Caught the norovirus on the Grandeur of the Seas on the last day of my cruise from New Orleans leaving on 02/10/07 and arriving back on in New Orleans on 02/17/07. I was very careful on this cruise, trying to protect myself from this dreaded affliction, but to no avail. Got real sick on Thursday night with all the symtoms the the Norovirus causes. Friday morning I ended up in the ships doctor and they treated my for my affliction free of charge. I had to complete tons of forms from the CDC. Saw the ships doctor and gave me a shot for the symtoms, hover, I was told I was dehydrated and I had to drink quarts of water. By Saturday morning, disembarkation time, I was feeling much better. Even had a light breakfast before heading to the airport. RCCL tries its best to curb the virus, however, the doctor feels that the elevator buttons and stairwell handrails were the cause of the virus spreading. My room was sanitized three times on Friday and I can't say more about the caring way I was treated by RCCL medical staff and its housekeeping department. Ed from Long Island
One more thing I failed to mention...this was my 30th cruise and I never got sick before. If you have a cruise planned on the Grandeur or any other ship, ...go and enjoy yourself. The Grandeur is a beautiful ship...just keep those hands clean and away from your face and use those hand sanitzers that RCCL has all over the ship.
Welcome to cruise-chat and thank you for your upbeat note about the malady. So many people want to blame the cruise line for something that is so hard to eradicate - and often not the cruise lines fault. Your note was a breath of fresh air!
Thanks for your post Ed and welcome to cruise chat. This is truly a pain in the collective backsides of the cruise lines and on occasion it's passengers. My thinking is you simply never touch your hand to your face.
Kind of a problem when you want to be care-free and relaxed but really it can be done.
I am glad to hear you were treated humanely and even kindly.
I don't know if there is any correlation but I like to have plenty of tonic water and lemons around when cruising. (of course a little Irish whiskey to wash it down is nice). Can't really say if it is effective against Noro-virus but it usually makes me feel better about my general gastrointestinal welfare.
A first hand report is always a good thing, thanks for sharing.
You're quite right saying it's not the ship's fault. Ships are the only facilities required by law to report outbreaks of noro, and that's why we read about it. My daughter works for a northeastern state health department, doing disease outbreak investigation. In January and February, she received calls regarding 50 outbreaks in her state -- not 50 individual cases, but 50 outbreaks in facilities such as nursing homes, schools, prisons, etc.
Without question the cleanest facilities I have ever seen are cruise ships. Anyone who has ever cruised surely has to agree. You can't take two steps without seeing someone cleaning something.
We had similar things happen on naval vessels - and it really came down to lots of people in a confined space and one sick person could trigger an outbreak. The U.S. Navy keeps their ships clean, but cruise ships really are at the highest levels of cleanliness and sanitation.
Cruised on Grandeur on Feb. 24. They delayed boarding by 1 hour while they scrubbed the ship. You could tell it fatigued the crew. It was an absolutely great cruise and maybe the best service in 11 cruises. They had hand sanitation devices all over the ship. Don't know what else they could do. Like the whiskey idea though. Bottom line, they are doing all possible. If you're sick, think of your fellow passengers and try not to spread it. So go and enjoy. The ship looked wonderful and the cruise was great.
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