Cruise ship

[jimmys]

I wont say modern cruise ship, as the ex Alexander Pushkin an old Russian job of 1966 vintage is tied up in Invergordon, its now called the Marco Polo by the way. There are numbers on board with the "galloping heebbee jeebies" sometimes called the Norovirus.
This ship was refitted in the early 1990's for cruising.
There are local medical teams on board and some passengers have been taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. There is no chance of the locals contracting this disease, due to the amounts of whisky they drink they are all permanently pickled.
Keep an eye on these cases it could finish the cruise industry. I was on her as a Surveyor a few years ago I think Filipino crew but I am not sure what now.

regards
jimmy

[jimmys]

We now see another of our wonderful cruise ships chugging around the coasts of Scotland with the Norovirus aboard. This time the Fred Olsen job the Balmoral.
She was originally the Crown Odyssey of 1988 vintage and was refitted in 2008 for Fred Olsen.
She was in Invergordon Last night and is now on her way to Portree in Skye. She is supposed to arrive at 1100hrs today.
Again I would not say a modern cruise ship as she is twenty one years old.

I have never been on this one.

regards
jimmy

[jimmys]

I see our magnificent Fred Olsen job the Balmoral has been performing again. She left Dover on 21 st Dec for a bit of a chug around the Canary Islands with 1350 passengers and it returns today with 250 passengers contracted with the Norovirus. Another cruise from hell.

On their other magnificent vessel the Boudicca a total of 519 passengers have fallen ill during the last three cruises. I understand she is having three days of intensive cleaning in Pompey.

It will finish the industry!!! not healthy.

regards
jimmy

[Captain Kong]

Sometimes the Novo virus, which covers many other infections , are` not always` contracted on board the cruise ship.
Passengers go ashore for the day and eat in the most unhygenic cafes in some of these foreign ports, get the infection, go back on board and then the following day at sea start to vomit and get the wild s*it*s [cant spell diarear ].
They then blame the ship.

[jimmys]

It may be that the Norovirus is contracted ashore. When the diarrhoea starts he is right to the first bog he sees on board and he is perched on it, often spewing in the wash basin and faeces at the same time. Sometimes called double jeopardy.
In days gone by the sanitary discharges led directly over the wall through storm valves and there was very local contamination. Nowadays it is into large common systems for treatment.
In order to assist with the breakup of sewage the old sanilav is now a no-no and jeyes fluid just banned. There was a time I used to look at these systems but I stopped it was dangerous.
In a vessel I was on the storekeeper called me out, a fireman had filled in the deck boy, you are the medical officer come down and sort it out. I said to the fireman what did you fill him in for. Says he, he put sanilav down the bog. Says me, that's what he is supposed to do with it. Says he, I was pissed and when i sat on the bog the end of my willie dipped in the sanilav, by the time I realised it my willie was burned.. Says me, let me see it, it was like a mushroom. Its no wonder you filled him in.
There was strong reasons for these types of cleaners and disinfectants which have been forgotten. It was not for burning the end of willies!!!

regards
jimmy

[Captain Kong]

Chuckle.

Cheers Jimmy.

[happy daze john in oz]

Very true about bloods brining problems on board. Had one here in Oz last year that had swine flu, not allowed into port for a few days. But in some places the ships visit you have to question the hygine ashore, it is worse than third world in some ports. Not sure what it is like up north now but some of the South sea islands really do make you ask the question, is it worth going ashore.

[jimmys]

Just a bit for the members about the air conditioning on these ships.
In order for air conditioning to work well we have a degree of recirculation of air, that is not all the air that is discharged into the cabins and spaces is taken from outside. Some of it is usually taken from the alleyways. Through this system we can have say 70% outside air and 30% recirculated.
If we have airborne infection in the cabin, the natural flow of the air is from the cabin through the vents into the alleyway and the infection circulates the vessel.
If we do not have this recirculation we need to vent the alleyways with extraction fans. The toilets are usually vented with extraction fans. With these fans the infection is drawn all over the vessel.

Similar things happen in aeroplanes.

Difficult to stop especially in older vessels as these vents can hold infection for years.

regards
jimmy

[robpage]

As it was UK to canaries I wonder where they all went ashore to a dodgy cafe ? I understand the catering crew are mainly Philipine seamen , my question would be are they trained to the same standards that the old British Crews were trained to . I don't ever remember an outbreak of these bugs on the old cruise liners that were UK crews and registry . I have noticed that some buffets in Hotels seem to linger for hours and things return the next day . I dont think the A/C helps , but dont hold that these are infections caught ashore . If that were the case why would Fred Olsen order a deep clean . I have worked in the food processing Industry for the twenty years after leaving the sea , and believe that many of the Far East catering crews do not have the basics .

[Captain Kong]

Both of these reasons apply I would think. Asiatic seafarers and also some of the Eastern European catering staff without the correct training and supervision with their lack of hygenic working practice, could be a cause as well as the dodgy eating houses in some of these foreign ports. In the Boudica`s case I believe there was a case of Novo virus going around the Island of Madeira when she called, many locals and tourists falling victim to it.
When I sailed around South America, to L.A. on Queen Mary 2 It was noticed that a party of around thirty people went on a trip into the Jungles of Panama, The following day all thirty went down with the sickness and diarrhoea. At first they all thought it was the ship at fault until they realised that the only victims were from this particular party.so in that case it would be assumed it was the eating ashore that did it. Unfortunately in the News the ship would get the blame.