The Royal Caribbean norovirus cruise

[Velar Fricative]

Did we talk about this? Holy shit. Pun intended. I heard something about a cruise on the news but didn't pay much attention until this article's headline jumped out at me.

Plenty of external links at the link below.

gothamist.com/2014/01/29/ship_full_of_vomiting_passengers_ha.php

Cruise Full of Vomiting, Pooping Passengers Docks in NJ in Time for the Super Bowl

As if you needed any more reasons to steer clear of New Jersey this week, a cruise ship full of vomiting passengers has just pulled into a port in Bayonne, NJ.


The cruise, a 3,050 passenger-Royal Caribbean liner dubbed The Explorer of the Seas, was bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten, and headed out of Cape Liberty, N.J. last Tuesday. Unfortunately, less than 24 hours after departing, passengers and crew members alike became struck with norovirus, a highly contagious illness that can turn an entire cruise ship into a floating funhouse of vomiting and diarrhea in a matter of days.


At least 629 passengers and over 50 cruise employees came down with the norovirus, and though not everyone was spewing bodily fluids all at once, it doesn't sound like passengers were getting much use out of the all-you-can-eat buffet. "On Wednesday night, I was in the dining room and a woman was vomiting into her napkin," Shannon Blace, a passenger from Toronto, told CNN. "There were people walking around in their pajamas with vomit and diarrhea on them. People were barfing all over the place."


Sadly, the trip was cut two days short, and now the upchucking masses have arrived on our shores. "Are we bringing this virus off the ship with us?" Blace asked. "We're all going to hotels all over the New York area. Will we be spreading the virus to the Super Bowl this weekend?" That rat-infested ghost ship is looking better by the minute.


Luckily, the passengers are being treated by health officials from New Jersey and the Center for Disease Control, and the ship will be thoroughly sanitized. Meanwhile, passengers—some of whom reportedly described the trip as "the worst vacation of their [lives],"— will be receiving at least partial refunds, and vouchers for discounted future cruises, should they ever feel the need to set foot on a traveling bucket of human excrement and throw-up ever again.

[cattledogkisses]

Just the word "norovirus" gives me nightmares.

[emilyj]

Jan 30, 2014 15:14:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

At least 629 passengers and over 50 cruise employees came down with the norovirus, and though not everyone was spewing bodily fluids all at once, it doesn't sound like passengers were getting much use out of the all-you-can-eat buffet. "On Wednesday night, I was in the dining room and a woman was vomiting into her napkin," Shannon Blace, a passenger from Toronto, told CNN. "There were people walking around in their pajamas with vomit and diarrhea on them. People were barfing all over the place."

Why the hell would you leave your room like this and walk around??? 

[redheadbaker]

My mom wants to take the extended family on a cruise in 2016. My emetophobia (among other things -- dealing with the TSA with a young child) is making me want to back out.

[karinothing]

Maybe they should require the norovirus vaccine for cruises?

[zelda25]

This happens this time every year to at least one cruise ship and countless schools and nursing homes. Norovirus makes me want to shrinkwrap myself before I leave the house.

And even if cruises didn't sound like managed fun, I wouldn't get on a cruise on a bet just because of norovirus.

Sent from the infernal device.

[IIOY]

Jan 30, 2014 15:27:31 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Jan 30, 2014 15:14:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

At least 629 passengers and over 50 cruise employees came down with the norovirus, and though not everyone was spewing bodily fluids all at once, it doesn't sound like passengers were getting much use out of the all-you-can-eat buffet. "On Wednesday night, I was in the dining room and a woman was vomiting into her napkin," Shannon Blace, a passenger from Toronto, told CNN. "There were people walking around in their pajamas with vomit and diarrhea on them. People were barfing all over the place."

Why the hell would you leave your room like this and walk around??? 

Clearly they had entered DGAF territory. Alternatively, perhaps they all had newborns and this was a typical state of being for them.

[orangeblossom]

Jan 30, 2014 15:29:49 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Maybe they should require the norovirus vaccine for cruises?

There is no vaccine. This his the season for noro, and there are tons of outbreaks going on. It's just what happens this time of year, unfortunately.

The key is trying to sanitize/disinfect (which are toe different things) for the next set of people.

[Deleted]

No no no no no. This ship cannot be sanitized. It must be sent back to sea and burned.

[sporklemotion]

I was on a cruise that was like this (or pretty close). Once we saw a woman slip and land in a puddle of her vomit, we knew it would be our last cruise. My DH got the virus-- worst 24 hours of his life.

[karinothing]

Jan 30, 2014 15:48:08 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Jan 30, 2014 15:29:49 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Maybe they should require the norovirus vaccine for cruises?

There is no vaccine. This his the season for noro, and there are tons of outbreaks going on. It's just what happens this time of year, unfortunately.

The key is trying to sanitize/disinfect (which are toe different things) for the next set of people.

I think there is a vaccine?
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267086.php

I guess it is not out of clinical trials yet. i think I am thinking of rotovirus.

[Alyssa]

Jan 30, 2014 15:27:31 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Jan 30, 2014 15:14:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

At least 629 passengers and over 50 cruise employees came down with the norovirus, and though not everyone was spewing bodily fluids all at once, it doesn't sound like passengers were getting much use out of the all-you-can-eat buffet. "On Wednesday night, I was in the dining room and a woman was vomiting into her napkin," Shannon Blace, a passenger from Toronto, told CNN. "There were people walking around in their pajamas with vomit and diarrhea on them. People were barfing all over the place."

Why the hell would you leave your room like this and walk around??? 

I have no idea why you would wonder around like that.  But I can tell you, it's not far off base to blow out your pants due to the force of heaving into the toilet.  I found myself pissing out of my butt while barfing into the tub.  You literally think you are about to die. The stomach ache that goes with Noro is the worst ever, it's like 12 hours of feeling like someone is punching you in the gut.  I hope to God I never catch that illness ever again.

[mbcdefg]

Pretending that Bayonne is called "Cape Liberty" still cracks me up.

[Velar Fricative]

So is it possible that Patient Zero didn't know they had norovirus before boarding the cruise? Or is it likelier that he/she was a total asshole who didn't want to spoil their vacation, assplosions be damned?

I have a lot to learn about norovirus but I'm scared at what I will read based on the information in this article.

[msmerymac]

Jan 30, 2014 15:27:31 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Jan 30, 2014 15:14:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

At least 629 passengers and over 50 cruise employees came down with the norovirus, and though not everyone was spewing bodily fluids all at once, it doesn't sound like passengers were getting much use out of the all-you-can-eat buffet. "On Wednesday night, I was in the dining room and a woman was vomiting into her napkin," Shannon Blace, a passenger from Toronto, told CNN. "There were people walking around in their pajamas with vomit and diarrhea on them. People were barfing all over the place."

Why the hell would you leave your room like this and walk around??? 

Right?! Stay in your room and keep your hands off the salad bar.

Anyway, when I was on a cruise last year they have signs in all the bathrooms about handwashing and using paper towels to open doors. They're super paranoid about this stuff. 

[Deleted]

I cannot imagine wanting to get up and walk around the dining room while suffering from noro. Last time I had it, I could barely leave the bathroom. The thought of being anywhere near food sounds like the worst idea ever.

That ish spreads fast. In a period of one week, every single person in my DH's workplace (about a dozen people) was hit. It was rough for the ones at the end, because they knew what was coming at that point.

[Deleted]

Jan 30, 2014 16:30:58 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

So is it possible that Patient Zero didn't know they had norovirus before boarding the cruise? Or is it likelier that he/she was a total asshole who didn't want to spoil their vacation, assplosions be damned?

I have a lot to learn about norovirus but I'm scared at what I will read based on the information in this article.

Absolutely possible. I think it takes a few days to take effect once you contract the virus (I could be making this up, this timeline just sounds about right). Then you go from perfectly fine to dying in the span of an hour.

[meshaliuknits]

Jan 30, 2014 16:59:20 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

My ILs knowingly brought norovirus to my house when PTS was two weeks post open heart sx and despite having been told how dangerous it was for PTS to get sick. This us one reason why I will never be their friend. And that us all I have to add to this thread.

I'm amazed you didn't shiv them on sight.

[pescalita]

Jan 30, 2014 16:39:28 GMT -5 @canadiandrone said:

Jan 30, 2014 16:30:58 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

So is it possible that Patient Zero didn't know they had norovirus before boarding the cruise? Or is it likelier that he/she was a total asshole who didn't want to spoil their vacation, assplosions be damned?

I have a lot to learn about norovirus but I'm scared at what I will read based on the information in this article.

Absolutely possible. I think it takes a few days to take effect once you contract the virus (I could be making this up, this timeline just sounds about right). Then you go from perfectly fine to dying in the span of an hour.

The first time I had it, I started feeling bad after I ate dinner around 7pm, and by the time Carl got home around 9, he found me on the floor in the living room because I couldn't make it from the couch to the bathroom. Our apartment was under 600sf.

Just the word makes me want to crawl up in a hole and die.

[Deleted]

Jan 30, 2014 17:06:44 GMT -5 pescalita said:

Jan 30, 2014 16:39:28 GMT -5 @canadiandrone said:

Absolutely possible. I think it takes a few days to take effect once you contract the virus (I could be making this up, this timeline just sounds about right). Then you go from perfectly fine to dying in the span of an hour.

The first time I had it, I started feeling bad after I ate dinner around 7pm, and by the time Carl got home around 9, he found me on the floor in the living room because I couldn't make it from the couch to the bathroom. Our apartment was under 600sf.

Just the word makes me want to crawl up in a hole and die.

When I had it, I started feeling a little nauseous at work, so I left early. I was able to get home before it really hit. Given that I took the bus to work at that time, I am forever thankful that I left work early that day.

[AJL]

And this is the whole reason I will never, ever, ever go on a cruise. Ever. I do not want to get stuck on the SS Shits-and-Pukes.

Also the Titanic (yeah, I may have an unreasonable fear of cruise ships.)

[Deleted]

I have a question. Isn't a norovirus just a type of virus? So this is a particularly aggressive norovirus just like there are different strains of the flu? I keep hearing THE norovirus, but there can't be just one, right?

If that's the case, I would think it would be incredibly difficult to vaccinate against unless all the other noroviruses are happy little things and this is the only strain we need to kill.

If there's more than one of these things we have to try to cure I'm gonna need someone to hold me.

[Velar Fricative]

If norovirus is so contagious, why doesn't everyone get it all the time?

Yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions and this is one example.

[Deleted]

Jan 30, 2014 17:30:10 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

If norovirus is so contagious, why doesn't everyone get it all the time?

Yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions and this is one example.

It's a two day delay between getting the virus and getting symptoms, so it takes time to spread around. (e.g. I get sick today, my DH then gets sick two days later, etc.) So, for those on the boat, they aren't in the all clear until 2-3 after getting off the ship.

[blacksred]

Last week I had the norovirus. I wished for a quick merciful death. I laid on the bathroom floor because it felt like sweet relief.

Sent from my SM-N900V using proboards

[Nonny]

Isn't the norovirus also "sticky" in that it's hard to clean off of things like plates and flatware, even when run through a commercial dishwasher?

We took a cruise last April, and had to wait in the terminal in Florida for hours and hours because there was a mild outbreak of something that they needed to sanitize the ship against. Thankfully it didn't seem like anyone got sick on our cruise (which was good, because it was 2.5 weeks through the Panama Canal). But I'm a bit dubious about their extra cleaning, because I found a Euro on the floor in our stateroom as soon as we walked in.

[SusanBAnthony]

I wonder if it was a cooking or waitress employee that spread it to everyone via food. They could easily give 600 people the germs within the period from being contagious to wanting to die.

Is there any place where people are shaking hands, like as they board? Could a sick passenger have spread the germs on the captain's hands, then the captain shakes hands with everyone as they board or something?

[LoveTrains]

Apparently there is also a newish even worse strain of norovirus now that emerged last year. I had it over Christmas and it was effing terrible. I lost 10 lbs (I'm a fattie) and couldn't eat for a week.

[romigu]

Jan 30, 2014 18:16:50 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

I wonder if it was a cooking or waitress employee that spread it to everyone via food. They could easily give 600 people the germs within the period from being contagious to wanting to die.

Is there any place where people are shaking hands, like as they board? Could a sick passenger have spread the germs on the captain's hands, then the captain shakes hands with everyone as they board or something?

It doesn't even have to be staff. It can survive on inanimate objects for longer periods of time than other viruses so if an area wasn't particularly well disinfected and you touch that area and touch your face or don't wash your hands before eating, you're toast. An outbreak happened at my hospital because someone hadn't washed their hands before typing on the keyboard.

[IIOY]

Jan 30, 2014 18:16:50 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

I wonder if it was a cooking or waitress employee that spread it to everyone via food. They could easily give 600 people the germs within the period from being contagious to wanting to die.

Is there any place where people are shaking hands, like as they board? Could a sick passenger have spread the germs on the captain's hands, then the captain shakes hands with everyone as they board or something?

Cruise ships are really just floating petri dishes. People are everywhere and they are filthy and you can't get away from them.

I'm laughing so hard at "pissing out my ass."