Posted on 04/10/2014 1:20:44 AM PDT by kingattax
(CNN) -- A new outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness aboard a cruise ship may have been caused by the norovirus, the ship's operator said Wednesday.
At least 66 passengers and 17 crew members came down with a quickly spreading digestive bug aboard the Crown Princess, said spokeswoman Karen Candy of Princess Cruises.
They have been isolated in their quarters, and the ship has implemented sanitation procedures developed in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the disease's spread.
The Crown Princess, which has room for more than 3,000 passengers, left Los Angeles on Saturday for a seven-day Pacific cruise.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Why would anyone want to ride around the ocean on a floating mall with 3000 other people?
We don’t go anywhere where we can’t get in our truck and leave.
I’ve done 5 cruises, but I haven’t been on a ship since 1999. I suspect that standards for cleanliness have become lax since then. A real shame. Of all the cruise lines I traveled with, Princess was the best.
Wonder if they have health like dept ratings for these ships like restaurants have?
Princess for me too, always been 1st rate experience. Went on a carnival once, had a great cabin, the cruise experience just doesn’t stack up to Princess though........even though they are owned by the same parent company.
“Why would anyone want to ride around the ocean on a floating mall with 3000 other people?”
I take it you’ve never been on one? Seems like the only time the media reports on cruise ships is when something bad happens, I’ve been on 6 or 7 and never had a problem, always a great experience.
Good question. I once considered it because it seemed exotic, offered a never-ending buffet, and was reachable by ground transportation (I never fly). Then, I read about these viral outbreaks (something consistent with your notation about large groups of people crowded together) and the encroachment by the TSA (my niece told me recently that TSA personnel checked them out at departure on a cruise she and her husband took). These two considerations have permanently scotched my interest.
I cruised with Carnival too. Someone once said it’s a good cruise line for novice cruisers. More experienced cruisers go with Princess.
Princess really treated me like royalty. Other cruise lines treated me like cattle.
Please see my post #6
I think Carnival is more of a party experience which IMO tends to run down the ship a little.
Of course, this procedure presented problems for my mother who cruised with me. She could never find her photo ID in that jumble of a purse she carried. I had to constantly remind her to get out her card and have it ready before we came back to the ship.
“Why would anyone want to ride around the ocean on a floating mall with 3000 other people?”
Read somewhere that a typical cruise ship passenger spends a lot of time in malls back home. Identify your market as they say in business.
Been on one cruise, on a converted passenger liner where the experience was that of being on board a real ship with an open promenade deck & other traditional features.
It's a very efficient way to tour destinations you've never been to. Often, the guides are well informed and like providing information to tourists who are there to learn about the environment. If chosen carefully, the tours offered can be very thorough in one day. Some cruise ships have great cultural and atheletic opportunities, and if selective you're selective, decent food. The problem is the 3000 people. It's usually possible to plan events that aren't crowded.
What many cruisers fear more than the norovirus is being quarantined to ones room Smart cruisers bring things to sanitize their rooms and to counter virus symptoms, to avoid the quarantine.
Love that reply. Understand it completely.
Why would anyone want to ride around the ocean on a floating mall with 3000 other people?
Wonder if they have health like dept ratings for these ships like restaurants have?
Ships that serve European ports and such have similar inspections.
They are far more sanitary than most US restaurants.
Less than 3% of people got sick. That’s not exactly an epidemic in any hotel, workplace, or school.
Did they order the chicken or the fish?
I have a question that’s been bugging me for years. In any ship of any Navy, hundreds and thousands of the crew (not the officers) are crowded, crammed, and jammed into living conditions that, I think, violate the CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS of jailed felons.
Never have I heard of an outbreak of anything like these problems found on modern cruise ships. I “lived” in one of those Navy vessels and couldn’t turn over in the rack or stretch without hitting or kicking someone. I’m 6’5” and found happiness sleeping on the maple bench in my shop.
When in the past, going back to the 20’s did we hear of such an outbreak aboard the ships that crowded the oceans.
What has changed? Cleanleness is better, refrigeration and food storage is better, everything is truly better but for one thing. THE LACK OF FRESH AIR. Ships once had huge funnels that brought FRESH air down into the bowels of even the largest ships, whether war or passenger.
Now the inmates on cruise ships are basically breathing re-circulated air as they enjoy life in virtually sealed containers. Any other passenger suffering from a air-borne virus will send that virus into a system that may well spread said virus around the ship starting a chain reaction.
When did we ever hear of “SICK buildings” until modern, energy saving sealed buildings were made. What modern building has windows that open? How much FRESH air makes its way into a modern “energy efficient” house?
Anybody ever wonder why a NEW problem develops, yet has a single common situtation..the lack of FRESH air?
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