Star Princess has a outbreak?

[HI-C-Dubs]

Hey everyone,

 

The Star Princess was in port today in Honolulu and I noticed all of the shore excursion people I work with were armed to the gills with disinfectant wipes and sprays. Was there a sickness outbreak on board? I'm sure it wasn't huge but I was curious. And I my condolences to those who are sick and quarantined on the boat... I hope your vacation gets better soon!

[robandana]

Yes I have family on this cruise and they are on RED Alert...cant touch anything in the buffet, extra cleaning by crew etc. This was announced by the Capitan on May 5th. No sure how many affected but have sailed many times with NORO but only once did we have a RED Alert. No idea how many sick there needs to be to get to RED.

Edited May 7, 2016 by robandana

[moki'smommy]

If 3% or more of either the crew or the passengers get sick, it is required to be reported to the CDC and becomes a matter of public record, so cruise lines really don't want to hit that number. This is in marked contrast to schools, where reporting is not required until 10% of the students or staff are absent.

 

I have no idea how Princess defines a red alert. My guess would be that they are nearing the reporting level and trying very hard to avoid that. If they hit reporting levels, there is typically a boarding of the ship by a CDC inspector who will oversee extra cleaning and who has the authority to prevent the ship from entering or leaving a US port. Cruise lines typically limit food handling at the buffet to crew, do extra cleaning of all public areas, etc. and then bring on extra crew at disembarkation for more complete cleaning. This may delay the boarding process for hours.

 

Unfortunately, tis the season for Noro. This virus is spread from hand to mouth, whether the hand itself or contaminated food. The best prevention is frequent, thorough hand washing, as well as intentionally keeping hands away from your face. A good practice is to make the sink the first stop each time you enter the cabin. You can't eliminate the risk, but you can decrease the chance of getting sick.

Edited May 7, 2016 by moki'smommy

[eclue]

Please keep us posted - we are scheduled to board on May 14th.

thanks,

eclue:rolleyes:

[emmak8]

Another practice is to only use the bathroom in your cabin. This can get very inconvenient, but if there's an alert, I'd do it.

[sunlover5]

Boarding on the 14th with you eclue! Hopefully will get it under control this week!

[freshair8]

hello everyone!! In Kauai today on the Star... yes, we have the noro on board, not sure of how many..but the crew are doing an outstanding job of cleaning everything.

Today, we had to remove everything from the bathroom and top of the dressers, so they could do a good cleaning of all the cabins.

 

Having a fabulous time, and yes, in the buffet, the crew serves you and in the dining room, they serve you the buns, butter, and salt and pepper.

[chengkp75]

If 3% or more of either the crew or the passengers get sick' date=' it is required to be reported to the CDC and becomes a matter of public record, so cruise lines really don't want to hit that number. This is in marked contrast to schools, where reporting is not required until 10% of the students or staff are absent.

 

I have no idea how Princess defines a red alert. My guess would be that they are nearing the reporting level and trying very hard to avoid that. If they hit reporting levels, there is typically a boarding of the ship by a CDC inspector who will oversee extra cleaning and who has the authority to prevent the ship from entering or leaving a US port. Cruise lines typically limit food handling at the buffet to crew, do extra cleaning of all public areas, etc. and then bring on extra crew at disembarkation for more complete cleaning. This may delay the boarding process for hours.

 

Unfortunately, tis the season for Noro. This virus is spread from hand to mouth, whether the hand itself or contaminated food. The best prevention is frequent, thorough hand washing, as well as intentionally keeping hands away from your face. A good practice is to make the sink the first stop each time you enter the cabin. You can't eliminate the risk, but you can decrease the chance of getting sick.[/quote']

 

Not quite accurate in regards to the USPH/CDC. Every cruise ship must make a report to the USPH/CDC soon after leaving the last foreign port, every time, regardless of whether there have been any cases of GI illness or not. When the percentage of passengers or crew reporting GI symptoms reaches 2%, a special report has to be made, followed by daily updates. When the percentage reaches 3%, another special report must be made, with a detailed remediation plan must be submitted, and the USPH/CDC makes recommendations for remediation. This is the only time that the USPH/CDC posts an "outbreak update" on their website, but reporting has been done every single cruise, from every single ship.

 

A 3% special report does not normally result in a boarding by the USPH inspectors. This will depend whether much higher numbers of passengers or crew are reported, or if the ship has had repetitive outbreaks above the 2% level. The USPH inspectors do not "oversee the extra cleaning". They will conduct a "normal" USPH VSP inspection, covering all aspects of vessel sanitation from food safety to pool chemistry, and will discuss remediation methods with the ship's senior management. The USPH does not have the authority to prevent the ship entering or leaving port, but it can prevent the ship from embarking passengers in a US port, and in extreme conditions could prevent passengers from disembarking in a US port.

[easyboy]

I hope it is controlled soon.

[robandana]

Not quite accurate in regards to the USPH/CDC. Every cruise ship must make a report to the USPH/CDC soon after leaving the last foreign port, every time, regardless of whether there have been any cases of GI illness or not. When the percentage of passengers or crew reporting GI symptoms reaches 2%, a special report has to be made, followed by daily updates. When the percentage reaches 3%, another special report must be made, with a detailed remediation plan must be submitted, and the USPH/CDC makes recommendations for remediation. This is the only time that the USPH/CDC posts an "outbreak update" on their website, but reporting has been done every single cruise, from every single ship.

 

A 3% special report does not normally result in a boarding by the USPH inspectors. This will depend whether much higher numbers of passengers or crew are reported, or if the ship has had repetitive outbreaks above the 2% level. The USPH inspectors do not "oversee the extra cleaning". They will conduct a "normal" USPH VSP inspection, covering all aspects of vessel sanitation from food safety to pool chemistry, and will discuss remediation methods with the ship's senior management. The USPH does not have the authority to prevent the ship entering or leaving port, but it can prevent the ship from embarking passengers in a US port, and in extreme conditions could prevent passengers from disembarking in a US port.

 

Wow very informative, this is very detailed information and good to know. This seems to be a topic cruise lines avoid and offer very little information about.

 

They always seem to blame passengers for bringing NORO onto the ships but I have noticed that some ships get infected much more than others and this would suggest that it may not always be caused by passengers. Just an observation.

 

Thanks.

[chengkp75]

Wow very informative, this is very detailed information and good to know. This seems to be a topic cruise lines avoid and offer very little information about.

 

They always seem to blame passengers for bringing NORO onto the ships but I have noticed that some ships get infected much more than others and this would suggest that it may not always be caused by passengers. Just an observation.

 

Thanks.

 

I know this is not a popular viewpoint on CC, but in my experience it is in fact the passengers that bring noro onboard. One of the more useful numbers that the USPH/CDC looks at is not the raw or total number of cases reported, it is the trend in daily number of cases. If the trend starts a cruise near zero, rises within a couple of days, and then tapers off towards the end of the cruise, and with no "level" trend carrying over to the next cruise, it can be presumed to have been brought onboard by a passenger (and the CDC is pretty good at tracing things back to "patient zero"). If the trend stays at a measurable and fairly consistent level during the turn-around and the first couple of days of the next cruise, this is indicative of a potential crew problem.

 

Remember, even if a crew member is ill, just like with a passenger, if he/she uses good personal hygiene, they do not necessarily become a transmission vector. And in the case of a crew member, just like most folks, they don't change their personal hygiene habits from week to week, so they would be re-infecting themselves, and re-transmitting the virus, so you would see multiple cruises with outbreaks, which you don't always see. Even those ships that do have consecutive outbreaks, usually the trend data shows a drop off of cases towards the end of the cruise, and then a return to the same rise in cases a day or two into the next cruise, indicating that the virus was remediated in the first cruise or at turn-around, and then another infected person embarked and re-infected the sanitized surfaces.

[spcl4cs_gal]

Gee this is rough to hear for the Star but I have cruised on ships before that were in a Code Red situation and the pax really have nothing to worry about other than washing their hands. I board on June 4 so the Code Red will no likely be over by that time.

[Coasty]

Washy, washy. On every NCL cruise there are always crew members with spray bottles at the restaurants, especially the buffet. On on last couple of Princess cruises, there was not a washy, washy to be found. Seems like a simple way to help reduce the chance of noro. We will be in the Star in November, hope to see lots of spray bottles about the ship.

[spcl4cs_gal]

When I was on the Veendam to Hawaii a couple of years ago we had a cruise director who always reminded us to "Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands" everytime he did ship wide announcements. I wonder where Carlos is these days?? :)

[AZJerry]

Not good to here as we board the Star on Saturday. Hopefully this gets cleared before then.

[RDC1]

Last year on the Caribbean Princess they were in code red a couple of times. The Captain indicated, in one of his announcements, that they did that anytime they had over 5 confirmed cases. So it really does not have to be very many before they will go to preventative measures (code red).

Edited May 9, 2016 by RDC1

[cindep]

At my last check up with my doctor, he advised me and my husband to take two doses of Pepto daily starting the day before the cruise. Evidently research has been done that found bismuth is the best treatment for Noro. We have been cruising for years and never heard this. However, I am willing to give it a try, especially as the Star (also board on Saturday) has advised passengers of Noro on the current sailing. And of course, it is still necessary to wash your hands and use the sanitizer.

[Thrak]

Another practice is to only use the bathroom in your cabin. This can get very inconvenient, but if there's an alert, I'd do it.

 

I always only use the bathroom in my cabin. I also wash my hands frequently. I agree that it's the passengers who bring noro onboard. Of course I have also picked it up at the grocery store, the kids got it from school, etc. It's pretty common. It's only an issue on ships due to the closed environment.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Thrak

[Astro Flyer]

I know this is not a popular viewpoint on CC, but in my experience it is in fact the passengers that bring noro onboard.

 

Not good to here as we board the Star on Saturday. Hopefully this gets cleared before then.

Last month our boarding was delayed by 3 hours to sanitize the ship & terminal because the previous cruise had some cases of norovirus. On the next day 2 cases were reported but those passengers probably arrived with norovirus because I've read the incubation period is longer. There are a couple of hotels near the port that passengers use & it's doubtful to me if they are regularly sanitized to prevent the spread of norovirus.

 

It appears to me that repeated outbreaks are based more on the ship's itinerary than on an infected ship. I agree with 'chengkp75' who has a career at sea that it's passengers who bring norovirus onboard which I recently experienced.

 

Thankfully the Code Red measures (no self service & addional sanitizing) prevented any new norovirus cases & by the middle of the cruise it was canceled. AZJerry...hopefully you'll have no problems & haven't read of any norovirus outbreaks here in Hawaii. This norovirus season had a new strain to the US and was forecasted to result in a 50% increase of norovirus.

 

I always use preventative measures such as hand washing whether there is norovirus or not.

[villager13]

Ok this might be a little extreme but we bought a box of plastic disposable food handler gloves at SAMS (I think there are a couple hundred in a box) and use them when we go to the buffet for the food tongs, salt and pepper, and soda machines etc. We take several pair so if we return to get more food we use a new pair.

So far this has worked for us and we have never caught anything on all the cruises we have done.

Of course we also use lots of hand sanitizer throughout the ship. Just our way of trying to avoid sickness ruining our cruise. I hope our luck holds out. :eek:

[Lucky TGO]

I always only use the bathroom in my cabin. I also wash my hands frequently. I agree that it's the passengers who bring noro onboard. Of course I have also picked it up at the grocery store, the kids got it from school, etc. It's pretty common. It's only an issue on ships due to the closed environment.

 

Very good advice!! I agree with you passengers bring norn onboard.

Just a question for Thrak how far away are you from becoming Elite? :D

Tony

[cruising cockroach]

When I was on the Veendam to Hawaii a couple of years ago we had a cruise director who always reminded us to "Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands" everytime he did ship wide announcements. I wonder where Carlos is these days?? :)

 

Zaandam perhaps Sept-Oct 2014? If it's the same CD, he said he's focussing more on his choreography career and only does CD work when HAL needs him for fill in.

[Putterdude]

Most unfortunate, I am thinking it was the Star that had the big outbreak this past fall during a Vancouver/Hawaii junket where people left the ship on stretchers and were hospitalized here in Vancouver.

[Thrak]

Very good advice!! I agree with you passengers bring norn onboard.

Just a question for Thrak how far away are you from becoming Elite? :D

Tony

 

A very loooooooooooong way to go to Elite. :)

 

We have a 13 day connoisseur tour to Alaska booked in June but only the 7 day cruise portion counts. That will only give us 7 cruises and 67 days. We need to have 15 cruises or 150 days before the next cruise is at Elite. We've done a couple of 4 day cruises because that's all that would fit in with work but we prefer longer cruises and have done a couple of 10 day, a 15 day, and a 17 day cruise. I'm looking at a couple of 28 day cruises but haven't planned one yet.

 

I'm walking out the door of the office at 4:00 on June 17 and never going back. I'm going on vacation but will just stay on vacation and then retire on August 18. Maybe we will be able to cruise a bit more once I'm retired. :)

 

Next year though we will probably only get one cruise and I don't know how long it will be. We plan to drive from California to Montana, camp at Glacier National Park for a few days to a week, then drive the Rocky Mountain Route up through Canada and all the way to the end of the Alaska Highway. Then we will take the Gold Rush Route back down through Canada (duh) and down through Washington and Oregon and back home to California. We plan to take a couple of months for this trip so that will cut into cruising. :)

 

I have 5 more Mondays to go (and one of those is a holiday!). Can you tell I'm looking forward to retirement? :D :D

[easyboy]

I always only use the bathroom in my cabin. I also wash my hands frequently.

A practical way to avoid the noro.