noro virus on ryndam

[choc56uk]

can someone please help me with this ...who do i ring about this ...seems that this review says that the virus is back on board

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=510755

 

we sail on 29th

[DocF]

This review is so totally negative that I would give it little credence. If nothing is good, the review is usually not good either.

[Alberta Quilter]

There's not much that can be done about it. The review doesn't indicate how many people were infected. Given that it was in the UK area, there would not be a report to the CDC.

 

I was on a noro infected cruise in May/15. There were 70/80 people infected on the prior cruise. Prior to boarding, we received a letter in which we were given the choice to sail or cancel with a full refund. Of course, most people chose to sail. Our embarkation was delayed by several hours due to the deep cleaning that they did between cruises. We were in Code Red for 12 out of 15 days which means there was no self service for anything. The spa and library were closed; casino remained open, though! No flowers on the tables in the MDR or Lido. The ship was deep cleaned every two/three days during the cruise. At the height of the infection, just prior to disembarkation, there were over 200 infected people. Honestly, I don't know what more the crew could have done to stop the virus.

 

The one thing that I recommend is taking a probiotic every day. Start one week before leaving and continue to take it daily until you are one week post cruise. I forgot to bring them for that May cruise and did regret it when I got sick with noro. Wash your hands at every opportunity; learn to like the smell of Purell and the other sanitizers they use. Use your elbows or knuckles to push elevator buttons; use the inside of your arm to hang on to banisters. Use a napkin to pick up bottles of peanuts (if they even have them out). I also recommend that you do not do any jigsaw puzzles during the cruise; they can't clean the pieces without ruining the puzzle. (I think that's how I got infected but don't know for sure.)

 

They'll monitor any new cases on your cruise. If there are no new cases, they'll lift the Code Red to Code Orange which will allow some self service. One thing I was surprised with was how organized they were and how there weren't many line-ups, at least, that I saw during the Code Red.

 

If you have those Code Red conditions for an extended period, like I experienced, just know that it will still be a good cruise but it will be a different cruise. Just go with the flow.

 

I've booked another cruise and am in the processing of making another reservation. Noro won't stop me from cruising again.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise, have a healthy cruise and that your concerns about noro are for naught. I have sailed the Ryndam and truly love that ship. I'm sorry to see her leave HAL.

[choc56uk]

yes i can read into that but he did state they had letters as they boarded ..which i know may just be '' an awareness statement'' ...i would just like it clarified

[Alberta Quilter]

yes i can read into that but he did state they had letters as they boarded ..which i know may just be '' an awareness statement'' ...i would just like it clarified

 

It is an awareness statement but it probably will offer you the choice of cancelling with a full refund.

 

As there is at least one cruise between the one the reviewer was on and your cruise, that will hopefully help in stopping the virus from spreading. It did get reduced on subsequent sailings after my May/15 cruise (but I won't like, it did take a few cruises).

[StartrainDD]

I agree with all previous posts. Also note the OTHER thread on the Ryndam overflowing with praise for the ship and crew.

 

I read the review and the only thing the reviewer liked was the food. Cabin - No, Public areas - No, Bar service - No, dining room service - No.

 

We sail next week on Statendam (also heading to P&O) and are looking forward to a great cruise!

[choc56uk]

if we are given letters with an advice that there has been passengers affected ..... and that as they are aware that there may a virus on board...we will not sail .... no way ...

 

hand washing ....pushing doors open with elbows ..etc etc ....thats not a cruise i wish to take ...so we will see...fortunatly we live in the uk and will be travelling by car ...so we can choose an alternative holiday

Edited August 21, 2015 by choc56uk

[Randyk47]

Unfortunately there are no guarantees. We were in the Volendam a few years ago out of Ft Lauderdale and had an almost perfect 10-day cruise. If there were cases of norovirus on our cruise they were well contained, at least enough that it was never apparent or announced. The very next cruise got literally hammered with an outbreak so severe it made national news at the time. No telling if the outbreak was a carryover from our cruise or if passengers boarding as with disembarked brought it on the ship. Point is despite thorough cleaning the virus may still be present or the next set of passengers will bring along a whole new cycle.

[Alberta Quilter]

Unfortunately there are no guarantees. We were in the Volendam a few years ago out of Ft Lauderdale and had an almost perfect 10-day cruise. If there were cases of norovirus on our cruise they were well contained, at least enough that it was never apparent or announced. The very next cruise got literally hammered with an outbreak so severe it made national news at the time. No telling if the outbreak was a carryover from our cruise or if passengers boarding as with disembarked brought it on the ship. Point is despite thorough cleaning the virus may still be present or the next set of passengers will bring along a whole new cycle.

 

Exactly.

 

There have been previous posts here on CC that every sailing, no matter the cruise line, has a certain, usually small, percentage of noro infected passengers. It's everywhere, not just on cruise ships.

[Alphen]

can someone please help me with this ...who do i ring about this ...seems that this review says that the virus is back on board

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=510755

 

we sail on 29th

 

We were on the same cruise and we did not encounter any of the problems that the review poster had;

 

• We did not get any forward notice at boarding, regarding an existing Noro situation,

• However, strict Noro prevention measures were in force during the entire 2 weeks, but we did not encounter, nor hear about any cases during our 2 weeks,

• In my view, we did not encounter bad weather worth noticing,

• Considering the circumstances (during the day, Ryndam had to reposition anchor position because of changing winds, crew did an excellent job in tendering in Heymaey islands, also the captain stated, that it is never 100% possible to guarantee disabled guests 100% tender access, in all weather conditions,

[momatibm]

The poster only joined to write the review - with the new format they show the join date and number of posts. I would tend to believe ALPHEN who was on the cruise and is a regular on the board where his/her views have been balanced on all cruises.

[choc56uk]

thanks for replys....

 

yes i can understand how good a job the crew will do and unless they say anything verbal or letter on boarding we would probably not know even if say 6 or 20 people have brought it on board ...i know clearly about the virus and how it spreads ...

 

we will just wait and see .... thats all we can do ...

[dakrewser]

if we are given letters with an advice that there has been passengers affected ..... and that as they are aware that there may a virus on board...we will not sail .... no way ...

 

hand washing ....pushing doors open with elbows ..etc etc ....thats not a cruise i wish to take ...so we will see...fortunatly we live in the uk and will be travelling by car ...so we can choose an alternative holiday

 

 

What part of "hand washing" do you find abhorrent???

[Tampa Girl]

I'm surprised you would even consider a cruise. It is well know that noro frequently surfaces on cruises- as well as in schools, nursing homes, etc., etc. Further, there may be no virus when you board and one of your fellow passengers brings it in. If you have this much fear of noro, you probably should cancel the cruise and forget about future cruises.

[Fouremco]

I'm surprised you would even consider a cruise. It is well know that noro frequently surfaces on cruises- as well as in schools, nursing homes, etc., etc. Further, there may be no virus when you board and one of your fellow passengers brings it in. If you have this much fear of noro, you probably should cancel the cruise and forget about future cruises.

Actually, you'd better stay home, as resorts and most alternate holiday locations, not to mention airplanes and other forms of public transportation, suffer from noro as well. Of course, they don't get the same publicity and don't have the same reporting requirements, but that little virus hangs out in many, many locations other than cruise ships!

[Alberta Quilter]

Now, now, let's be nice. The OP may have reasons of which we are unaware that warrant him/her to be wary. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. They need to do what is best for THEM. They don't need to explain their reasoning to us. If they choose to cancel their cruise, that is their choice, not ours.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been on quite a few HAL ships where the Noro was already on it when we boarded or it broke out while we were on the ship.

Just go with the flow.

A few times everything was closed down -- pool -- library -- beauty salon -- etc.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

How long # of days could you take a probiotic for??

[Alberta Quilter]

How long # of days could you take a probiotic for??

 

For the one I use (Florastor), the instructions say two caps, twice a day for a duration of one week. I take one a day. I think it would be different if one had an acute case. I never thought about the length of time before but my longest cruise was three weeks. It was a travel doctor that recommended it to us, before we went to South America.

[RJHNorthyorks]

We will be sailing on Ryndam on 5th September. Our last cruise was Celebrity Infinity in May which was also reported to have had noro problems in previous cruises but we had no problems. As a previous poster had said this a risk in any community.

[JennysUncle]

We got on the Ryndam on July 25 2015 for a B2B 7/25-8/1 & 8/1-8/15. We had seen postings of noro onboard on earlier cruises, and the ship came home a day early on July 4 for a special deep cleaning. Before getting onboard we got a letter noting that there had been noro, and that we should be diligent about hand washing. We were Code Red for a few days, which was not particularly burdensome - essentially just no self-service in the Lido. Was asked some crew about the previous cruise, and were told that there was no problem but the Code Red was still a precaution. There was no sign of noro, and after a few days we went to code ?yellow? -- normal but still admonishment to wash hands frequently. The 8/1 sailing started off normally from the beginning, and there was never a public sign of noro. Now, it is possible - probably probable - that on every cruise there are a few isolated cases of GI trouble, but the hope is that they remain isolated.

[choc56uk]

Thnks for honest replies ..... oh and ''him'' is a ''Her'' ..... and for the other contradictory comments we've sailed the seas a few times and travelled the world .....many many times.....and always adhere to hygeine controls ...the fact that some of u have stated that we ''stay at home '' is really very childish and un-called for

 

i am just concerend that this virus seems to be lingering and i have had noro virus before and it floored me for 3-4 weeks .....although i was glad of the weight loss ...trust me this is a bad virus and would not wish it on anyone ...

 

We just want to have an enjoyable cruise sailing from the UK for once instead of the long haul flights to Florida .... of which weve got nxt year ....

 

but dont want to be walking into a large sickroom ..if you get what i mean ..

 

so please keep the 'fly' comments to yourselves ....thank you

[Lottie Linda]

can someone please help me with this ...who do i ring about this ...seems that this review says that the virus is back on board

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=510755

 

we sail on 29th

 

Keep in mind that the cruise crew does everything they can to keep the Noro to a minimum. And it is not an easy job, either.

 

With a full passenger load and the crew, cruise ships have a population density that is far greater than the most concentrated slums in the world- there is no greater population density in any community.

 

People who live in squalor eventually build up a resistance to the local germs, cruise passengers only have a week or two, at the most, before they come in contact with the germs living on the ship. Not enough time to build up an immunity.

[dakrewser]

With a full passenger load and the crew, cruise ships have a population density that is far greater than the most concentrated slums in the world- there is no greater population density in any community.

 

Any apt building has greater density as the vast majority of HAL cabins are 2 people. And they are far from "slums".

 

People who live in squalor eventually build up a resistance to the local germs, cruise passengers only have a week or two, at the most, before they come in contact with the germs living on the ship. Not enough time to build up an immunity.

 

What sort of cruises have you taken where people "live in squalor"??

[Fouremco]

With a full passenger load and the crew, cruise ships have a population density that is far greater than the most concentrated slums in the world- there is no greater population density in any community.

The population density of the Dharavi slums, Mumbai, India are estimated at well in excess of 300,000 per square km. Using the Nieuw Amsterdam as a typical ship, it's density with full passenger and crew load extrapolated to one square km works out to approximately 226,111, or slightly more than 2/3 the density.

 

Up until it was demolished in 1993, the most crowded place on earth was Kowloon Walled City. It is estimated that it had a population density of up to 1.2 million per square kilometer.