700 ill on Liberty

[Shadieeie]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Nov. 16) - More than 700 passengers and crew members aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms, cruise line officials said.

 

The outbreak, believed to be norovirus, struck people aboard the Carnival Cruise Lines' Liberty, one of the world's largest cruise ships, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Miami-based company.

The ship left Rome on Nov. 3 with about 2,800 paying passengers and was due to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.

"Within 24 hours of sailing, they had a lot of people sick. It has tapered off considerably over the past couple days," said David Forney, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

He said three environmental health specialists were expected to board the ship in St. Maarten on Thursday to oversee cleaning and to determine the cause of the outbreak.

 

I hope the rest of the cruise is enjoyable for the people aboard the ship, that's alot of sick people. :eek:

[LHP]

Man, that is a shame. I am glad to see that Carnival is taking this illness seriously instead of trying to keep on sailing! I bet that is going to be the "cleanest" ship around when that crew gets through with it!

[kelz66]

That is why this weeks sailing was cut down by a few days so they can scrub the ship from top to bottom.

 

There is another post down the page about the credit Carnival is offering the passengers to make up for the shortened cruise. :cool:

[raina*faith]

I feel for them, I don't like being away from home and sick.

 

Praying for a safe return...;)

[momofzeke]

Here's another thread about the outbreak on the Liberty: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=438962

[DqALEX]

That has to be worst than sea sick

[GoodMorningAmerica]

I work with "Good Morning America" and we are working on a story about the norovirus for Friday morning. If you are on the Liberty or know someone aboard the Liberty, please email me at andrea.beaumont@abc.com

[madhouseinc]

My heart goes out to those people - I know that a transatlantic would be my vacation of a lifetime. My daughter was a bit nervous about me cruising for the first time without family close to "protect" me - she is now really wigging! (disabled and this is my maiden voyage by myself)

[cruisinbuddy]

Don't blame Carnival because I read in another thread, that Portugal let them dock because so many Portugese were sick too. They caught it in Europe. Now upon futher reading of these boards, Carnival will be cutting short a 6 day cruise by 2 days to sanitize the ship.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=442982, check out the link. And they will be compinsated quite nicely.

[ladycaveat]

I've been reading the threads on here about the illness that has struck so many passengers and crew members on the Liberty. When people first posted . . . so many said . . . "ah, some of the passengers just have the flu and I'm sure it's not as serious as the posters have said." Now, Good Morning America is posting for information to give the story a "personal side" and from what I've read (on another thread) . . . that request has been met with nothing but rude comments and put downs of the poster ("it's the Liberty not the Legend . . . no wonder the media is so bad" (or something to that effect) . . . and when I read and re read what the OP had said . . . I didn't know what they were talking about . . . he/she clearing asked about those that had gotten sick on the Liberty. Some even when so far as to make fun of GMA . . . "is that show still around? I thought it had been canceled." Maybe GMA should do a story about the Cruise Critics boards and how unfriendly some of it's members are. I just saw on our "local news" here in D.C. about the outbreak of what is thought to be the norvirus (or how ever you spell it). I'm just so sad that some of my fellow cruisers can be so rude to someone that comes on these boards to ask a simple question . . . :(

[GoinCruisin]

I've been reading the threads on here about the illness that has struck so many passengers and crew members on the Liberty. When people first posted . . . so many said . . . "ah, some of the passengers just have the flu and I'm sure it's not as serious as the posters have said."

 

True, but... I think alot of that reaction was to a person who posted that there was over 1000 sick, and at the time, there were less than half of that sick... there WAS alot of exaggerating going on, but regardless... 15% of the passengers is alot of freaking passengers!!!! anyone who said "they just have the flu", well... that's correct, Norovirus is the stomach flu (same one many of us tend to get year after year)... but yes, the flu is very serious in older people and people that have immune system problems... so you can't take it lightly.

 

I agree... there is no need for people to be rude to someone just because they are looking for a story... We may not like the media, but all of us surely sit around and watch it :D LOL!!!

[Cruzman]

Just got an e-mail from my TA regarding the situation on Liberty and there currently are 10 passengers and three crew in isolation and only 4 new cases reported today. I would presume that the other 686 cases are now cured. CDC has traced the origin of the outbreak to two passengers, already sick, who boarded the ship in Civitavecchia.

[GoinCruisin]

Just got an e-mail from my TA regarding the situation on Liberty and there currently are 10 passengers and three crew in isolation and only 4 new cases reported today. I would presume that the other 686 cases are now cured. CDC has traced the origin of the outbreak to two passengers, already sick, who boarded the ship in Civitavecchia.

 

But you are still contagious up to 2 weeks after...

 

Those people need to be put in prison... :mad:

[robintennis]

Yikes....Norovirus...what, when...??

 

Miss a few days on Cruise Critic...and you really do miss a lot.

 

Only 16 more sleeps until I cruise this ship. Have they contained the virus?

 

I will not cancel this cruise because of this. I will just be incredibly careful with washing of hands, etc. I choose to believe that once they have it contained and the scouring begins, it will be the cleanest ship in the entire fleet.

 

Any current news out there?

 

Robin

[dansu]

But you are still contagious up to 2 weeks after...

 

Those people need to be put in prison... :mad:

 

...but they will be confined, just not in solitary, they will be on planes, trains and buses...sharing the CCL experience with all those around them:(

[jakesplace]

Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line

Cruise Ship: Carnival Liberty

Voyage Dates: 11/3-11/19

Number of ill passengers out of total number of passenger as of 11/17: 519 of 2804 (18.5%)

Number of ill crew out of total number of crew as of 11/17: 141 of 1166 (12.09%)

Predominant symptoms: diarrhea and vomiting

Actions: Carnival Cruise Line and the crew aboard the ship took the following actions to respond to the outbreak:

• increased cleaning and disinfection procedures,
  
• will staff the ship with additional cleaners that will sail from St. Maarten to Fort Lauderdale,
  
• submitted stools specimens for analysis,
  
• are providing daily updates to VSP,
  
• has delayed embarkation from Sunday until Tuesday to implement additional cleaning and disinfection measures.

CDC staff boarded the ship in St. Maarten on November 16th and will sail on the ship to disembark in Fort Lauderdale. CDC staff are aboard the ship to conduct an epidemiological investigation and make recommendations. Additional CDC staff will meet the ship in Fort Lauderdale to monitor cleaning and disinfection procedures upon disembarkation. The voyage began on November 3rd and departed from Rome.

[jakesplace]

Ships in 2006 infected with out breaks

 

Caribbean Cruise LineAdventure of the Seas11/5-11/12PendingCarnival Cruise LineCarnival Liberty11/3-11/19PendingRoyal Caribbean Cruise LineSerenade of the Seas10/29-11/11PendingPrincess CruisesIsland Princess10/21-11/5NorovirusCelebrity CruisesConstellation10/27-11/7NorovirusCelebrity CruisesConstellation10/16-10/27/06NorovirusPrincess Cruise LineDiamond Princess9/2-9/9NorovirusRoyal Caribbean Cruise Line Radiance of the Seas9/2-9/9Unknown, negative for norovirusRoyal Caribbean Cruise Line Mariner of the Seas7/23-7/30NorovirusCelebrity Cruises Infinity7/9-7/16NorovirusCelebrity Cruises Mercury6/2-6/9NorovirusHolland America Line Ryndam 5/28-6/4NorovirusHolland America Line Ryndam 5/14-5/21NorovirusNorwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Star5/14-5/21NorovirusNorwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Sun 5/13-5/20NorovirusHolland America Line Veendam4/22 - 5/9NorovirusRoyal Caribbean Cruise Line Explorer of the Seas 4/23-4/30 NorovirusPrincess CruisesIsland Princess 3/7-3/22NorovirusHolland America Line Amsterdam3/7-3/22Norovirus3/22-4/6NorovirusCelebrity Cruises Mercury3/6-3/17Norovirus3/17-3/27NorovirusRoyal Caribbean Cruise Line Grandeur of the Seas 3/6-3/11NorovirusHolland America Line Volendam3/3-3/13NorovirusRegent Seven Seas Cruises Seven Seas Mariner 2/28-3/13UnknownRoyal Caribbean Cruise Line Explorer of the Seas 2/26-3/5 and Investigation ReportNorovirusCunard Line Queen Mary 2 2/8-2/22ETECP & O Cruises Minerva II 1/12-1/26UnknownHolland America Line Zuiderdam12/30/2005-1/7/2006Norovirus

[jakesplace]

look at CDC web site for more info.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/default.htm