Shipboard Life

Since many people have heard the news about the outbreak of gastro-intestinal illness, indicative of Norovirus, on the Queen Elizabeth and asked me about it, I finally decided to address it in my blog. I wasn’t going to since it isn’t a pleasant subject, but I thought it might be helpful for people to know how the ship’s crew has handled it, especially since I came down with it myself and now have first-hand experience dealing with the illness while onboard.

First of all, in the thirty years we’ve been taking cruises, this is the first time we’ve had an outbreak of illness while on a ship—at least one that we were aware of. Gastro-intestinal illness can strike anywhere, but is worse when so many people are living in such a small area like a cruise ship. And it makes for great news when it happens on a cruise ship and hits the headlines.

Throughout the voyage, the crew has gone to great lengths to keep the ship sanitized by continually cleaning, wiping down surfaces with a disinfectant solution, and squirting gel sanitizers into your hand as you enter the ship and public rooms, especially the dining areas. They are aware that the illness can happen and they do all in their power to prevent it.

But all you need is for someone with the illness, especially someone who doesn’t have good hygiene habits like washing their hands after using the restroom, to come onboard and you have a problem. With so many people using the same hand railings, doorknobs, elevator buttons, salt and peppershakers, etc., you can see how easily the illness can be spread once it is on the ship.

When people started reporting gastro-intestinal illness to the medical center in large numbers, the captain made an announcement over the public address system keeping everyone informed and explaining the steps the crew would be taking to prevent the illness from spreading further. The crew instituted an even higher level of sanitization procedures that included even more cleaning, removing of all shared items in the dining areas, discontinuing self-service in the Lido buffet, and increasing the sanitization efforts. Crewmembers were continually wiping down chairs, hand railings, etc. They even sanitized the leather menu folders in the dining room after each dinner.

It really put an extra burden on the crew who were assigned to doing even minor things for passengers like handing them things they previously could have gotten for themselves. In the Lido, passengers could no longer get a glass of water or pick up a spoon from a container, or serve themselves food from the buffet—anything that would cause them to handle beverage levers, ice dispensers, serving spoons, etc. used by other people. A crewmember had to dispense everything.

In the early hours of Easter Sunday, I came down with the illness. It was no fun. After reporting it over the phone to the medical center, I received a call from a nurse who gave me guidance on how to treat it, including taking Imodium, which I fortunately had with me and wished that I had thought of it and taken it earlier.

Shortly after that, I received a package of material explaining what the illness was, how it was treated, and a list of recommended food and beverages to help and those foods to avoid. It also encouraged me to use room service to obtain anything I needed. The package also included a medical questionnaire that I was to complete and return to the medical center.

For the next day or so, when I felt like eating again, I survived on a steady diet of bananas, which I don’t like, and apple juice. If nothing else, I took off some of the weight I gained on the voyage. Fortunately, John did not fall ill and got me anything I needed, including books from the library. I had plenty of time to read and went through quite a few books.

Several times a day, the nurse called to check on how I was doing and to answer any questions. Also, a crewmember experienced in dealing with sanitization, not our cabin attendant, came into the cabin at least three times a day to clean the bathroom and change all the towels. He also wiped down all surfaces in the cabin with a disinfectant. He was so sweet and always asked me if there was anything I needed.

The package of material that I received also informed me that I was being quarantined in our cabin for three days (or at least 48 hours after the last symptoms). To enforce this, they notified security so that I would be unable to use my cardkey throughout the ship or to disembark. John was able to come and go.

Once 48 hours after my last symptoms expired, I received a call from the ship’s doctor asking how I was doing. When I assured her that I was on the mend, she said that she would notify security to release the hold on my cardkey. I took the opportunity to ask her how soon after being exposed to the virus people show symptoms. I was trying to figure out when or where I may have picked up the virus. She said generally no more than 48 hours and no less than 7 or 8 hours. During that time I had been on shore and all over the ship, so I could have picked it up anywhere.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if I had attempted to use my cardkey somewhere on the ship, but I wasn’t going to put it to the test. Besides, I felt too ill to go anywhere. They would have had to direct everyone to abandon ship to get me out of bed. Even then I would have had to think twice about it.

After being cleared by the medical staff to leave the cabin again, we had to leave so that a sanitization crew could come in and do a top to bottom sanitization of our cabin.

At the next port, the ship delayed the embarkation of new passengers for a few hours while they did a top to bottom sanitization of the ship.

Fortunately, the extra procedures have been lifted and we are back to normal on the ship again. Something like this is never pleasant for anyone--passengers or crew--and I give high marks to the crew in how they handled it.

Post Script: Later when I met another woman who had become ill, I said that I suspected that I may have come in contact with the virus when coming back to the ship and a crew member  wanted to squirt gel sanitizer into my full hands, I put my ship's cardkey in my mouth to hold it. She said she had done the same thing. That cardkey is handled by many people and is also placed on a card reader when you leave or return to the ship--along with the card for every other person on the ship. So a word to the wise--never, ever put your cardkey in your mouth.