700 people sick on cruise ship

[melissarene]

Why why why.....IS THIS NEWS?!?!?!? It made BREAKING news on MSNBC.com today. Pathetic. Anyway, the boat pulled in to a Florida port apparently today. 550 passengers and 150 crew members down with the bug. And my boyfriend wonders why I won't go on cruises.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15805615/


I just hate this time of year. Hate it hate it hate it. And my family and coworkers don't get me. They just think I'm neurotic. I pull out the lysol wipes to wipe down my counters and desk daily. They think I'm crazy. Edited by: melissarene

[kfitz]

aaaw that is awful, i jus clicked on the link. I definitely wud never go on a cruise either, u hear about sv* on them so often. I also wudnt be one of those cleaners scrubbing it cos apparentlynorovirus can last 12 days in an environment. I was reading of another cruise ship that made alot of people ill with norovirus, and 5 days after all the people got off, the cruise company hired carpet cleaners to disinfect and pull the carpets up and each one of those carpet cleaners got it too. N that was after 5 days, its so disgusting.


Ihate winter soooooo much i feel constantly anxious n there r so many sv's goin round here lately.

[worrygirl]

I thought that once the v* dried up it wasn't contagious anymore, that it had to be moist to spread?? You'd think after 5 days it would bedry. Scary.

[kfitz]

Iknow thats wot i aswell, it scared me i'll try n find the link to show u so u can have a proper read thru

[mason14]

I know this time of year people get sick more but I have to say that the two out of three times that I remember getting a sv is was in april and June. As I see it the sv is always going around.

[californiagirl]

Scary thing is, is that now those people are all going to be out in public!

[worrygirl]

Yeah, too bad they couldn't keep them on the ship. Watch out Florida!

[christianne]

Hi there!!

I checked out the link and it said that several guests were ill with norovirus BEFORE they boarded the ship. Now, my question is is if someone is visibly ill why would they let them on?? And I know if I was that ill the last thing I would want to do is go on a cruise--I'd want to stay home!! Why did they go on the ship when they knew they were ill???? How completely selfish and ignorant is that?
Last year I had a couple board my flight that were extremely pale and shaking. They were holding v* bags (FULL!!) and asking to sit near the lavatory because they both had a sv* and had been v*ing and having d* since last night. Ummm......no. I spoke to the captain who in turn called the gate agent to come down and rebook them for the following day. The couple was upset with me--apparently they needed to get home (who doesn't?) and didn't think it was fair to "discriminate" against ill passengers. However, the rest of my passengers thanked me for doing it---they didn't want to be exposed to that couple over the next 4 hours.
I'm kind of ranting here......I hate when people travel sick!! Maybe they think they have a good reason or excuse, but it really just irritates me!![img]smileys/smilies_07.gif[/img]

[shiva]

Way to go Christianne! I wish I had the balls to do that. I would have probably just asked for myself to be removed! lol!


My sister and her hubby are on a cruise to Jamaica right now. I am sitting for their dogs. I hope they don't come down with anything. ick.

[worrygirl]

I totally agree! I'm glad there are people like you looking out for others. People don't understand how extremely contagious they are and on the flip side, they reallydon't care!! Arggg!

[rubysoho120]

I dont think it is possilbe for the sv* to live for 12 or even 5
days...it has to have a warm moist surface to live on...and i dont see
many of those... but it is scary....and worries me

[xxsophiaxx]

ya i heard about that today. And THIS is why i never go on cruises... I honestly don't believe I'm missing out at all.


by the way, Christianne, that's great that you didn't let that sick couple board! It's horrible that they wanted to board to beging with. Even if I wasn't emet I wouldn't want them on my flight! And worse- infecting the bathrooms! How horrible! [img]smileys/smilies_07.gif[/img]

[katsamsmom2]

my husband is not emet...he even says he does not want to go on one due to the sv's!

[laura78]

My parents use to take me on cruises once a year when I was young and I don't remember there even being outbreaks on the boat. What is going on nowdays!

[Galadriel]

Yeah I don't understand why cruise ships seem to have noroviruses spread like wild. I mean its kind of a contained environment, but those ships are huge. The only reason I could think it would spread so bad is if food workers got the bug and then spread it via food, which everyone on the ship eats basically the same food.

[callyfung]

Ew, i'm never going on a cruise again
1) because i'm a emet
even IF i am cured...
2) because it has SV's.

[glowstarz06]

i always throught the cold killed germs
wouldnt it be cold out there in the ocean
just think those few people who will ill before are to blame for the complete ship to go down


thank god i dont live in florida

[samara's on tv]

I just wanted to say something about people traveling while sick. I remember when I was young we went to visit our relatives in Cali and my sister got sick. My parents knew we couldn't travel with her like that so we postponed the trip a couple days. Yeah it was annoying and a hassle but we knew we shouldn't LEAVE and go on a flight with a sick kid. I'm glad that you, Christianne, said something and next time I'm on a flight and that happens I will say something too. The captain has a right to remove ANY passenger if they think they will be detremental to the flight.


~Monica

[jennyleigh1975]

I just saw on Fox News that people actually got on this ship sick, and that it was coming to Florida from Rome. I cant see why in the world sick people would be allowed to get on the ship, the only reason I could see was that it was the only way back to the states for most. Geez though, what a hellish trip. It also said on the news that this ship was going to be disinfected and leaves out again tomorrow.

I have been on one cruise and really enjoyed it, and would love to go on another one, but news like this always keeps me from doing so. I have an aunt and uncle that go on cruises often, and they have never gotten sick, nor been on a ship that had an outbreak.

I hope that all these sick people stay in Florida and dont spread this SV, we live in a neighboring state to Florida.[img]smileys/smilies_05.gif[/img]







Edited by: jennyleigh1975

[fornever]

Thats gross. I never even thought of that on a cruise... eww.

That is my WORST nighmare... to think of eing surrounded by SEVEN HUNDRED vomiting people!!!

I would die. especially becuase my main fear is of others v*.

Ugh

[kutekim1217]

TWO people were treated for it in Rome and boarded the ship. They touch stuff, others touched where they touched, and it spreads. Kim

[xxsophiaxx]

OMFG only 2 people?!

[babygap5]

I understand all of your fears, I do, but think about it, you are letting your emet control your life. The ship I was on was so clean and the staff was so well trained, that I wasn't concerned at all. I think there is a different class of ships out there and Carnival is one of the cheaper ones and you get what you pay for. I sailed on Carnival and it was awful, I didn't get sick but the service and food was not worth the money at all. I then saild on Norwegian and the difference between the 2 ships was like night and day. The staff was excellent, the food even better, and as for the buffets, no one touches the tongs, only the servers who are wearing gloves. They also had antibacterial dispensers everywhere and wouldn't let anyone into the restaurants until they used it. I know that people here have said that they don't prevent the spread of the norovirus, but this wasn't purell, it was something else that explained about the transmission of it and that this one killed 90% of the virus. It was much stronger than purell, and the fact that they were everywhere was a nice reassurance. It prevented people who were going to touch menus, handles, etc. from spreading any type of germ, noro or a cold.


I loved the cruise and am not afraid of catching anything. I would be more afraid of catching something from an airplane from the re-cycled air then a cruise ship. Actually, I'm more afraid of riding the train with commuters than the ship. Besides, if you do get sick on the ship, they have doctors on board who can give you anti-vomiting medication so you won't have to suffer like that. At least, that was on Norwegian, not sure about any of the other cruise lines out there.

[jennyleigh1975]

My aunt and uncle I was talking about that cruise several times a year ........... that Norwegian line is about the only one they will go on now. That one and Holland America. Back in the day, the Carnival cruise line used to be the bomb, but not so much now a days. My aunt and uncle used to go on those, but wont anymore. They have never gotten sick on a ship, nor been on one with an outbreak.

[sage]

I have a couple of thoughts about this. First of all, it's NEWS because it's RARE. There are thousands of cruises every week and everything is fine. They don't report news unless a)it doesn't happen every day and b)it can scare people or fascinate them.


Secondly, my sister works for a cruise line as an officer and I wouldn't go on a cruise either because the standards for workers are beyond LOW as they're in international waters and no government is regulating them. The cabin cleaners and bartenders make $1 and hour - honestly. They're expected to earn tips to live. They get lots of workers from developing countries where this is a great opportunity and they support their families. While I appreciate that they're employing people, they're also exploiting them by not paying a fair wage and taking more profits themselves.


Cruise ships are the size of small towns. They're no different than when a university or a school gets an outbreak. There's nothing partiularly risky about cruises themselves.


I'll bet dollars-to-donuts that it gets spread through the kitchen workers who don't wash hands properly and make salads. Yetch! Give me a restaurant in Canada anyday where the kitchen staff have to pass a foodsafe-course and there are governement health standards and regular inspections.

[worrygirl]

Interesting, thanks Sage!