Virgin Goes with Bipolar Ionization

Scarlet Lady.

“HVAC is one of the most important systems aboard a cruise ship. To that end, we designed our ship based on industry best practices, working with Fincantieri and HVAC engineers. We are trading off energy consumption for passenger comfort, quality, and safety,” Andy Schwalb, chief marine and technology for Virgin Voyages, told Cruise Industry News.

“So, instead of building the most efficient air-conditioning system possible, we built the best air circulation system possible for the comfort of our guests and crew,” he added.

Aboard the Scarlet Lady, each public space has its own air-handling system, designed and optimized for each space.

“We are constantly putting fresh air into public spaces and cabins. While other ships may pump in the fresh air too, the question is how often that air is exchanged. Our system is smart and adjusts according to how many people are in the room. So, the air may be exchanged every couple of minutes or every five to seven minutes. It can go faster or slower.

“Some large spaces also have cooling coils that help keep the air cool, but we are not recirculating air.

“We also change the air in every cabin every few minutes. Each cabin has its own cooling unit, and there is no cross-contamination between cabins.”

“There are many ways to clean the air,” Schwalb said. “The most basic is to move fresh air through a filter and suck out the old air. That works up to a point, depending on how often the air is exchanged and how big or small the particles are that go into the filters. Some companies have gone to MERV 13 filters, which have a finer mesh, and some are putting UV lamps in their air handlers.

“We have chosen a different route, covering 100 per cent of the ship with bipolar ionization.”

Schwalb explained how it works: “The fresh air comes into the space ionized with positively and negatively charged ions. They are attracted to particulate matter – pathogens, allergens, bacteria dust – and attach themselves. By doing so, they destroy the pathogens by stripping the hydrogen atom and make them bigger and heavier, which means the filters can better trap them, they are no longer able to attach themselves to people’s lungs, and they also fall to the floor.

“99.92 per cent of viruses are killed instantaneously.”

In-door air quality, in general, is a problem, according to Schwalb, not just on cruise ships. Any building, any enclosed space, has challenges such as norovirus and influenza, for example, and the ionization takes care of all of that.

“In addition, we are also upping our filtration to MERV 13 where it makes sense,” he added. “We are doing absolutely everything that is possible. First of all, we want to keep everybody safe and healthy; and secondly, we think this will improve the (cruise) experience over the long run.”

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2020-2021

More than 300 passengers fall ill with suspected norovirus on Caribbean Princess

More than 300 passengers fall ill with suspected norovirus on Caribbean Princess

At least 299 passengers and 22 crew members sailing on a Princess Cruises ship are believed to be suffering from suspected norovirus.

Caribbean Princess was refused entry to Trinidad & Tobago as a precautionary measure.

The ship was on a 14-day Caribbean sailing which departed on February 2.

It is now en route back to Port Everglades, Florida, and is scheduled to arrive Thursday morning.

The ship is carrying 4,196 guests and crew in total.

All guests are being offered a 50% refund and a future cruise credit.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the ship will undergo a “super sanitation cleaning” in port on February 16.

It will then depart from Port Everglades for a round-trip Circle Caribbean cruise.

The line is also dealing with an outbreak of coronavirus onboard Diamond Princess in Japan, where 136 passengers have been diagnosed with the virus.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Saga Cruises confirmed at least 89 passengers on board Spirit of Discovery were suffering from suspected norovirus with guests showing symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.

The authorities in Gibraltar refused the ship entry and it is now en route back to Southampton.

A Princess Cruises spokesperson said: “Caribbean Princess, which had been on a 14-day cruise in the Caribbean, has curtailed its current voyage due to guests reporting symptoms consistent with a mild case of gastrointestinal illness.

“The affected guests are being treated by the onboard medical team and there are no cases of coronavirus identified among guests or crew.

“The ship, with 4,196 guests and crew, is now sailing back to the Port of Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, and is scheduled to arrive at Port Everglades at 7:00am on Thursday, February 13.

“This is a highly unusual development and we share the disappointment of our guests. However, the health and safety of our guests and crew is our top priority, and we have worked alongside the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make this decision.

“All guests will receive a 50% refund on their voyage and a future cruise credit valued at 50% of their cruise for this inconvenience.

“Caribbean Princess will resume its schedule with a February 16 departure from Port Everglades for a round-trip Circle Caribbean cruise.”

Norovirus outbreak on Oasis of the Seas

Norovirus outbreak on Oasis of the Seas

More than 270 passengers have reportedly fallen ill with Norovirus on Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas.

Passengers were kept on board for hours after it docked at Falmouth port in Jamaica on Wednesday (January 9).

The ship was on a seven-night cruise through the Caribbean, but passengers have been told they will have their cruise fares refunded in full following the outbreak.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Travel Weekly: “Oasis of the Seas will return to Port Canaveral [in Florida] a day early after an episode of gastrointestinal illness.

“A total of 277 guests and crew members have been affected since the ship departed on January 6 — about 3.3 per cent of the people aboard the ship.

“All of the ship’s guests will receive full refunds of their cruise fare paid.

“We think the right thing to do is to get everyone home early rather than have guests worry about their health. Returning on Saturday also gives us more time to completely clean and sanitize the ship before her next sailing.

“Our guests sail with us to have great holidays, and we are sorry this cruise fell short.”

Passenger Alan Thomas tweeted: “Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean. We’re docked at Falmouth Jamaica. Level 3 Norovirus outbreak. 100+ passengers and a crew member sick. Cancelled shore excursion. Waiting to see if Jamaican authorities let us off the ship.#refund #lostvacation #disappointed #royalcarribean.”

Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean. We’re docked at Falmouth Jamaica. Level 3 Norovirus outbreak. 100+ passengers and a crew member sick. Cancelled shore excursion. Waiting to see if Jamaican authorities let us off the ship. #refund #lostvacation #disappointed #royalcarribean

— Alan Thomas (@alan_thomas13)

CDC: Cruise industry action is helping reduce Norovirus

A recent government study of norovirus on cruise ships found that the number of cases has been declining, in part because of proactive steps taken by the industry when outbreaks occur.

The study, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in its weekly bulletin on Jan. 15, said the industry’s collaboration has helped reduce outbreaks and made them less severe during the six years studied.

The most recent example of stepped-up collaboration occurred last week when Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas became the latest cruise ship to suffer an outbreak of the gastrointestinal illness.

According to a CDC investigative update on the outbreak, Royal took numerous steps to clean the Anthem and limit the spread of the virus among the ship’s 4,061 passengers.

Fay DeHaas, a Cruise Planners agent in West Hartford, Conn., who was taking a group of 16 on the Anthem’s next cruise on March 5, said Royal Caribbean emailed a letter explaining the outbreak to her clients.

“Royal Caribbean has been amazing,” DeHaas said.

She said the outbreak, which affected 132 passengers, has definitely created a buzz, adding, “Friends have been calling friends [saying], ‘What are you going to do? You can’t go.’ What I tell them is that the ship is always thoroughly sanitized, and there will be extra people onboard taking precautions to keep cleaning bathrooms, banisters, anything you touch.”

“We’re proud of the continual efforts of cruise line crews to clean and sanitize cruise ships to keep travelers healthy.” — Bud Darr, CLIA

The CDC study said measures such as those are having an impact. Of the 73.5 million passengers who sailed on a cruise ship subject to CDC reporting requirements from 2008 to 2014, only 129,678 cases of gastroenteritis were reported, a rate of 0.18%.

It said illness per 100,000 cruise ship travel days declined from 27.2 cases in 2008 to 22.3 cases in 2014. Although the report concluded that represented a “declining but not statistically significant trend,” it also noted that the rates were lower than those reported in an earlier 2001-04 study.

“Collaborative efforts with the cruise industry have allowed [the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program] to provide more rapid support to cruise lines and ships experiencing higher than expected levels of acute gastroenteritis,” the report, authored by three CDC health experts, stated.

It said fewer and less severe outbreaks are likely the result of earlier detection than in the past, “along with the cruise industry efforts to identify and control outbreaks.”

Increasingly, the study said, cruise officials have developed detailed outbreak plans, have used effective chemical disinfectants and have been proactive about seeking strategies to curb the virus’ spread.

In the case of the Anthem of the Seas, the CDC’s update on the ship said that Royal Caribbean had sent four hotel and housekeeping operations managers, three public health staffers and one nurse from the corporate office to oversee and assist with sanitation and outbreak response.

In addition, Royal sent 10 extra internal cleaning crew members and 10 contract cleaning staff plus equipment to the ship to assist in the execution of the Anthem’s outbreak response.

Royal Caribbean said it was able to contain the illness to about 10 cases a day, although by the end of the cruise enough passengers had fallen ill (3.3%) to qualify as an outbreak of gastroenteritis.

The Anthem of the Seas returned to Cape Liberty two days early from a 13-day Caribbean cruise, although Royal attributed that decision to the possibility of rough weather rather than to the illnesses.

Royal Caribbean tweeted that when the ship arrived in port, there were only a few active cases. “The ship will now go through an enhanced and thorough cleaning,” the tweet said.

The CDC study, titled “Acute Gastroenteritis on Cruise Ships — United States, 2008-2014,” drew praise from CLIA, the cruise industry trade group.

“We’re proud of the continual efforts of cruise line crews to clean and sanitize cruise ships to keep travelers healthy,” said Bud Darr, CLIA’s senior vice president for technical and regulatory affairs. “This study shows what a great job they’re doing.”

Darr said that norovirus cases at sea account for only a tiny fraction of the estimated 20 million total annual cases.

He said the public is more likely to hear about outbreaks on cruise ships because they report on gastrointestinal illnesses to a federal agency, and, “There is no similar federal program for hotels, airlines or restaurants.”

The CDC study noted that of the estimated 140 million norovirus cases in the U.S. between 2008 and 2014, verified cases on cruise ships accounted for 14,911, or about 0.01%.

However, while it was likely that many of the 172,810 cases of gastroenteritis on cruise ships during the period could be attributed to norovirus, public health workers were unable to verify the cause.

When clinical samples were available for testing, 92% of outbreaks were caused by norovirus, the study said. E. coli bacteria was the second-leading source of gastrointestinal illness.

The study said all of the E. coli outbreaks in the study period occurred on ships sailing back from Central or South America.

The highest rate of illness during the study period was in 2012 when a novel strain of norovirus emerged. The number of passenger outbreaks on cruise ships jumped to 27 that year from 15 in 2011 but dropped back to 17 outbreaks the following year.

Overall, passengers stand a less-than-1% chance of being on a cruise with gastrointestinal outbreak, the study showed. Of the 29,107 voyages during the study period, outbreaks occurred on 133 cruises, a rate of 0.5%. 

Don't shake hands with the captain!

Don't shake hands with the captain!

Cruise ships said to have banned greeting because of fears contagious stomach viruses could be passed on

• Cruise ship captains have been warned against shaking hands on deck 
• It is feared that shaking hands can pass on the infectious Norovirus 
• Crystal Cruises admitted the new rule was designed to prevent disease
• The company said two of their boats were hit by Norovirus since 2008

Dining at the captain’s table is, for the lucky few, perhaps the glamorous highlight of a luxury cruise.

But having donned your dickie bow for the big night, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t stretch out a gold-braided arm in greeting.

For some cruise ships have banned passengers from shaking hands with the captain amid fears over highly contagious stomach viruses being passed on.

On-board outbreaks of norovirus have turned many a cruise into a nightmare for holidaymakers, leaving them suffering chronic vomiting and diarrhoea.

The bid to prevent it being passed to captains at dinners, cocktail parties and receptions was noted by Margaret Thatcher’s official biographer Charles Moore when he went on his first cruise recently.

Writing in The Spectator magazine about his time on board the £225 million, 1,070-passenger Crystal Serenity on a 12 day, £3,700 per person cruise from Lisbon to London via the west coast of France, he said: ‘Every effort was made to look after us courteously. Modern standards, however, put things under some strain. ‘As our voyage neared its end, the daily ship newspaper, Reflections, delivered to the door of our cabin (‘stateroom’) said: ‘All guests are cordially invited to join Captain Birger J Vorland and Crystal Society Hostess Isabell Wagner in the Palm Court at 7.45pm.

‘While the captain is pleased to meet you, he and the other staff receiving you refrain from shaking hands in order to provide the most effective preventative sanitary measures’.’

Yesterday a Crystal Cruises spokesman said: ‘It used to be, back in the day, that the captain would shake everyone’s hand. But because norovirus is spread so easily it’s just standard now that when the captains are greeting lots of people they don’t shake hands.

‘They are not being rude, it’s a preventative measure. It’s been the case on our two ships since at least 2008.’

Whether or not passengers can shake hands with the captain is down to individual cruise lines, say the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).

A Cunard spokesman said: ‘While I was on Queen Mary 2 last week the captain shook hands with passengers attending the many cocktail parties that were held.’

A CLIA spokesman insisted norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships are uncommon, affecting ‘just 1 out of every 12,000 cruise passengers’.

He said: ‘You are 750 times more likely to get norovirus on land than on a cruise ship.’

Standard procedures for CLIA cruise lines to follow when a guest on board is suspected of contracting the gastrointestinal illness include regularly sanitizing door handles, railings and elevator buttons, providing hand sanitizers to passengers during their cruise, and sending public health specialists as well as additional medical personnel to ships as required.

The CLIA spokesman said: ‘Norovirus can remain viable on hands for hours thereby giving hands the potential to spread the infection both directly and indirectly. ‘Hand washing is therefore the single most important procedure for preventing the spread of infection.’ 

Norovirus outbreaks said to hurt cruise industry’s image

By Tom Stieghorst

Outbreaks of norovirus early this year on several cruise ships, including Explorer of the Seas, led to a decline in the trust in cruising and intent to purchase a cruise, according to a Harris poll.

The consumer polling company released an update of its research last year that showed a decline in the industry’s image after the widely publicized Carnival Triumph fire.

Harris said polling done Feb. 10-14 found that perceptions were trending upwards in January, although still below levels before the Triumph incident. But the norovirus outbreaks reversed those gains.

Harris said the average perceived quality score for the cruise industry was down 11% compared with before the Triumph incident, with trust down 12% and purchase intent down 13%.

The seven brands in the survey all declined in at least one of the measures after the norovirus incidents, and most were down from pre-Triumph levels to begin with.

“We’ve all heard the saying that a rising tide lifts all boats,” says Deana Percassi, vice president and public relations research consultant for Nielsen, which acquired Harris in February. “But the inverse also holds true. In a field as crowded as the cruise industry, bad press for a small handful of brands — or even a single one — can have negative repercussions for major players across the board.”

Caribbean Princess cutting cruise short due to fog and illness

Caribbean Princess cutting cruise short due to fog and illness

Princess Cruises has been forced to cut short the current voyage onboard Caribbean Princess because of impending weather forecasts and a suspected outbreak of norovirus.

The vessel is scheduled to return to US waters today, one day earlier than had been intended in the itinerary, because of a heavy build up of dense fog that is expected to descend along the US coast tomorrow and for most of the weekend.

It will also require extra time for sanitisation under the watchful eye of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after passengers reported symptoms of the vomiting bug to the ship's medical bay. According to reports, five passengers are sick with nausea and diarrhoea at present, however some 165 passengers and 11 crew are believed to have fallen ill during the course of the trip.

That represents five per cent of the 3,104 guests aboard Caribbean Princess and less than one per cent of the 1,148 staff members, which is someway short of the eye-watering number of sick reported aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas this week, when more than 20 per cent of the 3,071 passengers reported with symptoms.

However, this represents the third confirmed outbreak of norovirus already this year. Last year by way of comparison, there were nine outbreaks in total. In order to stay on track with its accelerated timeline, the ship, which has been sailing since January 25th, was forced to skip a planned call at the port of Belize.

Princess said in a statement: "Because of the increased sensitivity surrounding Norovirus by both cruise lines and the CDC in this winter season, we notified the CDC who will be boarding on Friday to ensure all appropriate measures are followed for an extensive sanitation of the ship prior to the next cruise."

Passengers will be provided with overnight accommodation in local hotels once the ship arrives in port, as well as a future cruise credit worth 20 per cent of their fare and a one-day allowance to put towards meals and other costs.

Cruise ship returns home with more than 600 sick passengers

By Tom Stieghorst

Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas returned to its home port in Bayonne, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon following a widespread outbreak of gastrointestinal illness on the 3,000-passenger ship.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that 629 passengers, more than 20% of the passengers onboard, were affected by the illness over the course of the cruise. Also, 54 crew members were reported ill.

The last time a cruise ship had as many sick people was in 2006, when 536 passengers and 143 crew members from the Carnival Liberty were reported ill, according to CDC records.

Royal Caribbean shortened the 10-day cruise to eight days to allow for extra sanitation measures before the next cruise on Friday.

"Guests scheduled for the next cruise on Explorer of the Seas can be confident that all possible measures will have been taken to prevent further problems,” a Royal Caribbean statement said.

Royal Caribbean said it plans a thorough sanitizing of the entire ship.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said they won't know if it was a outbreak until later this week.

Passengers on the stricken cruise will receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare and a 50% future cruise credit.

Guests who had to be confined to staterooms will be credited with one future cruise day for each day of confinement.

Royal Caribbean said it will also reimburse airline change fees and hotel accommodations for guests whose travel home was inconvenienced by the change of travel plans.

Illness outbreak affecting 300 passengers on Explorer of the Seas

By Phil Davies

Ten per cent of passengers on a Royal Caribbean International ship in the Caribbean are reported to have fallen ill with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea.

US health officials boarded 3,505-passenger Explorer of the Seas in the US Virgin Islands yesterday to investigate the outbreak of gastrointestinal illness affecting at least 300 people. Twenty-two crew members also reported feeling ill.

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said 281 of the 3,050 passengers on board the ship had reported getting sick during a Caribbean cruise that left Cape Liberty, New Jersey, last Tuesday.

The ship underwent "extensive and thorough sanitising" to help prevent more people getting sick during a previous call in Puerto Rico, a company spokeswoman said.

The vessel bypassed a scheduled stop at the company's beach destination in northern Haiti to sail directly to San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital.

"This was a difficult decision to make; however, we feel it is best to make this itinerary modification to help prevent any more guests from becoming ill," the spokeswoman told The Guardian.

She added that special cleaning products and disinfectants that are proven to kill norovirus were being used to clean the ship.

The passengers and crew who fell ill have "responded well to over-the-counter medication being administered on board the ship," she said.

At least two CDC officials, an epidemiologist and an environmental health officer, were expected to investigate and evaluate the response to the outbreak on the cruise liner.

Cruise incidents haven't put customers off, research shows

Recent issues in the cruising industry haven't put customers off, as new research shows there are significant opportunities for travel agents to capitalise on cruise holidays.

Research by Amadeus revealed the media coverage of negative issues with cruises has had little impact on perceptions of cruises.

More than 40% of those polled said the coverage of incidents such as Costa Concordia and sporadic outbreaks of norovirus had not put them off cruising. A further 8% weren't aware of any media coverage of issues on cruise holidays.

Of the 2,000 UK adults surveyed, 8% said they may book a cruise holiday in the next 12 months.

The Caribbean was the dream destination for most when asked where they would most like to go on a cruise holiday from a set list. More than a fifth of people (21%) opted for the Caribbean, 15% said the South Pacific and Australia and 11% said the Mediterranean was their choice. A third of people asked said waking up in a new place almost every day attracting them to cruises

In addition, 32% of those polled said they would be tempted to go on a cruise holiday if they were of lower or comparable cost to an all-inclusive holiday. Four in ten people said they perceive cruises as too expensive and additional costs such as drinks and tipping were of concern to some.

Rob Sinclair-Barnes, director of marketing for Amadeus UK and Ireland, said: “These findings should make for very pleasing reading for the UK’s travel agents and cruise providers, as they show there are enormous opportunities to sell cruises in 2013 and beyond.

“However, there are still plenty of opportunities for cruise providers and sellers to communicate the various offerings more effectively: there’s still a perception that cruise holidays are for the older traveller, and that they’re expensive – despite sustained efforts by the industry to broaden its appeal to a younger clientele, where value for money is a key criteria." 

By Tom Stieghorst

Outbreak of stomach illness reported on Queen Mary 2

Two environmental health officers and an epidemiologist from the federal Vessel Sanitation Program are expected to board the Queen Mary 2 when it docks in Brooklyn on Jan. 3 to assess an outbreak of illness on the ship.

About 7.5% of the passengers have been affected by an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, according to reports to the VSP. The ship is on a 12-night Caribbean Fiesta holiday cruise that began Dec. 22.

No cause has been assigned to the outbreak. Norovirus is often to blame for gastrointestinal outbreaks on land and sea during the winter months.

Cunard Line will conduct staged disembarkation of active cases to minimize the chance of transmission to healthy passengers, according to the VSP website.

Embarkation for the next cruise to Southampton, England, will be delayed to provide extra time for disinfection and cleaning.