Cruise ship returns a day early due to noro outbreak

[OlsSalt]

Bigger ships mean bigger numbers for small percentage problems: https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/11/cruise-ship-returns-norovirus/

Oasis of Seas comes back one day early to sanitize the ship - 277 noro cases out of what 6000 passengers?

 

Used to be known as "tourista" and almost a badge of a well-traveled person; now it is a spring board of bad publicity to malign an entire industry.

 

Wash your hands.

Edited January 11, 2019 by OlsSalt

[Essiesmom]

Can't open the link as I choose not to subscribe.  EM

[Mutumbojimbo]

Here is the link to the Cruise Critic Story. https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/3653/

It seemed to me that Royal Caribbean gave pretty fair compensation, and according to the story, they took on additional medical personnel. Of course I would have been disappointed that ports were skipped and the sailing cut short, but if the authorities in the ports won't let people disembark, there is not much the cruise line can do.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

One of our local news stations had the story on this morning.  

 

So now those sick people have to either fly home -- get people sick on the plane OR stay in a hotel until they can either fly or drive home -- depends on how sick they are.

[Krazy Kruizers]

44 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Bigger ships mean bigger numbers for small percentage problems: https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/11/cruise-ship-returns-norovirus/

Oasis of Seas comes back one day early to sanitize the ship - 277 noro cases out of what 6000 passengers?

 

Used to be known as "tourista" and almost a badge of a well-traveled person; now it is a spring board of bad publicity to malign an entire industry.

 

Wash your hands.

 

Oasis of the Seas -- passengers: anywhere from 5400 to 6400.

[St Pete Cruiser]

Can you believe RCCL would give everybody, not just the ill guest ALL their fares back?

[OlsSalt]

24 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Can you believe RCCL would give everybody, not just the ill guest ALL their fares back?

 

As were are learning on another thread, it takes the big ships to produce the good financials.  They could afford it apparently.  They also could not afford the type of hysteria-tinged media reporting these now incidents  engender. 

Edited January 11, 2019 by OlsSalt

[Mutumbojimbo]

30 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Can you believe RCCL would give everybody, not just the ill guest ALL their fares back?

All the guests were affected. If I read the story correctly, the ship was not allowed to disembark anyone in Cozumel or the port in Jamaica, then the cruise was cut short a day. I'm sure that the Oasis of the Seas has plenty of things to keep a person occupied on a sea day, but the passengers missed out on quite a bit.

[sail7seas]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

Can't open the link as I choose not to subscribe.  EM

 

 

Ditto..... 

However I did hear about it on tv news this morning

 

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Edited January 11, 2019 by sail7seas

[TAD2005]

When this story was first reported,  it stated that the ship's first port of call was Labadee, Haiti.   RCI's itinerary calls it Labadee, Hispaniola.    The news story said that there were no illness issues on the ship until 10:00 pm the night the ship left Haiti.   That is when the illness started to spread to the passengers and some crew.   Passengers were notified on Wednesday that they would miss Jamaica, before they arrived.  Haiti still has a lot to accomplish to recover from the massive earthquake and subsequent hurricanes over the years.   Its sanitary systems, sewers, and drinking water are not up to WHO standards.  Possibly some passengers or crew drank a few cocktails with ice made from local water, and brought that back to the ship.  It is very suspicious that the illness started 6 - 8 hours after passengers returned from a port call in Haiti.   No problems were reported before the Labadee port call.

Edited January 11, 2019 by TAD2005

[baggal]

4 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

When this story was first reported,  it stated that the ship's first port of call was Labadee, Haiti.   RCI's itinerary calls it Labadee, Hispaniola.    The news story said that there were no illness issues on the ship until 10:00 pm the night the ship left Haiti.   That is when the illness started to spread to the passengers and some crew.   Haiti still has a lot to accomplish to recover from the massive earthquake and subsequent hurricanes over the years.   Its sanitary systems, sewers, and drinking water are not up to WHO standards.  Possibly some passengers or crew drank a few cocktails with ice made from local water, and brought that back to the ship.  It is very suspicious that the illness started 6 - 8 hours after passengers returned from a port call in Haiti.   No problems were reported before the Labadee port call.

 

4 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

When this story was first reported,  it stated that the ship's first port of call was Labadee, Haiti.   RCI's itinerary calls it Labadee, Hispaniola.    The news story said that there were no illness issues on the ship until 10:00 pm the night the ship left Haiti.   That is when the illness started to spread to the passengers and some crew.   Haiti still has a lot to accomplish to recover from the massive earthquake and subsequent hurricanes over the years.   Its sanitary systems, sewers, and drinking water are not up to WHO standards.  Possibly some passengers or crew drank a few cocktails with ice made from local water, and brought that back to the ship.  It is very suspicious that the illness started 6 - 8 hours after passengers returned from a port call in Haiti.   No problems were reported before the Labadee port call.

Labadee is an island off the coast of the island of Hispaniola on the Haitian side.  I doubt if any of the passengers actually step foot into Haiti at all - let alone drank their water.   They probably caught it from one or more staff on the island who live in Haiti.

[TAD2005]

5 minutes ago, baggal said:

 

Labadee is an island off the coast of the island of Hispaniola on the Haitian side.  I doubt if any of the passengers actually step foot into Haiti at all - let alone drank their water.   They probably caught it from one or more staff on the island who live in Haiti.

I'm pretty sure, as you said, that many supplies for Labadee, including the water and workers, are brought from the mainland.   Whenever I'm in a country that has questionable sanitary issues, always drink beer.   Forget the margaritas.   

[OlsSalt]

Don't forget the glass or cup can also be a contamination source, no matter what is put in it. One cup of coffee did it for me once in Port Said, a few decades ago. Coffee  was hot; cup was probably washed out in the local gutter water. 

[sfaaa]

Last time I was in Labadee, there were flies hovering and landing on the salad, cut fruits and desserts at beach BBQ. I skipped them both. Didn't need the health risk.

[chengkp75]

After at least two full days on the ship (not sure of the exact itinerary), it is much more believable that the problem came on with the embarking passengers, as this is closer to the normal incubation period of noro, then 6-8 hours after possible exposure on Labadee.

[jb008]

WASH YOUR D*MN HANDS PEOPLE!!!

 

It appalls me how often I see people leave a restroom without washing their hands.  Dude came out of a stall at the airport in ATL and looked at the sinks but skipped 'em and waltzed out on his merry way.

 

I try to avoid public restrooms, especially on the ship, but did have the "pleasure" of watching a guy go from urinal to buffet, skipping both the sink and hand sanitizer before touching food serving utensils.

 

Noro incubation is 12-48 hours (per CDC), proper food poisoning can be as short as a few hours depending on how much toxin is in the food (good chart at FDA - https://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm103263.htm).  Worse, with noro you can be contagious even after symptoms resolve.  

 

[TiogaCruiser]

15 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

After at least two full days on the ship (not sure of the exact itinerary), it is much more believable that the problem came on with the embarking passengers, as this is closer to the normal incubation period of noro, then 6-8 hours after possible exposure on Labadee.

Exactly. Assuming they based the diagnosis on lab results. Per CDC, the typical incubation period for Noro is 12-48 hours, median 33 hours. So one has to look at the ship and pax, personnel.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/hai/pdfs/norovirus/229110-ANoroCaseFactSheet508.pdf

Edited January 12, 2019 by TiogaCruiser

[Copper10-8]

16 hours ago, baggal said:

 

Labadee is an island off the coast of the island of Hispaniola on the Haitian side.  I doubt if any of the passengers actually step foot into Haiti at all - let alone drank their water.   They probably caught it from one or more staff on the island who live in Haiti.

 

FYI; unlike what many folks believe, Labadee is not an island off the coast of Haiti (along with the Dominican Republic, a different country, known as Hispaniola). It is a private resort development, leased by RCI for the exclusive use by their cruise ship pax (plus Celebrity, plus Azamara), located on the north coast of Haiti. 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

The incubation period of Noro is why HAL used to do the "code orange" for the first 2 days in the buffet, back when it was mostly self-service.

 

We've been on HAL ships that had small Noro outbreaks. And I think they stayed small because HAL is so quick to implement precautions. HAL captains like to use the phrase "abundance of caution." Communal items like sugar bowl, salt/pepper shakers, bread basket, butter dish disappear from tables. You get everything served to you to reduce multiple people touching food-related objects. You can't even reach for a glass of juice at the buffet. Crew are constantly wiping down railings and doorknobs. The captain makes announcements reminding people of the problem and the need to WASH HANDS. 

 

And maybe this is a situation when HAL's more "experienced" demographic helps. Been there, done that (or at least seen that), don't want it again, so we take the precautions seriously.

 

[kazu]

15 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

The incubation period of Noro is why HAL used to do the "code orange" for the first 2 days in the buffet, back when it was mostly self-service.

 

We've been on HAL ships that had small Noro outbreaks. And I think they stayed small because HAL is so quick to implement precautions. HAL captains like to use the phrase "abundance of caution." Communal items like sugar bowl, salt/pepper shakers, bread basket, butter dish disappear from tables. You get everything served to you to reduce multiple people touching food-related objects. You can't even reach for a glass of juice at the buffet. Crew are constantly wiping down railings and doorknobs. The captain makes announcements reminding people of the problem and the need to WASH HANDS. 

 

And maybe this is a situation when HAL's more "experienced" demographic helps. Been there, done that (or at least seen that), don't want it again, so we take the precautions seriously.

 

 

Having sailed on a “premium” cruise line that had Noro and experienced Noro on HAL ships, I can safely say that HAL treats it much more seriously and I believe because of it, they can help stop the spread and even bring it to a halt.

 

On our premium line, all condiments were still on tables (including the Waves) where anyone could touch and handle them.  Salt and pepper, mayonnaise, ketchup, sugar, etc.

 

Anyone could walk by early in the morning and help themselves to the breads that were out, pastries, etc.

 

Tables were all set in the open area with no protection (forks, knives, spoons not wrapped in a napkin), etc.

 

In the MDR or specialty restaurants, it was the same - bread was out, butter, salt & pepper shakers, etc.

 

HAL would normally have closed the pools, libraries, etc.  But on this ship the only thing closed was the self serve laundry.  Everything else was open.

 

There was a big difference between how this line handled it and how HAL does it.  Definitely HAL handles it much more seriously.

[Boatdrill]

17 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

   Its sanitary systems, sewers, and drinking water are not up to WHO standards.  Possibly some passengers or crew drank a few cocktails with ice made from local water, and brought that back to the ship.  It is very suspicious that the illness started 6 - 8 hours after passengers returned from a port call in Haiti.  

Noro virus is spread by physical contact, such as infected stairway railings, dining utensils, salt and pepper shakers, taxi cab door handles, shaking hands with another person,  etc.  

[Boatdrill]

18 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Can you believe RCCL would give everybody, not just the ill guest ALL their fares back?

 

You can pay them now, or you can pay them later (after being sued).  

[TiogaCruiser]

29 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

Noro virus is spread by physical contact, such as infected stairway railings, dining utensils, salt and pepper shakers, taxi cab door handles, shaking hands with another person,  etc.  

Noro is spread by the fecal-oral route. 

Simple physical contact alone is not going to make one sick, unless the little buggers get in the mouth. Those guys are quite robust and live for a long time in the environment.

 

[Jammu2]

The official count was over 500 infected. Who knows how many crew.

[mcrcruiser]

We carry swipes of bleach which is the only thing that will kill  the noro virus . Another thing to avoid noro any where is do not under any circumstances touch your face with your hands , use nuckle when  ordering the  ships elevators & then when touching  your  cabin deck level in the elevator  . 

 

 Using precautions above will stop you & others from contacting & or spreading the noro virus