P and O Azura - current norovirus outbreak

[HellismyDestiny]

I am due to board this ship on Saturday for a much looked forward to weeks cruise to Norway, that has taken us over two years hard saving for. Facebook is alive with reports of a current norovirus outbreak and P and O are totally uninterested in responding to any questions about how it is being handled, how many are sick, and what they intend to do to deep clean the ship when she returns to Southampton on Saturday, before she sets sail to Norway.

I am also very worried by the reports i have read that, contrary to most cruise companies, P and O do not institute any rigid protocols on hand cleaning before being allowed to enter restaurants. In fact, according to facebook, one traveller has said when she bought it up with the restaurant manager, she was told that they only stayed vigilant for the first 48 hours of a cruise, after that, if no one was ill, they relaxed and didn't insist hand gel / hand washing was implemented. This is madness surely? Illness can be bought on board by anyone at any time, not just on the embarkation day. So #pandocruises ....what do you have to say to your customers? because your current head in sand ignoring requests for information is not making you look good!

I have cruised many times with them and there was a norovirus incident on my last cruise. It was handled extremely well with minimal impact on the unaffected passengers - I totally disagree that hand sanitising is not enforced - it certainly has been on all the cruises I’ve been on, and the crew are constantly cleaning all handrails etc to keep the chance of infection to a minimum.

thank you CherryBlossomPink that is heartening to know. I am a bit upset to have my pleasure in looking forward to my holiday trodden on !

Cruise lines have protocols for this.

I’ve been on ships when there have been illnesses onboard. Affected passengers get confined to quarters and cleaning/sanitising is upped.

If you are particularly concerned then eat in served restaurants and avoid buffets.

You can’t enter the restaurants without having your hands sprayed with the cleaner.

They ask people to use tissues to open doors in the toilets.

However you can’t force people to have good hygiene sadly!

This is completely untrue I'm currently on board the Azura and can assure you hand washing is absolutely compulsory and you can't even serve yourself in the self service restaurant at the moment just one of the extra precautions put in place. I think it's only a very small handful of people that have been affected and staff have been brilliant in dealing with it so I'd say relax and enjoy your holiday.

Thank you all. Hope you are having a great time tootiredtofunction

When we cruised with P&O they were very strict about hand washing. They will do a thorough clean of the ship in between cruises.

Most norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships aren’t as bad as the publicity makes out. Some are though

My job takes me onto cruise ships at port and I have seen some clean ups after outbreaks and they put hospitals to shame.

We’ve cruised with p&o three times. They are scrupulously clean. They definitely do enforce the hand-gel. I actually really dislike buffets as I am sure some folk are less careful about cleanliness and coughing on food etc. We tended to use the served restaurants for that reason.

I’ve been on several cruises and I’ve found that P&O is the only one where hand sanitisers were neither promoted nor frequently used. On all the other (American) cruise liners I’ve sailed with, there were large freestanding sanitiser stations as you go into any bar or restaurant. This wasn’t the case with P&O and I often had to ask where I could find it, only to be told that there was a bottle on the bar. It was appalling. This is 12 months ago so in the recent past. There was also a norovirus outbreak while we were on board, and luckily, it didn’t spread too quickly. There was an announcement halfway through the cruise by the captain and people were told not to use public toilets, and to sanitise hands frequently. People blatantly ignored the no public toilets rule and just carried on as they had done previously.

My advice is to take your own sanitiser with you and have it with you at all times. The ship will be deep cleaned before you embark so I wouldn’t worry about that. However, when helping yourself to the buffet, use a napkin to hold the utensils! I had Norovirus a few years ago and it was hideous. I am ultra cautious about these things now and it was my GP, a regular cruiser, who told me to do the napkin trick!

Take your own sanitiser and before you leave the dock, door knobs inside and outside, room phones, any light switches, room glasses * some staff use polish ( not cloth careful either) inside and outside of verandah door handle taps, flush button and remotes I give a once over myself. Takes five mins. You know it’s done. I always press the lift buttons calling and floor selection using an elbow etc. I second the napkin trick, basic precautions, never been sick myself. I have seen a lot of non washers and walkers in the public areas. Also try to hold the door with foot not hand if I have to use a deck bathroom. Not touching the stair handrails directly either. I only bring clothes that will withstand a 60 degree cycle and biological powder for laundry machines. ( we travel light ) If we have UK biscuits candy or big china mug and tea bags left at the end of the trip I go to the kids club and find some one from the UK to gift tea bags etc to. ( if anyone deserves a Yorkshire Tea, a Topic and a flick through a glossy mag. from home, it’s those people ) I also make the room cleaners life as easy as possible - group our toiletries in pound shop textile bags, one thing to lift and run a cloth under, but takes up little/no weight or space on the way home and your room attendant is not handling every item. They have a lot of cabins to get through. If you have kids i’d buy those swim ear plugs if they will be in and out of the pool. Zogs used to do them. Enjoy your cruise I am sure with a few adjustments to your normal habits you will be germ free and loving it.

I work in a hospital & we've been told that hand gel only kills mrsa but it doesn't kill norovirus or cdiff- only proper hand washing with soap & water kills those bugs!

I thought Purell kills norovirus?

Norovirus is surrounding by a capsid that alcohol hand held can not breach so hand gels are not effective.
Hand washing for time it takes you to sing happy birthday song twice through is effective.
Norovirus is passed on by touching contaminated surfaces and then touch your mouth or eating food.
Deep cleaning the ship will get rid of the virus. You just have to hope that no one brings on a new case.

When I was washing my hands at a motorway services I was asked if I was a Theatre nurse. I must admit MIL was in a HDU/intensive care unit and I still, years later, wash my hands in that fashion. It’s just good practice.

We'v done 15 cruises with P&O. They are hot on hand sanitisers etc but there are quite a lot of passengers who think that hands cleanliness doesnt apply to them. Iv seen loads of the dirty buggers trot past the sanitiser stand and into the buffet.

We always take some antiseptic wipes and clean door handles phone etc in our cabin when we get onboard.