noro on Voyager?

[P646114]

Can anyone confirm if Voyager currently has noro ??

 

Boarding on Sat for 2 weeks and email today states rooms won't be available till 4pm due to enhanced sanitation measures! Aware of all the normal measures to take to stay safe but it is still a concern when traveling with children.

 

Thanks Julie

[kate59]

Sorry no idea but maybe check the roll call for the current cruise.

 

I suggest you take alcohol wipes and just wipe everything down first if you are concerned.

[Lilfrog79]

I cruised 24 Nov on the VOS for two weeks, and we had the same thing. They did have an outbreak on the prior cruise to us, but on our cruise I don't think there were too many cases. It could just be a case of them being extra cautious and pre- warning people, because I did hear a few people complain that they were never forewarned about the late room entry (People winge about a lot of stupid things, and I guess this is RCCL way of trying to minimise this).

 

Might I suggest you just be extra cautious either way. We managed to avoid it, but carrying extra hand sanitisers with us, washing hands extra good (We even brought on board a detol hand wash pump soap for our bathroom, as the soap the ship provides was a bit average).. And just be careful touching handrails and lift buttons etc.... Been on 5 cruises and lived by this and so far been lucky enough to avoid outbreaks...

 

Hope this was a lil helpful anyways! Have fun on the cruise!:D

[GandM-nq]

Sorry no idea but maybe check the roll call for the current cruise.

 

I suggest you take alcohol wipes and just wipe everything down first if you are concerned.

 

 

Alcohol wipes WILL NOT kill the noro virus. Suggest if you are worried try this thread regards which products are effective. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1745768

[croydonCruiser]

Thorough hand washing in warm water with soap is the best way to combat the virus. They recommend at least 20 sec, from memory. I told my kids to sing Happy Birthday twice to themselves to time the washing. It's also just as important to dry your hands too.

 

My biggest tip is to not use the public facilities. Always go back to your own cabin to use the toilet and wash your hands. It's a pain, but it worked for us on our Pacific Sun cruise a couple of years ago when there was a noro outbreak. We also ate only in the Dining room, and two of my sisters ate everything with a knife and fork, even their toast! It was quite amusing watching them put butter and vegemite on the toast without touching it!

[Te Aroha]

If we eat at the buffet/cafe any time. We use the hand sanitisers of course but they will not stop noro, after we have our food at the table, we each take turns and go to the bathroom and rewash our hands, people forget how much the surfaces and utensils are handled by others when getting the food. We have travelled many times now and never gotton any Noro virus or anything else that was going around the ship.

 

Stay safe and enjoy your cruise :)

[bazzaw]

If you go to the kitchen cleaning products area in Woolworths, you will find that the wipes that are sold to wipe down kitchen areas contain benzalkonium chloride -- these wipes claim this compound to be the primary active component. They are unfortunately in an inconvenient container size, but we are intending to take these with us on VOS to use immediatly before we eat anything anywhere.

 

We have never had a problem in 12 cruises (some quite long cruises) - but we regularly wash our hands whenever we go into our cabin (even if only to get the camera or something similar :)) . We also always use the alcohol based hand cleaners.

 

I did get a dose of "something" on one cruise - which I think I picked up ashore in Thailand and where we ate (in a fancy restaurant) without the ability to wash our hands before eating.

 

The thing is that during a major noro outbreak on a ship where say 400 people get it - this means that 1600 approx people didn't get it. Why did they not get it ?? Is is pure luck - or were they the ones that did have good hygienic practices.

 

Who of us have NEVER gone to the buffet -- just, say for a coffee, and then decided to eat something (maybe a nice cake) -- and HAVEN't washed our hands immediately before putting the cake into our mouth with our fingers???? :o

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

Some interesting articles here

 

http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/great-newswet-ones-brand-anti-bacterial-kills-norovirus/

 

http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/tag/wet-ones/

 

 

These are only blog posts -- but it seems that there have been a few more scientific posts made to the Internet which seem to confirm what this blogger is saying.

 

 

Barry

[gbenjo]

Can anyone confirm if Voyager currently has noro ??

 

Boarding on Sat for 2 weeks and email today states rooms won't be available till 4pm due to enhanced sanitation measures! Aware of all the normal measures to take to stay safe but it is still a concern when traveling with children.

 

Thanks Julie

 

Unfortunately, yes it has, level 2, I believe. Just follow all the rules, wash your hands as much as possible etc etc..............and enjoy your cruise.

[LoveCruisingCC]

What does Level 2 mean? What other levels are there?

[silverrrmine]

(Edit Double post)

[silverrrmine]

Don't know what 2 means. Most cruise lines operate on colours. Green, yellow, red. There are levels within those (eg enhanced yellow) but they don't affect activities that passengers can see, and aren't publicly announced. Only red! Boo to noro.

[Keith1010]

Most cruise lines will increase the level they operate on based on the number of passengers and crew who have come down with noro virus.

 

Keith

[fanoforion]

Hi, I take several pocket size packets of Kleenex Anti-Bacterial wet wipes, containing Benzalkonium chloride.

I take them everywhere...use them even on the door handles, TV remote.

 

 

 

kind regards, Lorraine :):)

[cassamanda]

Some interesting articles here

 

http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/great-newswet-ones-brand-anti-bacterial-kills-norovirus/

 

http://writersblock15.wordpress.com/tag/wet-ones/

 

 

These are only blog posts -- but it seems that there have been a few more scientific posts made to the Internet which seem to confirm what this blogger is saying.

 

 

Barry

Good info there Barry. Good explanation on the wet ones about how the virus is spread.

[gbenjo]

Don't know what 2 means. Most cruise lines operate on colours. Green, yellow, red. There are levels within those (eg enhanced yellow) but they don't affect activities that passengers can see, and aren't publicly announced. Only red! Boo to noro.

 

Sorry...Two, blue..... they sound the same( she may have said blue) my ears aren't as good as they used to be :D:D

[P646114]

How bad is level blue?

[Dizziedi]

On the Voyager now. We are in Sydney overnight, disembarking tomorrow. The virus is here. They are serving all food and have to sanitize the ship once we get off. A lady I spoke to yesterday said that she missed Tauranga because of the virus but they let her off at lunchtime in Auckland. She also said she had been confined to her cabin and they deactivated her card.:eek:

 

Keep washing those hands!

 

Cheers

Di

[LoveCruisingCC]

Do you know how many cases are there? I don't mind being served at buffet. I just hope that the virus is not too wide spread that many people get sick and spoil their holidays.

[joejoe 59]

Hi, I take several pocket size packets of Kleenex Anti-Bacterial wet wipes, containing Benzalkonium chloride.

I take them everywhere...use them even on the door handles, TV remote.

 

 

 

kind regards, Lorraine :):)

 

I think i'll be buying those wipes to take as well :)

[Dizziedi]

Do you know how many cases are there? I don't mind being served at buffet. I just hope that the virus is not too wide spread that many people get sick and spoil their holidays.

 

At a luncheon the other day, I was told 146 but when I asked a lady serving, she said she didn't know the numbers but it was quite a few.

 

Cheers

Di

[avalon007]

Gee, they have to get on top of this soon you would think?

 

Only just over 5 weeks now until we cruise on VOS & I'm hoping they have it under control by then.

 

I'm well preparred though with my noro fighting hand sanitiser & wipes!

Maybe I should stock up on some hasmat suites, must check out the cleaning aisle in Coles! :D

 

Anyone happen to have heard the longest time Noro has been continuously active on a cruise ship? VOS must have it had it about 2 months now?

 

I have read it can last up to 4 weeks at room temperature, so best hope the previous occupants of our cabin didn't get Noro.

 

Reading some of the CC pages on Noro I came across this:

 

Back in the fall of 2002, Holland America couldn't break the cycle after four cruises on Amsterdam despite enhanced cleaning; it took the ship out of commission and embarked on an ambitious program. This included sanitizing television remote controls and bibles, disinfecting poker chips and currency, discarding every pillow -- more than 2,500 -- and steam cleaning carpets. The end result? Amsterdam's follow-up cruise was, thankfully, Norovirus-free.

 

(Read the whole article here & another of interest here)

 

I think VOS must be at that stage, I wonder if they will put here in for a deep clean before we get onboard?

[avalon007]

I have started a new thread for those interested on the RCCL forum asking about how long Noro has continued on a ship, & if RCCL take the ships out of service to do a deep clean after a certain amount of time.

 

You can read it here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=36405042#post36405042

 

Will be interesting to see what long term RCCL cruisers have to say.

:)

[Dizziedi]

They have said that once we disembark they have to sanitize the ship. Anyone coming into 1320 - rest assured, we are fine:) well at the moment anyway:eek: but they are surely going to have to do something serious if this keeps up.

 

We did notice them steam cleaning the carpet on our deck (10) but it was only in the hallways.

 

Happy shopping at Coles:p

 

Cheers

Di

[avalon007]

They have said that once we disembark they have to sanitize the ship. Anyone coming into 1320 - rest assured, we are fine:) well at the moment anyway:eek: but they are surely going to have to do something serious if this keeps up.

 

We did notice them steam cleaning the carpet on our deck (10) but it was only in the hallways.

 

Happy shopping at Coles:p

 

Cheers

Di

 

 

Do you know when they say 'sanitise' if they mean the usual delayed boarding because of cleaning, or a mega clean that will see the ship possibly delayed a day on her next cruise?

 

I'm personally hoping it means a complete dry dock, strip down, fumagation & total near nuclear sanitisation!! With special attention to my deck 8 hump cabin please. :D

 

PS - Just noticed you are doing the Radiance cruise 23 Sept 2013 back to Sydney - so are we. Hope we don't have Noro on that one, a long time at sea, plus we are doing 2 other cruises just prior with one being a B2B with the repositioning.