Thread: Brilliance Transatlantic Crossing has Noro Virus

It has been reported by one of my fellow Freedom cruisers currently on the recent Brilliance of the Seas on the Transatlantic crossing that 130 pax were put ashore at Villefranche for medical treatment due to outbreak of Noro Virus.
The ship has now arrived in Barcelona and embarkation is delayed tonight until 7pm while the ship is "sanitised"

Liz
WYWH Cruiser

This is the 3rd RCI ship since March to have an outbreak of NoroVirus reported on board.

This should not happen, along with other recent outbreaks on Celebrity ships, RCI Group needs to tighten up its procedures on hygene sharpish.

I dread to think what would happen if an outbreak like this happened on either the Freedom or Genesis class. Its way too worrying to even consider.

We are 5 months into 2006 and there have been 15 ships afflicted so far with NoroVirus and/or E.Coli.

Thats just not good enough!

Thanks for the report Liz!!! Good to see you again!

This is not good news.
I agree that sanitation needs to be improved, along with common sense.

When we were on the Jewel in March, we were quite surprised to see that they took out the "spritzers" that held the hand cleaners from the Windjammer area. Interesting.

On HAL you can't get on a ship or go into a dining area without seeing a hand sanitizer. Some are electronic and very easy to use. I think Norvo is a reality of cruising and we all need to try to be on purpose about hand sanitization!
Better safe than praying to the porcelain gods!

Hate to hear this!

We were on HAL Veendam (14 Day)when SO many of the CREW/STAFF were ALREADY ill when we boarded ... then, many passengers became ill about 3-7 days later.

CDC from Atlanta came aboard mid-way on the cruise!

Even for those of us who did NOT become ill, a major out-break of NoroVirus will effect the total cruise! Among many other things -- big cut-back in services offered AND many ports will NOT allow entry!

Very much HATE to hear about this problem on BOS!

My wife and I just returned from the April 28th (2006) Brilliance of the Seas(RCCL) transatlantic. We each came down with what was referred to as the Norwalk virus, 2 days apart from one another.
This appears to be caused by fecal matter introduced in food preparation, not, as they would have you believe, touching the handrails & elevator buttons. Please view this link: http://www.dhpe.org/infect/norwalk.html

I noticed the increased sanitation efforts upon our first entry into the buffet, and later, when the outbreak occurred, folks cleaning all of the "high touch" surfaces. However, I remembered the advice of my godfather/physician years ago when I was concerned about catching some disease: "If it was that easy to catch it, everyone would have it." That tells me not to worry, nothing is that easily spread.

After spending a week afraid to push an elevator button aboard ship, I couldn't help but notice the escalator handrails in the Atlanta airport on my way home and wonder if they had ever been wiped down with alcohol. I doubt it. What's more, with the thousands of people touching them daily, from all over the world, I don't think they have been causing any outbreaks of Norwalk.

I know this is a huge problem with the cruise industry and they must have smarter people than me working on this. I also couldn't help but wonder if their efforts weren't being misdirected.

Very informative link. I didn't know all of those facts. Thanks for posting it.

Originally Posted by ignatz

My wife and I just returned from the April 28th (2006) Brilliance of the Seas(RCCL) transatlantic. We each came down with what was referred to as the Norwalk virus, 2 days apart from one another.
This appears to be caused by fecal matter introduced in food preparation, not, as they would have you believe, touching the handrails & elevator buttons. Please view this link: http://www.dhpe.org/infect/norwalk.html

I noticed the increased sanitation efforts upon our first entry into the buffet, and later, when the outbreak occurred, folks cleaning all of the "high touch" surfaces. However, I remembered the advice of my godfather/physician years ago when I was concerned about catching some disease: "If it was that easy to catch it, everyone would have it." That tells me not to worry, nothing is that easily spread.

After spending a week afraid to push an elevator button aboard ship, I couldn't help but notice the escalator handrails in the Atlanta airport on my way home and wonder if they had ever been wiped down with alcohol. I doubt it. What's more, with the thousands of people touching them daily, from all over the world, I don't think they have been causing any outbreaks of Norwalk.

I know this is a huge problem with the cruise industry and they must have smarter people than me working on this. I also couldn't help but wonder if their efforts weren't being misdirected.

So according to this article, boaters who dump raw sewage into the ocean, contaminate the shellfish, which when reaped and not cooked thoroughly infect us, and food handlers, I guess get fecal matter in their finger nails and hands, don't wash them (hands) properly, if at all, and pass this on to us and we get sick on our vacation. Did I get that right? Yuck. Thanks for that link, you learn something everyday.