Noro Virus

[daisy7113]

I read so much about the Noro on ships. Has anyone had this and if so, what were your symptoms? How exactly were you sick? Just want a heads up for my next cruise just in case.

[luv2cruz64]

Is there really a difference between noro and what is commonly called the "stomach flu'? Vomiting, diarreha ect.. I dont know the answer but it certainly sounds as if it feels the same.

[Sue L]

You are just as likely to catch it at home as on a ship. It is NOT a cruise ship disease. Here in NY they have been reporting that 400-500 people a day have been going to the ER with it.

 

Here is another thread from today about Noro on LAND. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=695639

[Melba1024]

You can use the search function and find a million threads about Noro virus. You will probably find all you want to know about it doing that as this topic is a hot one on the boards.

[wieslaw]

I read so much about the Noro on ships. Has anyone had this and if so, what were your symptoms? How exactly were you sick? Just want a heads up for my next cruise just in case.

 

 

Hello,

even that you " read so much about the Noro on ships" - it is just a small proportion ( on ships) of the "Noro" that is happenning all over.

 

Perhaps you are more concern about it in connection with your cruise ( all the cruise anticipation, money spent, vacation, cruising - and here comes the "Virus" when you are on the cruise ship ) - yes you should be concern and take every precaution (mostly hand washing and hand washing and hand washing) that you can ....... but do not let that stop you from doing what you want to do.

It may happen, ..... or it might not, ..... it may happen home ...... or on cruise ship ........or not at all.

 

It did happen to us on our last cruise in November. There were about 3400 people on board - how many had 'gastroentertis' I do not know, but probably not many.... we were the 'lucky ones'.

We did wash hands more often than ever before ( on any cruise), we did use the sanitizers before any food consumption ..... and we still got it.

The medical dept. did not call it "Noro virus" - they call it "Gastroentertis".

The symptoms for us:

included vomiting, diarrhea, low-grade fever, chills and muscle aches.

In addition wife had to get IV to replace the lost fluids ( about 977 dol worth).

It did not stop me from booking another cruise while on board, and being sick.

 

Go and enjoy your cruise.

 

Wes

[Shanafan]

Wash, wash, wash. I am also careful about 'finger foods' and just try to use extra precaution thru the winter months. But I think one important piece of advice to prevent it is to wash your hands frequently with antibacterial soap and hope for the best! :)

[royaloakie]

My husband and I caught Noro on the 12/30/07 sailing of the Freedom of the Seas. We knew it was on board when we boarded and saw the wipes out and a lot of cleaning of public places. We were also given a letter in our cabin telling us to wash our hands. I washed my hands every time I was near a bathroom. I used the wipes coming and going from meals and the ship. I did everything I could to avoid it. I carried wipes with me, and wiped down everything I could think of. I understand a lot of staff had it the week before. I started vomiting violently on Thursday while in St. Maartens. Returned to the ship very ill. My husband caught it from me on Saturday. We were both sick and stayed in the room. He was barely able to make it home. I think many on the staff were aware that we were sick, including the room attendant and dining room staff, noone suggested we see the doctor, and over the counter Imodium and pepto seemed to work for us. It was truly an awful experience. The difference between having it at home and on a cruise is huge. I think the cruise line did everything they could to clean the ship, but it is impossible not to touch public places, railings, elevator buttons. I think all it takes is someone in the kitchen with it to contaminate food. It is also possible someone in the room the previous week could have been sick. All and all not a pleasant experience. I am sure the fear of getting again while travelling will haunt me for a long time. Our teen boys in another room did not get sick.

[cb at sea]

If you have kids, chances are you've had it at some time or other! Kids bring it home from school all the time! Even if you don't touch anything, you can STILL get it, if the virus is around you--it can become "airborne" from being around someone who has just vomited. Or coughed. It's insidious!

There's really no way to prevent it--unless you totally avoid others and live like a hermit!

I've had it at home, when the kids were elementary aged--and I hope to NEVER have it again! 2 full days--miserable! I'd really hate to have it on vacation!

[splinkaone]

We got it New Years Day and didn't even get to go on a cruise to get it! All of the symptoms posted above :( it started with me and systematically took down all five members of the family. It is HORRIBLE! There was a post earlier that had extensive info. on it you could search for it. As stated wash, wash, wash.... the worst part is once you get it your immunity wears off and you can get it again!

[Shanafan]

My husband and I caught Noro on the 12/30/07 sailing of the Freedom of the Seas. We knew it was on board when we boarded and saw the wipes out and a lot of cleaning of public places. We were also given a letter in our cabin telling us to wash our hands. I washed my hands every time I was near a bathroom. I used the wipes coming and going from meals and the ship. I did everything I could to avoid it. I carried wipes with me, and wiped down everything I could think of. I understand a lot of staff had it the week before. I started vomiting violently on Thursday while in St. Maartens. Returned to the ship very ill. My husband caught it from me on Saturday. We were both sick and stayed in the room. He was barely able to make it home. I think many on the staff were aware that we were sick, including the room attendant and dining room staff, noone suggested we see the doctor, and over the counter Imodium and pepto seemed to work for us. It was truly an awful experience. The difference between having it at home and on a cruise is huge. I think the cruise line did everything they could to clean the ship, but it is impossible not to touch public places, railings, elevator buttons. I think all it takes is someone in the kitchen with it to contaminate food. It is also possible someone in the room the previous week could have been sick. All and all not a pleasant experience. I am sure the fear of getting again while travelling will haunt me for a long time. Our teen boys in another room did not get sick.

That totally sucks. The sad thing is, hard as you try sometimes as you said it is someone in the kitchen that can spread it.

 

I owed a 'food type' business. My health dept lady came unannounced...as they often do and every time I received 100%. She told me she wished every place she visited was half as clean as mine! :eek: the stories she told....yuck. But one that this post reminded me of was a restaurant in our area.....a rather pricey one at that where the cook came into work knowing full well he was sick.....worked with the occasional 'stop what he was doing so he could puke in the garbage can' :eek: And then went back to cooking and plating up food.

 

The health dept received numerous calls of complaints.....thinking they had food poisoning and once the investigation was complete realized this idiot had the flu and passed it on to other. By the time all the complaints were in from that day, with people bringing it home to their family, etc the number infected from that one idiot was over several HUNDRED people. the health dept shut the place down for if I remember correctly 2 weeks. Needless to say, that nice restaurant that had been there for at least 8 years that I remember is no longer in business. My question.....where the hell was the manager when this guy is ralphing in the garbage can????

[ScotFi]

Hi

We have had an outbreak here over the holidays closing local hospital wards. My mother in-law suffered on Xmas morning and it happened very quickly.

I cooked dinner while she was in bed, everytime she was up I followed her spraying everything in sight. Toilet handles,.door handles and bannisters all got the treatment. My sister in-law is a theatre nurse and very particular about hand washing (we laugh at her we think she has OCD) she was the only other member of the family to suffer.

[retdon]

Hi,

I got the "gastrointestional disease" as the cruise lines refer to it, on X on the Zenith 2/2007. Since I am a retired Public Health Nursing Director and have worked with communicable diseases for a long time, we took all the precautions we could. I even wiped down our cabin, knowing it had been on board. The second day out we got a letter about hand washing and I knew it was back. Seems the ships sometimes want to deny it has a problem.

 

Go to the CDC web site and search for Noro, all the reports are there(most ships do not report it unless a certain number of passengers are affected). Only about 12-15% of cases are reported from cruise ships, most occur in schools, nursing homes and hospitals.

 

I did go to the ship hospital because of such violent vomiting and diarrhea, worst I have ever had with a very short onset. Spent most of the night in the hospital with IVs and medication and then sent back to our cabin where we were "confined" until the end of the cruise (3 days).

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you become ill go to the ship's hospital, forget any charges if you are diagnosised by the physician (at least on X) they wave all charges. We collected for trip interruption from our travel insurance, but you need copies of your medical records from ship. X gave us a voucher for trip interruption to be used on a future cruise.

Most important thing is GO TO THE SHIP DOCTOR.... This is the only way the staff know what and how many they are dealing with. They can also help you by giving you meds that will help the symptoms quicker.

The worst news is there are over 800+ strains of this virus so there will never be a vaccine and probably most of us have had it in some form or another during our life time. You can "shed" the virus without symptoms (in the vomitus and/or stools) for up to 3 weeks.

 

WASH, WASH, WASH..... is the best advise. Some CC's have said they come back to their cabins to use the bathrooms, get ice and use their own drink containers. Public bathroom doors that you have to pull open with a handle to exit are really bad and the US Public Health Service is trying to make the cruise lines change to a "push out" doors.

 

Never use ice that is in a container with a scoop laying in it, you are really asking for trouble. I bring this to the attention of a restaurant manager when I see it. The ice is contaminated with everything from everyones hands that have touched the scoop, YUK:eek: .

 

None of this will stop us from cruising, just back from one and thinking about another, just be careful and hopefully you will not get sick. :D

[shirrley]

I had Noro virus on my March 07 sailing on Grandeur. Another tip: be careful in the casino. If you are playing the machines be careful not to touch your face. They had cookies out on a table, I don't think I will eat anything while playing in the casino.

I tried taking every precaution, brought clorox wipes and wiped down the cabin, didn't use handrails, and washed hands frequently, still got it. I do agree that you should see the medic even though you will probably be quarentined. It lets the ship's crew know how many are affected and keeps it from spreading to others.

[MrPete]

I've had it on the ship.

 

I've had it off the ship.

 

I've had it the day after getting off a ship.

 

I had it in school.

 

I had it at home.

 

I had it at work.

 

I had it as a kid when I never heard of cruising.

 

I had it as an old foggie 6 months between cruises.

 

It's simply the stomach flu, and someone attached a name to it, and now people think it's something new. :rolleyes:

[Jules215]

BF came down with it on our Jan.4 cruise on Majesty, and I got it after we got off...He tried to see a doctor on the first full sea day, but couldn't catch a doctor until the second day...I saw someone said they got some imodium to take, and we looked for that in the ships shops but couldn't find anything for gastro probs, because that's all he wanted when he went to see the doc...What he got instead was quarantined, and me right along with him!!...We are each being given one days credit to be used on another cruise...( By my calculations that'll be about $200+ a piece)...So, I guess after this experience, if you come down with those types of symptoms, )feel lousy, and know you're not going to be out of your cabin anyway), go to the ships doctor and get quarantined, and at least then you'll get some credit towards another cruise.