Radiance Jan 27 cleaning up Noro from previous cruise

[cassamanda]

Just boarded. Appears there was an outbreak of Noro on the previous cruise. Staff extra cautious disinfecting and boarding delayed until 11am.

WJ packed as staff is serving meals. Unbelievable but I spotted 2 people trying to serve themselves with bare hands even though serveries were roped off and staffed by servers. One older gentleman just helped himself when the server wasn't looking.:eek:

 

Radiance is still my favourite ship and the staff is outstanding.

 

 

Pacific PeArl is just departing under the bridge, will give her a blast.

 

Live from js1100.

 

Hugh

[Sparky74]

Please get rid of the Noro before we board next week.

7 sleeps to go! :D

 

 

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[Dawn1004]

They had Noro on the Radiance cruise before ours in Nov also. Glad to say on our cruise there didn't seem to be a Noro issue - we found it strange though that they ran out of batteries in the hand sanitiser stations at Wind Jammer at least twice on our cruise, thought they'd have worked it out for 17 nights.

 

I wish that cruiseships would have automatic doors in the bathrooms, and toilet seats that popped up and down automatically - so you don't have to touch these areas and pick something up, but I guess the washing and sanitising and using paper towels on handles does assist.

 

Touch wood haven't had this bug before and really don't ever want to have it.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise and no further outbreaks of this bug.

[cassamanda]

In Newcastle today. The guns at Fort Scratchley will be fired as we sail out.

Newcastle puts on a great welcoming committee with free shuttles to downtown and then there are free city circle buses as well.

Used a 10% Lowes voucher being handed out at the docks.

 

Trolley tour of Newcastle starts at the shuttle bus drop point. Cost is $15pp.

 

Noro is still being controlled by restricting access to food stations.

 

Major toilet blockage this morning on decks 9 to 11. Public toilets were overflowing (onto the floor:eek:) as passengers couldn't use cabin toilets. Problem was attended to promptly though once engineering staff was made aware of the problem.

Hugh

[cassamanda]

Fort Scratchley fires one of its big guns in a salute as we sail out with the ship responding by blasting its horn. You can just see the puff of smoke which in real life was quite large and the boom was quite loud. We were honoured with 3 salutes.

The fort is manned by retired Army personnel who take great pride in there restoration work. Well worth a visit.

 

[Dizziedi]

If the low-lifes amongst us washed their hands when they go to the loo and actually used the tongs provided in Windjammers, Noro Virus would be nipped in the bud - until then it will be with us. My other suggestion would be to close public loos - go back to your own cabin, its not that far and wash your bloody hands.

 

How dare they mess up my Radiance:mad:

 

Hugh, have a great cruise and hi to Chris - rant over:eek:

 

Cheers

Di

Edited January 28, 2014 by Dizziedi

[avalon007]

My family were on Radiance Dec 10-22nd & no sign of Noro on that cruise.

 

We spent nearly 5 weeks on Radiance Sept/Oct last & had no sign of Noro then either. Although a nasty flu went round the last week.

 

I agree regards the grots you get on board. I only take food from way back on the trays in the windjammer were they haven't sat the tongs on top of the food!

 

I saw several people last cruise with a large plate of food, then they put extra on a small plate that had it's base sitting on unsanitary surfaces touched by who knows how many unwashed hands, & promptly plonked that plate on top of their other plate of food!!!!!:eek:

 

I also found a whole desert spoon dropped & left in the chocolate sauce once day, I let a staff member know who promptly removed it, I didn't have any sauce that day. Same day I actually saw a woman who couldn't get the frozen self serve to break off, so she just used her fingers to snip it off. I was next in line, so needless to say I let the next lot drop off before I had any of it.

 

Some people's mama's just didn't teach 'em right!! :D

 

I think they should include a crash course on hygiene basics along with the muster drill!

[Sparky74]

I've just added "hand sanatiser containing Benzalkonium Chloride" to my shopping list.

5 sleeps until we board Radiance! :D

 

 

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[DT1304]

could not agree with Di and avalon more.

 

WASH YOUR HANDS PEOPLE!!!!!

 

As sad as this is, I agree that at the muster drill everyone should be taught the manners that they never learned at home.

 

:mad:

[avalon007]

I've just added "hand sanatiser containing Benzalkonium Chloride" to my shopping list.

5 sleeps until we board Radiance! :D

 

 

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Hi Sparky,

 

Did you ever get any of the Hands First Australian foam sanitiser I wrote about some time back?

 

It is not alcohol based & last up to 4 hours on your hands which is a lot longer than the others & it contains BC.

 

It's available online or I think they had some stockists in Sydney, but I can't recall where.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've just added "hand sanatiser containing Benzalkonium Chloride" to my shopping list.

5 sleeps until we board Radiance! :D

 

 

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If you can't find a liquid one, Wet Ones contain Benzalkonium Chloride. Just pack some small ziplock bags to put the used ones in when out and about.

[3littlepigs]

There was Noro onboard our cruise in December. The Concierge read the Riot Act in the lounge one night (in the nicest possible way) saying none of his suite pax were going to get sick if he had anything to do with it. He was very vigilent with the hand sanitiser.

I was talking to one of the crew about people walking straight past the sanitizer he commented that Aussies were the worst at non-compliance, sometimes our "she'll be right" attitude just doesn't cut it.

 

We didn't eat at the buffet after the first days lunch, food was yuk! We found the Park Cafe had some really good choices at breakfast and lunch, and the salad bar next to it was very good too. MDR food was horrid on our cruise, looked great tasted bad.

 

Staff onboard were amazing ( except entertainment staff, some awesome, some awful!)...best we have ever come across!

Love the salute at Newcastle!

Edited January 29, 2014 by 3littlepigs

[avalon007]

If you liked the Park Café salad bar you should have tried the MDR lunch time version, bigger & better.;)

 

I spent over 5 weeks on Radiance only just 3-4 months ago & I found the MDR food was fine most of the time. Had some beautiful lamb shanks, so tender. Some lovely salmon & also really enjoyed the simple pasta on the every day menu.

 

Windjammer was good for lunch, I mostly eat salads at lunch with some lean protein like fish or chicken & I found quite a few things on offer I really enjoyed.

 

Also the first days lunch in Windjammer, if you mean boarding day, is usually a paired down version of the full lunch. They have different dishes on offer every day so dismissing it after the first day seems a little premature?

 

Not every dish is going to appeal, but I find it hard to believe that there was no food that wasn't 'yuk' or 'horrid' in Windjammer or MDR.

 

But food is subjective, so a shame you didn't enjoy it like we have on every one of our cruises, with one exception - a cruise we did down the Nile in Egypt, if you want to see truly horrid food then that was a doozy.

Certainly puts things into perspective for me when comparing to RCCL's offerings!:):D

[Sparky74]

I found the roast beef rolls at the Park Cafe a great lunch time option. I also breakfasted there once or twice. It's a great place to eat but we also love lunch in the MDR on sea days.

 

 

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[Sandielle]

Hi Sparky,

 

Did you ever get any of the Hands First Australian foam sanitiser I wrote about some time back?

 

It is not alcohol based & last up to 4 hours on your hands which is a lot longer than the others & it contains BC.

 

It's available online or I think they had some stockists in Sydney, but I can't recall where.

 

Some Bloom's chemists have it, but it's easy enough to get it on line and they are very helpful.

[cassamanda]

I've just added "hand sanatiser containing Benzalkonium Chloride" to my shopping list.

5 sleeps until we board Radiance! :D

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Happy to report that Noro is under control and everything back to normal. Staff have done a wonderful job keeping people in check.

Toilet blockages have also been fixed once the 250 strong Asian delegation had been educated in not using en entire toilet roll :D

 

150 new passengers boarded at Hobart today. This a new trial allowing debarking and embarking at Hobart. The new terminal is in use there with some craft shops.

 

Great visit to MONA today. What can i say? Different to say the least. Not your average art gallery. Nice ferry ride on a fast cat as well. Easy to do on your own at half the price. Ferry runs every hour at $15 for seniors.

 

Must go, enjoying the bubbles won at Mystery Dinner.

 

Hugh

[MMDown Under]

Happy to report that Noro is under control and everything back to normal. Staff have done a wonderful job keeping people in check.

Toilet blockages have also been fixed once the 250 strong Asian delegation had been educated in not using en entire toilet roll :D

 

150 new passengers boarded at Hobart today. This a new trial allowing debarking and embarking at Hobart. The new terminal is in use there with some craft shops.

 

Great visit to MONA today. What can i say? Different to say the least. Not your average art gallery. Nice ferry ride on a fast cat as well. Easy to do on your own at half the price. Ferry runs every hour at $15 for seniors.

 

Must go, enjoying the bubbles won at Mystery Dinner.

 

Hugh

 

Pleased noro is under control and toilet problems solved. (Reminds me of poster of stick figure, standing on toilet seat, with a cross through it, in Uni Foreign Language Unit toilets.)

 

I hope the Hobart trial is a big success. It would be great to be able to cruise to Tassie, in the summer, have a short holiday there, then cruise or fly back, and visa versa for Tasmanians.

[avalon007]

LOL We had similar pictures on the back of toilet doors when I worked at a bank in Parramatta many years ago.

 

They must have a hell of a time on the ships when they do the Asian cruises if a minority of Asian passengers can cause blocked toilets?

 

I recall in China they only had those hole in the ground squat public toilets, (hotels were OK) but still don't understand how that equates to over use of toilet roll since many Chinese toilets don't offer toilet roll? :confused:

 

So I did some research & found this interesting blog post about Chinese toilets, but the scariest thing from a Noro perspective is that Chinese in China, in general, don't like washing their hands!! Read the blog for details..:eek:

 

Still didn't explain the overuse of toilet paper though...:)

[beckinoz]

There was Noro onboard our cruise in December. The Concierge read the Riot Act in the lounge one night (in the nicest possible way) saying none of his suite pax were going to get sick if he had anything to do with it. He was very vigilent with the hand sanitiser.

I was talking to one of the crew about people walking straight past the sanitizer he commented that Aussies were the worst at non-compliance, sometimes our "she'll be right" attitude just doesn't cut it.

 

We didn't eat at the buffet after the first days lunch, food was yuk! We found the Park Cafe had some really good choices at breakfast and lunch, and the salad bar next to it was very good too. MDR food was horrid on our cruise, looked great tasted bad.

 

Staff onboard were amazing ( except entertainment staff, some awesome, some awful!)...best we have ever come across!

Love the salute at Newcastle!

 

You were at the meet and mingle weren't you? I was on there with my mum.

 

The captain was constantly calling over the loudspeaker about washing your hands. It is such a simple thing to do!

 

I used our own toilet about 99% of the time and can remember one time when I used the public toilet where a woman came out of the cubicle and never washed her hands. I was so mad!

 

It's these filthy ones that ruin it for others who have the commonsense to do the right thing.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

I've just added "hand sanatiser containing Benzalkonium Chloride" to my shopping list.

5 sleeps until we board Radiance! :D

 

 

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Yes that's the one to use, the Benzalkonium Chloride is the key ingredient. I use it whenever I go out, anywhere. It's a non alcohol foam and is far more effectiver than the other 'gels'.

 

 

Jill:)

Edited January 31, 2014 by Gold Coast Cruisers

[3littlepigs]

You were at the meet and mingle weren't you? I was on there with my mum.

 

The captain was constantly calling over the loudspeaker about washing your hands. It is such a simple thing to do!

 

I used our own toilet about 99% of the time and can remember one time when I used the public toilet where a woman came out of the cubicle and never washed her hands. I was so mad!

 

It's these filthy ones that ruin it for others who have the commonsense to do the right thing.

 

The Captain was lovely! Seems some people just won't listen and spoil everything for others. Must admit I was the same, I would rather just nip back to the cabin to use the loo.

 

Finally got our photo album back from Snapfish yesterday, everyone comments on how lovely our cabin was.

 

Loved the Roast Beef Rolls for lunch at the Park Cafe, their Potato and Waldorf Salads were very good too. Loved the fruit pots in the morning!

[beckinoz]

The Captain was lovely! Seems some people just won't listen and spoil everything for others. Must admit I was the same, I would rather just nip back to the cabin to use the loo.

 

Finally got our photo album back from Snapfish yesterday, everyone comments on how lovely our cabin was.

 

Loved the Roast Beef Rolls for lunch at the Park Cafe, their Potato and Waldorf Salads were very good too. Loved the fruit pots in the morning!

 

I am yet to get my album sorted, so slack!

 

I didn't get to try the roast beef roll, I was eyeballing them though lol! Opted for a salad bowl instead. There's food constantly around that you kind of get sick of it in the end.

 

Will try a roast beef roll when I go in Dec this year. I convinced my hubby to come after he saw the photos (plus the kids got mad at him for not allowing them to go the first time!)

 

 

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[wotaripper]

According to some senior staff members there where 700 cases of noro last week we where tossing up which to go on that one or this glad we chose this one.

[cassamanda]

Just departing Melbourne on the way back to Sydney.

 

Have to say that the entertainment on this ship has been outstanding. If someone ever comments again that they were bored, then they must have locked themselves up in there cabins. Lots of live music of all types. Last nights singer/entertainer Patrick McMahon had standing ovations and total audience participation.

 

The CD, Amy Flickert is doing a superb job having taken over from Bobby Brown who is now in Europe.

Hugh

[avalon007]

Do you know what happened with Bobby Brown?

 

I was on Radiance for her repo back to Australia in Sept/Oct & he was just starting his stint with Becky as usual. Then next thing I hear they have left the ship?