Norovirus – and this time it’s Royal Caribbean, but are they to blame?
Ok, so there has been another breakout of Norovirus on the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas – the third outbreak in as many months so we are told. Around 100 passengers and crew reportedly succumbed to the bug although nobody was quarantined when the ship docked after a 5 day North Europe cruise ended today.
The Vision carries just over 2000 passengers, so around 5% of them displayed symptom (only 2 staff members were reported to be suffering from it). Quite a large percentage really.
I must admit I’m quietly pleased to see someone other than Fred Olsen in the same sentence as the dreaded bug, as they seem to have had more than their fair share of outbreaks and bad press on the subject, but are the cruise lines totally responsible for these outbreaks?
I’ve been on several Freds cruises and for those of you who haven’t, I can tell you that they couldn’t do more to try to prevent the bug – everywhere on the ships is spotlessly clean, there are dispensers of hand sanitiser everywhere – even on coffee tables in the lounges! You have your hands sprayed going in and out of the restaurants. I’m sure that the other cruuise lines are as fastidious too, including Royal Caribbean. So what’s the answer?
Firstly, I think a cruise ship is a prime location for any tpe of contagious illness to spread – so many people in a confined space! Air-conditioning has to take its share of the blame – all that recirculated air, recirculating all the germs too just incase they passed you by the first time round. And if it’s not the air-con then it must be the heat in the general areas, it’s bound to cultivate bugs.
My main suspicions though lie with us – the passengers (yes, I do include myself in that category!). If these ships are scrupulously cleaned then somebody must be taking this bug on board. We are all asked at embarkation whether we feel/have been unwell etc. Now can you tell me hand on heart that if you had booked a cruise and been looking forward to it for six, twelve or eighteen months, would you honestly answer yes to those questions and risk being turned away, just because your tum felt a bit dicky? Maybe there lies your answer, but how the cruise lines ever stop it – well, I can’t answer that! Any thoughts?
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I've been a Cruise Consultant for a number of years now and I can honestly say that it is just the best job ever. No two days are the same. I have got to know some fantastic people through the course of my job, both in the industry and clients,…
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We have just returned from two weeks in the Med on The Independence of the Seas, Royal Caribbean were first class at keeping us updated about the number of people suffering from this virus. As a company they also informed us of their CDC collaboration and their three stage programme of tackling the bug – with constant reminders that the best plan was to consistently wash our hands. Having said that you can imagine our horror when we visited the loo and chaps still walked out without any hand washing at all and, despite message boards telling people not to handle food in the buffet individuals continued to ignore this advice – so its easy to work out, ignorant people flouting advice, touching food under hot buffet lights a “germs delight”. My son had a twenty four hour tummy bug on board and was seen immediatley at no cost to us, he (we) were isolated in our room with free water / soft drinks and in room movies along with priority status in terms of room service. In addition he gets a discount on his next booking due to his illness.