incubation period for scarlet fever and its anything from one day to 8 days, so she could have brought it on board from work, from travelling by train, or she could have got it on board. Given the number of people who were coughing at the same time she was keeping to her room it was likely she caught it on board. Given that her children got it 24 hours after she did this strain probably had a one day incubation period.

 

So if you had it on board, but don't seem to be throwing it off then you may need antibiotics, as two members of our family needed.

[Hard-habit-to-break]

AussieNana,

 

Thanks for letting us know. I assume you did the Perth to Sydney via NZ on Voyager?

 

I did the Singapore to Perth, alot of people ended up with sore throats, coughing, not feeling like doing anything.

 

Have been back over a month now and feel like I keep having a relapse, some days seems like Hayfever/Sinus, other days a slight temperature, at the moment really stuffed up and still coughing a fair bit - but on and off in spurts I guess.

 

I think it is time I went to the dr to see what it is. I certainly got it on board, most people had some form of it, I had it the last 4 days of our cruise.

 

So, there is a possibility that was also on board before you got on in Perth.

[suncityga]

I haven't read this entire thread so it may have already been answered, but if your cabin mate comes down with it.....is everyone in the cabin quarantined also?

 

I had the Novo virus on a recent Transatlantic crossing... my DW did not get it and she was not quarantined.

 

How a person is affected may be dependent on a lot of other factors... I felt an upset stomach going to bed and woke up around 1 AM with diarrhea and vomiting, it lasted about 10 minutes. Went to the medical center... got a shot to help with nausea, some anti-diarrhea pills and a suggested menu of the food I should eat the next day (room service). Went back to sleep and did not have any other problems, I stayed in my cabin for 24 hours and had no other symptoms the rest of the cruise.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

I've had NV its pretty nasty and very easily spread

 

From another post on NV in this forum I have read that most

alcohol based sanitisers don't kill Noro Virus & you need to find

a product that contains Benzalkonium Chloride.

 

I will be picking some of that up soon as sail in seven days.

 

The idea of having Norovirus on a ship does not appeal to me at all.

 

Just received my delivery of a non alcohol foam with Beznzalkonium Chloride, Google that and you'll see it is effective against Novo Virus.

 

Jilly:)

[bazzaw]

Just received my delivery of a non alcohol foam with Beznzalkonium Chloride, Google that and you'll see it is effective against Novo Virus.

 

Jilly:)

 

I will be shortly purchasing some of this as they are conveniently packaged. There have been reports of this chemical compound being in "Wet ones". This is true (as witnessed in Coles) -- BUT, there is no mention of percentage of this compound in them. HOWEVER, I have discovered in the kitchen cleaning stuff "department" at Woolworths , that the kitchen wipes (in unfortunately awkwardly sized containers) do have this compound listed as the ACTIVE INGREDIENT and the volume of it is also listed @ 0.47%. I think that these wipes plus the foam would make for excellent defences when combined for different activities/purposes.

 

Barry

[Aussienana]

AussieNana,

 

Thanks for letting us know. I assume you did the Perth to Sydney via NZ on Voyager?

 

I did the Singapore to Perth, alot of people ended up with sore throats, coughing, not feeling like doing anything.

 

Have been back over a month now and feel like I keep having a relapse, some days seems like Hayfever/Sinus, other days a slight temperature, at the moment really stuffed up and still coughing a fair bit - but on and off in spurts I guess.

 

I think it is time I went to the dr to see what it is. I certainly got it on board, most people had some form of it, I had it the last 4 days of our cruise.

 

So, there is a possibility that was also on board before you got on in Perth.

 

Yes we were on Fremantle to Sydney (round New Zealand) trip. Interesting that it was already on board on the Singapore Perth leg. I had the sense that there were some people with the coughs and snuffles very early on our trip before our daughter went down with it so nice to know I wasn't mistaken. Scarlet fever is generally considered the old diagnosis (pre-antibiotic times) for children. Adults don't usually get the scarlet face/body, nor usually the rash but they do get all sorts of other flu-like symptoms. Being a streptococcus infection it is sometimes hard to overcome without antibiotics and it can cause ongoing problems. Two out of five of us needed antibiotics. Nowadays they don't usually call it scarlet fever as it makes people panicky. The docs tend to call it a sore throat or tonsillitis with a scarletina rash. But it is a bad sore throat, worse than usual. My old medical book from 1965 says that one can be infectious for up to a month despite the antibiotics. So I just don't know. Perhaps if we feel under par we should avoid going out till we get better. its antisocial to pass on such an infection.

[lanikeekee]

Gastro/ Noro can affect anyone at any time....the only problem in a ship is that is confined and gastro is highly contagous....hints....when opening the toilet doors use paper....when sneezing always sneeze into your elbow...not your hands! Don't hold on to the stair rails...use your elbow to balance yourself.....and think of others when yiu handle food in the huffet.

If you have the unfortunate case of getting gastro make sure you get GastroStop...it will help...and keep away from everyone :p:p

[Debsta]

Ooooo lookey........Mutiny on the P&O Oriana at the moment due to noro :eek:

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/travel/news/po-oriana-hit-by-norovirus-vomit-bug/story-fn30173u-1226535843381

[bazzaw]

Ooooo lookey........Mutiny on the P&O Oriana at the moment due to noro :eek:

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/travel/news/po-oriana-hit-by-norovirus-vomit-bug/story-fn30173u-1226535843381

 

Must be a slow news day - another beatup by another newspaper.

 

Barry

[Debsta]

LOL This one's more dramatic :eek: :D http://www.channel4.com/news/norovirus-winter-vomiting-bug-passengers-oriana-ship

[NSWP]

BUT HANG ON THERE FOLKS..we did let the SICK people disembark VOS and Celebrity Solstice at OPT Sydney, after their 2 day cruises, these last few weeks.

 

They were sick alright, self inflicted ! LOL.

 

But mutiny on ye olde Oriana? The Poms would not be up to that would they? A few G&T's will sort the virus out on Oriana.

Oriana's Doctor (s) will be making a mint, I was told on Arcadia this year by their Dr that it is his own business on board, lubberly jubberly.

[Debsta]

Don't hold on to the stair rails...use your elbow to balance yourself.....

 

This one's a bit tough when the ships rocking LOL

[The_Big_M]

LOL This one's more dramatic :eek: :D http://www.channel4.com/news/norovirus-winter-vomiting-bug-passengers-oriana-ship

 

Yes, I like the discrepancy.

 

P&O say 9 sick. Channel 4 say 374 sick!

[GandM-nq]

Yes, I like the discrepancy.

 

P&O say 9 sick. Channel 4 say 374 sick!

 

Easily explained. 374 WERE sick. By end of cruise, only 9 were infected with Noro. P and O maybe conveniently forgt to mention the other 365 that had it but had since recovered.

[Sutho]

There is another reason why sick passengers are not allowed ashore and is has something to do with cruise lines being able to lie about the number of passengers infected with certain viruses. Take the norovirus for example. The cruise line does not have to declare anyone has it unless they have a lab test confirming the virus.

 

 

 

Cruise lines can and will LIE about outbreak numbers as they have found a legal loophole that allows them to lie and get away with it.

A cruise line can only confirm an infected person by taking a stool sample and having it tested. Therefore the numbers of confirmed cases they are reporting is ONLY BASED ON CONFIRMED LAB TESTS. As for the high numbers of other passengers who have symptoms if the cruise line does not test you then they do not have to declare you have the virus and as a result can just confine people with "symptoms" to their cabins. That is why many ports ban sick passengers from going ashore or even ban a ship from entering port.

[mochuck]

Oh dear people.

 

Please get a grip.

 

It's nothing more than a fancy name for the flu or gastro. It's not the plague or black death.

 

As for quarantining passengers....I am sure there will be more people than 135 odd passengers within 20 klms of the ship With exactly the same thing but I'm sure they are not under house arrest. I understand the symptoms are not nice to have but it is common enough everywhere...schools, offices etc.

 

I assume you are not a health professional to dismiss norovirus so easily. Norovirus can be fatal especially in the elderly. Although it is usually self limiting it is a lot worse than "symptoms are not nice..." Those people on land with norovirus are not in a confined space with >3,000 other people to potentially spread it to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus

[elleks]

I don't know if it was noro, but my husband was taken ill on our cruise on Legend Of The Seas in 2007; he had dizziness and nausea, and the medical team gave him antibiotic infusions over 3 days. This meant he had an infusion port in his arm, taped in place.He wasn't quarantined, and we saw quite a few people walking round the ship with infusion ports in their arms.

[Aussieflyer]

I don't know if it was noro, but my husband was taken ill on our cruise on Legend Of The Seas in 2007; he had dizziness and nausea, and the medical team gave him antibiotic infusions over 3 days. This meant he had an infusion port in his arm, taped in place.He wasn't quarantined, and we saw quite a few people walking round the ship with infusion ports in their arms.

The use of antibiotics means that your husband's illness was unlikely to be noro. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea. Dehydration is one of the biggest concerns especially in the young or elderly.

Whatever your husband had contracted it did not sound pleasant.