Topic: Norovirus strikes 500 Princess passengers

Almost 500 cases of Norovirus were reported on two Princess Cruises ships over the weekend.

The 499 cases occurred aboard Ruby Princess and Crown Princess - both based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"We're working in close cooperation with the CDC to identify the cause," a Princess spokesperson said.

"Investigators with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been on board both vessels and monitoring cleaning procedures", she added.

Both ships were cleaned and are now back at sea.

Passengers on both departing cruises were notified of the outbreak, and were advised of protective measures.

Because the gastrointestinal virus is highly contagious, both ships will be given special cleanings upon their return to their Fort Lauderdale homeport. As a result, embarkation for Crown Princess' next cruise will be delayed on Saturday, and Ruby Princess' will be pushed back until 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Crown Princess arrived at Port Everglades as scheduled last Saturday morning, but there has been no word yet on exactly how long it will take crews to sanitize the ship, what time embarkation next Saterday will start or whether the rest of the ship's itinerary -- a seven-night Southern Caribbean sailing, slated to depart Saturday evening will be impacted. However, Princess Ruby Princess' itinerary, a seven-night Eastern Caribbean sailing departing Sunday, should be otherwise unaffected.

Its not surprising that this disease is not more prevalant. on ships. The amount of times that I've seen men (can't say about the ladies) visit the toliet and leave without washing their hands is unbeleivable. Also, there should be more enforcement of the use of the hand sanitisers at restaurant entrances. Once again, (this time I can see both sexes) people simply walk through and handle food, plates, utensiles etc without having santized their hands.

This doesn't surprise me either. On previous British cruses I have seen most people following the guidlines but on a Princess cruise in 2011 I too noticed most people did not use the sanitisers! In fact when I commented on this to two lovely American ladies who both work in the medical profession they laughed it off and said it was uneccesary because everyone washed their hands. Hmm, they clearly didn't observe how many people passed through the cloakrooms without doing so!

It's ironic you should mention Princess as thats where I observed the greatest amount of lack of cloakroom hygene amongst the male users.

This lack of basic hygiene extends beyond cruise ships - the sanitising dispensers at both of my (large) local hospitals [not in Coventry - I am currently away] are ignored by about 50% of those going in or out, even when there are outbreaks of highly contagious infections. The hospitals do not help - there is little emphasis on the need for good hygiene whilst cleaning staff, who are the front line defence, are probably some of the lowest paid and least appreciated. Anyone who uses public toilets - at motorway services, football grounds etc - will know that a good percentage of men fail to wash their hands and do not tell their children to. My wife tells me that women can be just as bad.

We have remonstrated with a restaurant manager who allowed staff on a cruise ship to stand there with the dispensers while passengers strolled by, deliberately ignoring them and have asked him why he allowed it.

Is this most prevalent with the British? How about a government campaign highlighting the need for good hygiene - in various languages please as it could well be that those coming in from poorer countries are even less aware than homegrown citizens - or maybe not.

Meanwhile, why do ships captains not insist that ill passengers HAVE to stay in their cabins - and are encouraged to do so by far less financial penalties on visits, medecines and treatment etc than is currently the case - cruise companies who impose swinging costs on anyone reporting ill have to bear some responsibility.

Having just returned from a cruise around South America on Star Princess with my wife, we had our trip spoilt because of the Noro Virus. Because we still had a few passengers (20 in total) still showing signs of the symptoms the ship was refused entry into the Falkland Islands. This was to be a special cruise for my wife and I. Having served on the Falklands in 1982 it was a chance for my wife and I to return and pay our respects to the fellow serviceman who had died during the conflict. I had arranged for one of the islanders to take us to San Carlos where I was based. Imagine how disappointed we were when the Captain announced over the public address system that the authorities had refused us entry. I know we had over 300 Argentinians onboard and a lot of stories soon went around the ship as to whether the virus was the real reason.
Anyway my opinion regarding the Noro Virus is that some passengers started showing symtoms after a couple of days into the cruise. There is no sanitation procedures put in place until a certain percentage of passengers have been struck down. Surely to prevent or restrict it these procedures should be put in place during embarkation and for the beginning of the cruise. During embarkation day everybody descends on to the ship from all sources. Once onboard, passengers are using the lifts, hand rails and other parts of the ship probably before they have washed their hands. Secondly, when arriving onboard the first place the majority of passengers go to is the buffet dining room to get late lunch. Here you are allowed to serve yourself using the utensils provided.
When the sanitation procedures were eventually put in place, the staff served your food as well as tea and coffee thus preventing any of the passengers touching anything.
Surely having this sanitation methods in place at the beginning of the cruise might prevent it spreading to other passengers allowing them to enjoy their cruise they had paid a lot of money for.

Crown Princess will end its current cruise two days early following a spike in cases of gastrointestinal illness for the second straight week.

In a statement, Princess Cruises said the 113,000-ton, 3,080-passenger ship will return to its Fort Lauderdale homeport on Thursday instead of Saturday, where it will undergo two days of sanitization in consultation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At last count, 114 passengers (3.7 percent out of 3,078) and 59 crew (5 percent of 1,178) on the weeklong Southern Caribbean cruise have reported a gastrointestinal illness believed to be Norovirus, said the line.

Impacted passengers will receive full refunds for the cruise, flights home, coverage of change fees if air was not booked through Princess, hotel accommodation if necessary and a 25 percent future cruise credit.

From cc