Just off the Balmoral

[Otis]

I'm watching the Balmoral pull into the berth in Manhattan right now. Does anyone know if

the norovirus situation has been resolved?

[Solent Richard]

I assume by that comment that you only think passengers should be confined to their cabins, whilst a future cruise sales person should be allowed to be out in the public areas of the ship the evening after she was sick that morning and on full duty early morning the next day. This, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was what I was told by the person herself when we were on Balmoral last May!

 

I totally agree that passengers should obey such requests, but I also think Fred should impose the same instructions on their staff.

 

It would be interesting to know if other posters think the staff should be allowed different rules, such as in this instance.

 

"...whilst a future cruise sales person should be allowed to be out in the public areas of the ship the evening after she was sick that morning and on full duty early morning the next day..."

 

Well, according to Fred Olsen...

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/61482/fred-olsen-confirms-illness-outbreak-on-balmoral

 

..."“Fred Olsen exceeds the requirements of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in that it isolates its guests in their rooms for 48 hours, instead of the 24 hours required by the CDC".

Edited May 4, 2016 by Solent Richard

[nb125]

“It is believed that the highly-contagious gastric illness was brought onto the ship, and is spread by person-to-person – or surface-to-surface – contact.

 

This infers it was brought onto the ship by the current passengers. No mention of the fact that it was on board before this cruise. If it is spread person to person or surface to surface why was it not eliminated when the last lot of passengers left and the ship was cleaned before the next passengers boarded?

[Solent Richard]

“It is believed that the highly-contagious gastric illness was brought onto the ship, and is spread by person-to-person – or surface-to-surface – contact.

 

This infers it was brought onto the ship by the current passengers. No mention of the fact that it was on board before this cruise. If it is spread person to person or surface to surface why was it not eliminated when the last lot of passengers left and the ship was cleaned before the next passengers boarded?

 

Perhaps some Fred Olsen fans could enlighten us. They certainly get more than their fair share.

[ovccruiser]

“It is believed that the highly-contagious gastric illness was brought onto the ship, and is spread by person-to-person – or surface-to-surface – contact.

 

This infers it was brought onto the ship by the current passengers. No mention of the fact that it was on board before this cruise. If it is spread person to person or surface to surface why was it not eliminated when the last lot of passengers left and the ship was cleaned before the next passengers boarded?

 

Because even now there are many many passengers who do NOT wash their hands after using the loo, and do NOT use hand sanitisers. I have witnessed them and told them, but alas to no avail.

[cornish pasty]

Hi looking at going on a cruise on the balmoral but reading the reports it looks bad I know ships get the bug and we have allways been lucky not getting it might give Fred a call

[Broch]

Hi looking at going on a cruise on the balmoral but reading the reports it looks bad I know ships get the bug and we have allways been lucky not getting it might give Fred a call

 

Please post to let us know how you get on with calling Fred. We go on the Balmoral in 3 weeks and our last experience last May certainly shook us up. We had been on many other cruises on two different lines and the thought of getting the Norovirus never entered our heads but now it haunts us when we recall so many people missing cruise days they had looked forward to for many months, only to have them ruined, and no amount of money can compensate for this. However we are going on this cruise and will have to be very careful, and with a bit of diligence and luck we will hope to avoid the dreaded virus

[Discount lovers]

The ship relies a lot on the buffet system for meals evening meal in MDR excepted . It lets passengers near food that they themselves are not going to eat as they inspect it and have a general look around what is on offer. :confused:

At breakfast it is very slow to get full waiter service even if you need it. We always have breakfast in our cabin ( until dis-embarkation day ). So far we have escaped the bug even when it was just down the corridor.

 

fingers crossed for end of May:cool:

[Winchester Ranger]

I wonder why it's always cruise ships that have outbreaks of Norovirus and yet we never hear about the crews of naval warships being similarly affected, and they live in VERY close proximity to each other.

 

By the way, I saw some earlier posts questioning the validity of calling it a Norovirus outbreak - well the CDC boarded the ship and took swabs off various surfaces aboard the ship and they tested positive for the Norovirus bacteria. So someone is walking around with infected poo on their hands - nice thought isn't it?

[nb125]

The letter we received during the outbreak informed us that 10% of the world's population are carriers of norovirus without ever becoming ill themselves. I wondered if the crew are all tested for this.

[cottonbuddas]

I wonder why it's always cruise ships that have outbreaks of Norovirus and yet we never hear about the crews of naval warships being similarly affected, and they live in VERY close proximity to each other.

 

Funnily enough, I was listening to Radio4 last week, I think it was the Food Programme, which visited a submarine, its galleys and storerooms. The question of "what about Norovirus" was broached and the answer was that their hygiene standards had to be of the highest, since it was their finger on the nuclear button. That's the reply I would have expected for PR purposes, but on reflection it's most probably just part of naval discipline.

[comcox]

I've read about several outbreaks now on Fred Olsen ships and I am concerned as I will be on the Black Watch for a month this summer. I've sailed with Holland America several times and I think their precautions have shown great success as I haven't read about any outbreaks on their ships in quite some time.

For the first three days there is a crew member stationed at the entrance to the restaurants with a sanitizer bottle and everyone entering gets a hand squirt. After the three days a self-serve sanitizer remains at all restaurant entrances. You cannot serve yourself in the buffet for those three days, but they have sufficient crew to serve you. There are also hand sanitizers located at the gym and other areas. And there is another crew person with sanitizer at the gangway for all passengers entering the ship at every port. Although this may seem tedious to some, it certainly seems to be effective.

[CruiserFromMaine]

Apparently there is still a lot of Norovirus on the Balmoral. I could see the ship in port yesterday and this article was in today's paper. http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/08/norovirus-strikes-cruise-ship-docked-in-portland-harbor/

 

Almost 25% with Noro now.

[nb125]

Despite how it seems it is not just Fred with this problem.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2348294&highlight=norovirus

[RuthlessBoss]

Apparently there is still a lot of Norovirus on the Balmoral. I could see the ship in port yesterday and this article was in today's paper. http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/08/norovirus-strikes-cruise-ship-docked-in-portland-harbor/

 

Almost 25% with Noro now.

 

I'm not normally a poster on this line, but the story has been on HLN with Robin Meade twice this morning. It caught my attention when I heard it was in Maine, my former home state.

[worldfamoustravellers]

It's on the BBC now, so must be serious:mad:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36245284

 

We were on Balmoral last summer and there were loads of fellow passengers making a point of not washing hands after the loo. Some sad people around.

 

GG

[Tansy Mews]

Because even now there are many many passengers who do NOT wash their hands after using the loo, and do NOT use hand sanitisers. I have witnessed them and told them, but alas to no avail.

 

I am sure this is true - people can remain carriers for 1-2 weeks after they recover. So good hygiene is absolutely necessary.

 

The CDC says: Noroviruses can be found in your vomit or stool even before you start feeling sick. The virus can stay in your stool for 2 weeks or more after you feel better. So, it is important to continue washing your hands often during this time.

 

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used in addition to hand washing. But, they should not be used as a substitute for washing with soap and water.

 

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html

 

Frances

[Jay23]

Surely, you should wash your hands all the time, whether you are unwell or not?

Isn't what this is about?

[cottonbuddas]

Surely, you should wash your hands all the time, whether you are unwell or not? Isn't what this is about?

 

I understood TansyMews to mean that for a week or two you should continue to wash your hands "often", ie much more frequently than usual, not just after a visit to the lavatory.

[Tansy Mews]

I understood TansyMews to mean that for a week or two you should continue to wash your hands "often", ie much more frequently than usual, not just after a visit to the lavatory.

 

And probably that's why it is so hard to eradicate.

 

Frances

[cornish pasty]

Hi looking at going on a cruise on the balmoral but reading the reports it looks bad I know ships get the bug and we have allways been lucky not getting it might give Fred a call

 

Spoke to Fred today not impressed at all as the girl was trying to tell me that only 15 people were ill on the ship so I asked if they was putting anything in writing to say all would be deep cleaned befor the next cruise

[fairliered]

This may sound drastic, but I think anyone caught not washing their hands with soap and water after using the loo should be kicked off at the next port and told to make their own way home.

In addition, their Oceans card should be deleted.

[Mark_T]

Unfortunately you can deep clean all you want, it will not make a blind bit of difference if one or two of the 1,000 new passengers bring the virus on-board with them and fail to maintain good hygiene standards...

[nb125]

Or if it is still there after the deep clean.

[cottonbuddas]

On reflection, I wonder if we are making too much of this? How serious is norovirus? I might have misunderstood, but not many seem to be rushed off to hospital for emergency treatment. Are you just sick for 24/36 hours?

 

In which case it doesn't seem to be worth making such a fuss about - just take what precautions you personally are comfortable with. After all, I've had much worse things befall me in Egypt .... Delhi ..... Mombasa ..... even Weston-super-Mare if I remember right.

 

Staying in my cabin and nodding off on the bed for a day doesn't really seem so much different from nodding off in the lounge, and at least I'm not taking up a seat!