BBC News

Although I appreciate that the Norwalk is an unpleasant virus, it’s not the bubonic plague!

Treating cruise passengers like a raft full of refugees with typhoid, being expelled from port to port, is unacceptable.

It not as if they don't know what the virus is?

[ 11-04-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Onno

[ 11-04-2003: Message edited by: Onno ]

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Originally posted by lebelty:
I wonder why this ship is so much important then all the others?

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If I were P&O, this is exactly what I'd do after this public relations nightmare!

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
If cruise lines had the guts to withdraw sick-ships for an entire cruise and give the crew shore leave, the cycle would be broken. However, they all just seem too greedy. It?s the 'show must go on', mentality.

On the otherside, why should P&O be made to pay and suffer the consequences for what may have been one selfish passenger, who had been ill a few days beofre the cruise and would not cancel?
You can be contagious for up to 2 weeks.

Delaying the following cruise leads to a 2nd set of passengers in uproar over compensation. Mind you cruiselines only have themselves to blame for the refund mentality of today's passengers.

If I were P&O, this is exactly what I'd do after this public relations nightmare!

I would be finding out who brought the virus aboard and sue them <wg>

I?m looking forward to some cheap deal on Aurora over the next month or two?

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Haven't they been cheap enough already? The BBC quoted pax on that cruise had paid betwwen 3k & 10k each, utter nonsense. I think they looked in a brochure and added a bit

Hi Pam, It could have been a crew member? Maybe they did not know they had the bug, anyway?

Pam said: Delaying the following cruise leads to a 2nd set of passengers in uproar over compensation.

Yes, but they have a medical problem onboard their ship, whoever's at fault, they need to deal with it effectively. In my opinion canceling one cruise is better than the problem runing on week after week and making more people ill - and more bad press!

Pam said: Mind you cruiselines only have themselves to blame for the refund mentality of today's passengers.

Why? Please explain more?

I said: I?m looking forward to some cheap deal on Aurora over the next month or two?

Pam said: Haven't they been cheap enough already?

Nope - not cheap enough for me

[ 11-05-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
It could have been a crew member? Maybe they did not know they had the bug, anyway?

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In my opinion canceling one cruise is better than the problem runing on week after week and making more people ill

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From Seatrade Insider:
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P&O: 2 deaths not Norovirus-related
5/11/2003

Two passengers have died during Aurora's current cruise, but the cause of death was not related to Norovirus, a P&O Cruises spokeswoman told Seatrade Insider. Two passengers have died during Aurora's current cruise, but the cause of death was not related to Norovirus, a P&O Cruises spokeswoman told Seatrade Insider.
More than 500 passengers of 1,800 and 17 crew members of 840 have suffered from the virus during a 17-day cruise that departed Oct. 20.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
It could have been a crew member? Maybe they did not know they had the bug, anyway?

It could have been if a joining member, but I bet they would have known they'd had it.

They can clean a ship quite effectively.. the problem is passengers! One lady on the news was stating that a handful of pax refused to use the bacterial wipes on entering the buffet! I wonder if it's true?

Anyway.. on the following cruise Aunt Agatha who's been ill for a couple of days last week and thought no more of it may be boarding... another bout!

Re the compensation, it seems one only has to stamp one's foot to get a voucher for something off another cruise. Miss a port due to bad weather and people start shouting, on board credit gets given or free bar for a couple of hours. Isn't there a class action against HAL re norwalk going on? I bet they wouldn't sue the local mall as that's where most likely people get it from and then pass on through friends, hospitals etc. A handful of hospitals in the UK were closed for a while this year due to the virus.

Nope - not cheap enough for me

...or for when you are able to go.

Aurora
Iberian Adventure ~ 07 Dec 03 ~ 12nights
Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Lanzarote
Gran Canaria, Vigo, Southampton
Inside £499pp
Outside £599pp
Balcony £699pp

How can you say that is not dirt cheap? £50 pn for an outside? just the dates are no good. [That was on offer before this outbreak..may even go down now?]

Pam

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Originally posted by eroller:
It only gets worse! Two people have now died on the plague ship.... aka AURORA.

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Ernie, why is that worse? Don't people die on cruises? The longer ones especially. Nothing to do with the virus. It was a 17 night cruise, I bet the pax base was quite elderley.
Didn't 7 passengers die on a single leg on one of Aurora's world cruises a couple of years back?

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Originally posted by PamM:

Ernie, why is that worse? Don't people die on cruises? The longer ones especially. Nothing to do with the virus. It was a 17 night cruise, I bet the pax base was quite elderley.
Didn't 7 passengers die on a single leg on one of Aurora's world cruises a couple of years back?

Pam

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Why is it worse? Simple.... more bad publicity for a ship that is already getting more than it's fair share. Of course people die on cruise ships all the time, but the average "joe" probably doesn't know this. It's obvious the media will jump on anything having to do with AURORA right now regardless of it's relevance to Norwalk, and most of the public will eat it right up. I can already hear the chatter in living rooms now about how dangerous cruises are!

Ernie

ps - just the fact that these two deaths are being reported by the media at all is an indication of the over-hype of the situation. Normally you would have never heard about it.

[ 11-05-2003: Message edited by: eroller ]

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Originally posted by eroller:
According to health experts, symptoms of Norovirus -- which include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea -- usually usually last between one and three days and generally resolve without treatment or long-term consequences.

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One would almost say it are the symptoms of the dreadful and life threatening illness called “seasickness”

I sometimes wonder (in general) with all the complaining some passengers do why they go on a cruise in the first place. Isn’t taking a cruise (you know such a vacation on a thing that floats in the water) all about the adventure and all “eccentric” things that come with a cruise (like getting later then expected at your port, cancelling a port due to bad wetter, rocking the ship because of a storm.) Those people should cruise on board the ships called “hotel” resorts.

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Originally posted by Onno:
Those people should cruise on board the ships called “hotel” resorts.

Onno

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Exactly, and what people don't realize is that you can get Norwalk anywhere! Of course most times it's not traceable since people move around too often to track it back to one place, so it receives little to no media attention.

A cruise ship holds a captive audience in a relatively confined area. People spends days and even weeks onboard, and of course it's much easier to track the cause with having something to do with the ship itself, especially when you start having hundreds come down with symptoms.

The media presents Norwalk as if it's something that can only be contracted onboard a cruise ship. They fail to mention that thousands get it everyday in their own backyards.

I contracted Norwalk last December. I'm a flight attendant and I'm almost sure I got it on my flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta. No one else on the crew got it though, and I don't know about the passengers. I'm very careful to wash my hands often (as all flight attendants are), but even so it did not stop the virus. It was not pleasant, but it wasn't the end of the world either. The good thing is that it goes away almost as quickly as it comes on.

I don't see anything wrong with complaining and geting some sort of compensation, if the cruise line doe snot deliver what you have paid for!

Remember the brocures are FULL of promises. The P&O one for example talks of "Perfect days at sea", "delectable dining' and "discreet waiters" etc.

My advice is, if the foods poor, the waiters rude and the day is less than perfect - COMPLAIN!

Aurora
Iberian Adventure ~ 07 Dec 03 ~ 12nights
Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Lanzarote
Gran Canaria, Vigo, Southampton
Inside £499pp
Outside £599pp
Balcony £699pp

How can you say that is not dirt cheap?

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Originally posted by eroller:
what people don't realize is that you can get Norwalk anywhere!

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Of course most times it's not traceable since people move around too often to track it back to one place, so it receives little to no media attention.

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