Diamond Princess has Norwalk Virus on Board

[Seacruise]

Here we go again. The first reported case this Alaska season of the Norwalk virus being ona cruise ship.

 

Have friends on the Diamond this week and they say the ship has the Norwalk Virus on board and they were late arriving in Juneau today. Very unorganized on board and long line-ups to get off the ship.

 

Phil

[Hulagirl]

Actually the Sun Princess had Norwalk a few weeks ago on an Alaska cruise. Coral from this board was on that sailing and reported about it. Unfortunately, this isn't the first case in Alaska this season. Hoping they get it cleared up as we sail on the Diamond on June 25.

[gg3]

I think the virus is far more prevalent than we realize and is pretty much part of almost all cruises - some we hear more about - some may have a few more folks affected - but overall, a very small percentage of the folks have this problem. 2003 we were greeted by the staff of Zaandam with antibacteria wipes as we boarded and every time we re-boarded in port. They had an outbreak, and had removed all dressing bottles, catsups, salt and pepper shakers, creamers, etc. on every table when dining or at the buffet. You were served everything and it was just fine. By Wednesday, everything went back to normal status quo. I feel that the ship was probably or is probably never cleaner than during an outbreak because staff are non stop wiping down tables, bannisters, elevators, windows, everything - with disinfectant. So do not let this bother you. It is part of being on any form of mass transportation, or at any event where there is a lot of people - concerts - sporting events etc. Just hang loose and enjoy. :)

[West Coast]

Actually, it was both the Sun Princess and the Dawn Princess.

 

Here are the reports from the CDC:

 

Sun Princess - click here

 

Dawn Princess - click here

 

I must say, we were on the Dawn May 16-23 and everything was handled very well. Our cabin next door was being 'sanitized' on day 2. And again, at the end of the cruise (basically a haz mat team goes in and removes all bedding and linens and sprays down the entire cabin and then seals it off for 2 hours). The crew were constatly wiping down chairs, railings, etc... and there were notices in the Patter advising people not to use public washrooms, but to return to their cabin and use the toilet there. We also had no salt and pepper shakes on the tables but did have lovely 'sachets' on a side plate. Also noticed the Princess Theatre was closed for 'sanitizing' on the morning of disembarkation. It's amazing how much goes on behind the scenes.

[Trovador]

Me and my wife just got back from the Diamond to Alaska last saturday. I made a full review of the cruise that's still on page 1 (maybe 2) of this forum called "My review: Diamond to Alaska (may28-June4)". Check it out.

 

No Norwalk virus on that cruise. One person did get sick the first night (as far as we know NOT from the Norwalk virus), and we missed part of Juneau because they turned the ship around at 3:00AM to get him to safety. There was no other case of anyone getting sick and we had 7 more days in the ship that were event free.

 

Another thing, we received a letter when we went into the ship saying that this virus is becoming quite common in cruise ships and advised us to wash our hands frequently for more than 20 seconds during the day to avoid it. With the exception of the one sick passenger, everything was normal for the entire trip. Amazing too, considering that the symptoms of this virus are similar to a hang over or overeating.

[phillipahain]

We were on the Sun Princess along with Coral

 

From what we witnessed of the lack of basic hygeine from one section of the passengers who got onboard in Vancouver i am not surprised Norwalk took hold

 

I supect almost every ship sailing to Alaska which includes parties of these tourists will have problems until the cruise lines face the issues head on and ensure information is handed out in a lot more languages than just English

[disgruntled]

The Norwalk virus is not unique to cruise ships. Las Vegas had at least two outbreaks last year. It is not due to lack of cleanliness onboard ship or at hotels. Many people believe it is because we now use so much antibacterial soap that it weakens us against virus infection.

[custompcsys]

gg3 is absolutely correct. Norwalk is pretty much present on every cruise ship on every cruise to one extent or another. Take a good look at the CDC reports if you doubt it. Notice that the reports start out by saying that a particular ship "reported an increased number of cases of gastrointestinal (GI) illness on the cruise ship" Basically, a low level of GI illness on board a large vessel is considered normal. Note the end of the report as well : "The ship was monitored and the cases of gastrointestinal illness returned to expected levels by the subsequent voyage."

Even when the spread of infection is at a level where it requires reporting to CDC and additional sanitation steps, it is still affecting a very small percentage of the passengers and crew. If you look at the CDC report from the Dawn from May, we're talking 76 passengers and 9 crew out of a total 2838 souls on board. In other words, 3% of the people on the ship got sick. In the case of the Sun, it was 125 out of 2852, or 4.9%. In the Sun's case, all but 4 of the infections were among the passengers (121 out of 2000)

 

A few things to keep in mind. Even when there is enough virus around that additional steps are needed to control it, you have an almost 95% chance of NOT being infected. If you want to further reduce your risk, just take some simple infection control precautions. Keep some antiseptic wipes in your pocket or purse and use them. You can get these, individually packaged, at your local discount drug store, and they are not expensive. Use them anytime you touch something in a public area, like a hand rail, elevator buttons, or door nobs before touching your mouth, face, or anyone else, and before eating. Don't use public rest facilities, go back to your cabin instead. And the best and simplest form of infection control is to wash your hands often.

 

I don't know that posting something that says "Diamond Princess Has Norwalk Virus on Board" really does anyone a service. First of all, the passengers on board right now, or even the medical staff for that matter, can't possibly know that for a fact. It takes a culture from a stool sample to confirm the viral agent, and growing the culture takes several days assuming the ship's hospital has a lab that can grow the culture. Second, to imply that the ship was late getting into Juneau and that there were long lines and disorganization to flee the ship once it arrived in Juneau because of a Norwalk outbreak is a bit sensational. Maybe the poster didn't mean to connect the two and make the implication, but it did read that way. Instead of people looking forward to and being excited about their cruise, all that type of headline does is alarm people unnecessarily.

 

Not trying to bash, just trying to keep things in perspective.

[Coral]

First of all, the passengers on board right now, or even the medical staff for that matter, can't possibly know that for a fact. It takes a culture from a stool sample to confirm the viral agent, and growing the culture takes several days assuming the ship's hospital has a lab that can grow the culture.

 

I was on the earlier mentioned Sun Princess.

 

The passengers and staff onboard may actually know for a fact that it is norovirus. On our May 9th cruise - we were informed (via letter) on May 11th about the suspicion of norovirus onboard our sailing. The letter was signed by Dr. Grant Traling - VP, Fleet Medical Officer. On May 13th, we received another letter indicating that lab results confirmed that it was indeed what they had suspected, Norovirus.

 

I am not sure where they ran the tests, but the lab tests were done quickly.

 

IMO - Princess took the situation very seriously and took several measures to prevent the spread of norovirus on the ship. I was on the subsequent sailing and I did not hear of any reports of anyone being sick.

[custompcsys]

Hi Coral,

 

Appreciate the info! I'd be curious to know if you had stopped at a port by the time you received the May 11th letter. Its very possible they sent the sample to their lab for testing, and then yes, they could get results back within 48 hours and in turn inform the passengers.

 

It is possible they could have done the same thing on the Diamond once they docked in Juneau, although that was not until yesterday, about 24 hours ago. I would be very impressed if they did an electron microscope survey of a stool sample and got results back in time to inform the passengers in that short time frame.

 

If that is the case then my apologies to the original poster on that point. I still feel, however, that the control measures taken by Princess and some awareness and precautions on the part of the passengers can go a long way in making sure the vast majority of the passengers don't get sick and have a good time. :)

[Coral]

Appreciate the info! I'd be curious to know if you had stopped at a port by the time you received the May 11th letter.

 

Yes - we sailed on the 9th out of Vancouver and was in Ketchikan on the 11th. We received the letter the evening of the 11th. The morning of the 11th, I knew something was possibly wrong when I started seeing guys in surgical masks with large laundry bags in an elevator.

 

I still feel, however, that the control measures taken by Princess and some awareness and precautions on the part of the passengers can go a long way in making sure the vast majority of the passengers don't get sick and have a good time. :)

 

Agreed!

 

And I also agree that in the scope of reality, very few people got sick (6% of the passengers) on our sailing. Though with how seriously Princess took it, I was surprised at how low of number of passengers who were sick. We continued on our cruise and had a good time.

 

Also - it should probably be noted that while we only had norovirus on the first week's cruise, the precautions were still in tact for the majority of the following week's cruise as a precaution. Princess takes this seriously.

[cactusrose]

It's not just Alaska. The breakout on the Dawn was during the Panama Canal repositioning cruise from FLL to SF.

[raydon]

Not just ships..many of the schools had to shut down a day to get rid of the virus in upstate NY!

[sredish]

Not just ships..many of the schools had to shut down a day to get rid of the virus in upstate NY!

 

We live in Texas, and earlier this year one of our school districts in a neighboring city THOUGHT about closing. A "mysterious" 24 hr stomach flu slammed the elementary and junior high schools. In some classes, only four students were present. This went on for about a week with the news reporting on this "mysterious" illness. The virus is everywhere there are several people together in confined spaces. Most don't even know they have it as the symptoms are identical to food poisoning or a flu.

 

Or is it the other way around??? :rolleyes:

[cactusrose]

My mother an sister who live in Bishop Ca had something similar but it lasted for weeks. Mom was in the hospital three times to get fluids.