Washing Hands Prevents Illness

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October 15, Global Handwashing Day

The 2020 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Hand Hygiene for All.”  

Global Handwashing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Source:  Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing
 

Cruise Ships & Norovirus

In past years, cruise industry headlines centered around ships delayed due to the need to have a deep clean following an up tick in the gastrointestinal illness, known as Norovirus.  Perhaps news stories like that have prevented you from enjoying a cruise vacation.

Coronavirus Brought Attention to Handwashing 

Symphony of the Seas

This year’s theme follows the recent global initiative calling on all of society to scale up hand hygiene, especially through handwashing with soap. This year’s theme reminds us that we must work toward universal access and practice of handwashing with soap for now and for a healthy future.

Keeping cruise ships clean and sanitary has always been a top priority for Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) members. While this longstanding cruise line practice may sound minor, COVID-19 has reaffirmed the critical importance of hand hygiene to protecting public health. 

Who is to Blame When Norovirus Hits?

The first inclination when you hear about an outbreak would be to blame the cruise line. Clearly, they have let you down - you expected a healthy cruise, and you got sick.   In fact there's a group of passengers that were on sister cruise line's Independence of the Seas that are suing Royal Caribbean International for £500,000 after contracting norovirus while onboard the ship.

The cruise line is responsible - right?

The cruise line IS responsible  for cleaning the ship and providing the facilities for passengers and crew to maintain proper hygiene onboard the ship.   They do that - you'll notice signs posted in all the rest rooms and crew members pointing out sanitation machines and washing stations, such as the one in the picture above posted outside the restaurant entrance.  

Keeping Cruise Ships Clean and Sanitary (Read More)

But, ladies and gentleman - I suspect that YOU are to BLAME.   Did you stop to wash your hands after using the bathroom?   Did you sanitize your hands every time you entered a restaurant onboard the ship.   Did you do so all but one time?   That one time would be enough to kick off this sort of outbreak.

During recent cruises on Disney Dream and Carnival Sensation, we noticed the sanitizing materials and signs.  Sadly, we also noticed many passengers disregarding the signs and avoiding the sanitizing of their hands before entering the restaurant.

Working together, the cruise lines and passengers could Prevent Norovirus and other illness.

USEFUL LINKS ABOUT NOROVIRUS

Facts About Noroviruses on Cruise Ships  -  gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses can be prevented

Wash hands often. Wash hands after using the bathroom or changing diapers and before eating or preparing food.  Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer along with hand washing.

Norovirus outbreaks, when they occur on a cruise ship, always make the news.  The truth is these outbreaks can occur anywhere there are groups of people in a small area such as nursing homes, restaurants, catered events, hotels, and cruise ships.

Vessel Sanitation Program - prevention and control of spread of gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses on cruise ships  

 

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Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now. We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.

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Wash Your Hands Tis the Season

October 15, Global Handwashing Day

The 2019 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Clean Hands for All”  

Global Handwashing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Source:  Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing
 

Cruise Ships & Norovirus ...Tis the Season

You've heard the stories in the news about cruise ships delayed due to the need to have a deep clean following an up tick in the gastrointestinal illness, known as Norovirus.  Perhaps news stories like that are preventing you from enjoying a cruise vacation.

Who is to Blame When Norovirus Hits?

The first inclination when you hear about an outbreak would be to blame the cruise line. Clearly, they have let you down - you expected a healthy cruise, and you got sick.   In fact there's a group of passengers that were on sister cruise line's Independence of the Seas that are suing Royal Caribbean International for £500,000 after contracting norovirus while onboard the ship.

The cruise line is responsible - right?

The cruise line IS responsible  for cleaning the ship and providing the facilities for passengers and crew to maintain proper hygiene onboard the ship.   They do that - you'll notice signs posted in all the rest rooms and crew members pointing out sanitation machines, such as the one in the picture above posted outside the restaurant entrance.  

But, ladies and gentleman - I suspect that YOU are to BLAME.   Did you stop to wash your hands after using the bathroom?   Did you sanitize your hands every time you entered a restaurant onboard the ship.   Did you do so all but one time?   That one time would be enough to kick off this sort of outbreak.

During recent cruises on Disney Dream and Carnival Sensation, we noticed the sanitizing materials and signs.  Sadly, we also noticed many passengers disregarding the signs and avoiding the sanitizing of their hands before entering the restaurant.

Working together, the cruise lines and passengers could Prevent Norovirus!

USEFUL LINKS ABOUT NOROVIRUS

Facts About Noroviruses on Cruise Ships  -  gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses can be prevented

Wash hands often. Wash hands after using the bathroom or changing diapers and before eating or preparing food.  Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer along with hand washing.

Norovirus outbreaks, when they occur on a cruise ship, always make the news.  The truth is these outbreaks can occur anywhere there are groups of people in a small area such as nursing homes, restaurants, catered events, hotels, and cruise ships.

Vessel Sanitation Program - prevention and control of spread of gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses on cruise ships  

 

National Plan A Cruise Month Promotions 

Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now. We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.

Choose Cruise Month (click for mini-series)

Follow Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat 

Wash Your Hands Tis the Season

October 15, Global Handwashing Day

The 2016 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Make Handwashing a Habit!”  

Global Handwashing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

Source:  Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing
 

Cruise Ships & Norovirus ...Tis the Season

You've heard the stories in the news about cruise ships delayed due to the need to have a deep clean following an up tick in the gastrointestinal illness, known as Norovirus.  Perhaps news stories like that are preventing you from enjoying a cruise vacation.

Who is to Blame When Norovirus Hits?

The first inclination when you hear about an outbreak would be to blame the cruise line. Clearly, they have let you down - you expected a healthy cruise, and you got sick.   In fact there's a group of passengers that were on sister cruise line's Independence of the Seas that are suing Royal Caribbean International for £500,000 after contracting norovirus while onboard the ship.

The cruise line is responsible - right?

The cruise line IS responsible  for cleaning the ship and providing the facilities for passengers and crew to maintain proper hygiene onboard the ship.   They do that - you'll notice signs posted in all the rest rooms and crew members pointing out sanitation machines, such as the one in the picture above posted outside the restaurant entrance.  

But, ladies and gentleman - I suspect that YOU are to BLAME.   Did you stop to wash your hands after using the bathroom?   Did you sanitize your hands every time you entered a restaurant onboard the ship.   Did you do so all but one time?   That one time would be enough to kick off this sort of outbreak.

During recent cruises on Disney Dream and Carnival Sensation, we noticed the sanitizing materials and signs.  Sadly, we also noticed many passengers disregarding the signs and avoiding the sanitizing of their hands before entering the restaurant.

Working together, the cruise lines and passengers could Prevent Norovirus!

USEFUL LINKS ABOUT NOROVIRUS

Facts About Noroviruses on Cruise Ships  -  gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses can be prevented

Wash hands often. Wash hands after using the bathroom or changing diapers and before eating or preparing food.  Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer along with hand washing.

Norovirus outbreaks, when they occur on a cruise ship, always make the news.  The truth is these outbreaks can occur anywhere there are groups of people in a small area such as nursing homes, restaurants, catered events, hotels, and cruise ships.

Vessel Sanitation Program - prevention and control of spread of gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses on cruise ships  

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc for more ideas.  Sign up for our eNewsletter to get updates.

#CruiseSmile #Sweepstakes – A Cruise-A-Day Giveaway (click here)

National Plan A Cruise Month Promotions 

Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now.

We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.  Click here to see current offers.

Costa Allegra Arrives in Seychelles

(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Crippled Ship Arrives in
Port Victoria, Mahé

Images are emerging from Seychelles where the disabled Costa Allegra safely reached port under tow early Thursday morning local time.  By midday, passengers were disembarked and on their way to continue an alternate vacation or back home.

More Photos of Costa Allegra Arrival

Since 10:30 CET Monday, February 27th, the passengers and crew of Costa Allegra were without electricity and the comforts of a usual cruise ship in the wake of a fire that broke out in the generator room.

A French fishing vessel,Trevignon, was the first ship to arrive on the scene and provide assistance to the Costa Allegra. Two other tug boats arrived later to provide assistance, but the captain of the fishing vessel refused to accept the assistance, perhaps delaying the arrival into port. We suspect they were looking for compensation for their assistance and didn't want to split that with anyone else.

Costa Announces Compensation Plan

The number of Guests who have decided to accept Costa Crociere’s offer to continue their holidays in the Seychelles has risen to about 70%, out of a total of 627. These Guests have already been taken to the hotels where there will spend 1 or 2 weeks holiday at the company’s expense on the islands of Praslin, La Digue, Silhouette and Cerfs. Costa Crociere will also organize their return flights home after the holiday.

The remaining 30% of Guests who have decided to return home have been accommodated in hotels on the island. They will leave in the evening on flights organized by Costa Crociere from Seychelles International airport to Paris, to Milan via Rome, and to Zurich via Vienna. The flights are scheduled to arrive on the morning of March 2nd.


The Company, sincerely sorry for the discomfort caused to Guests but happy to have found them in good health, has offered them a compensation package including:

● a full refund of the fare paid for the cruise and associated travel expenses;
● a full refund of on board expenses incurred during the cruise;
● indemnity equivalent to the amount of the fare paid for the cruise and associated travel costs;
● for Guests who have decided not to continue their holday in the Seychelles at the Company’s expense, a voucher for the same value as the unfinished Costa Allegra cruise, for travel free of charge on any Costa ship departing in the coming 24 months.

	Guests aboard Costa Allegra arrived to Seychelles Islands	627
	Guests returned Home (3 flights)	147
	Guests hosted in Seychelles Islands Hotel	480

Costa Thanks Those Involved

Costa Crociere would like to express its gratitude to the master of Costa Allegra Nicolò Alba and all members of the crew, to the Guests of Costa Allegra, to the master and crew of the French deep sea fishing boat Trevignon, to the other naval and air units involved in the rescue operations of the Costa Allegra, to the Italian Harbour Office General Command, to the local authorities of the Seychelles and Reunion, to the Italian Consulate and Embassy, and to international diplomatic representatives.

Happy Ending?

Clearly this story has a much happier ending than that of her sister ship, Costa Concordia, that ran aground off the Italian cost of Giglio.   That accident had 25 confirmed deaths with several people still unaccounted for.  Both situations could have been much worse.

Passengers and crew of both ships found themselves unexpectedly in the midst of a crisis.  There will be much press around the performance of the crew in both situations.  On the surface, it appears that this second incident was closer to textbook preparation for something like this.  I think it's human nature to feel confident and prepared for the unexpected, but until you are in the midst of an emergency, you really don't know how you or anyone around you will respond to the crisis at hand.

We are happy that there was no serious injury or loss of life connected with this fire and have to commend the passengers and crew for their response to this crisis.

Costa Cruises will now begin the process of investigating the fire and determining the extent of the damages to the ship.   They have made no formal statements about future cruises on Costa Allegra at this time.  We will provide updates on this story as information is released.

Where's My Ship Right Now

Have you ever wondered if there's a way to find out where a ship is located? There are many times when you might be curious about the location of a cruise ship or other vessel.  The most practical situation that comes to mind is when hearing about inclement weather or some other natural disaster.   Are there any ships in danger?


How vessel positions are recorded

The system is based on AIS (Automatic Identification System). Since December 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits their position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details.

The chart above is a live interactive map generated by MarineTraffic.com,  an academic, open, community-based project. It is dedicated to collecting and presenting data which are exploited in research areas such as simulation of vessel movements in order to contribute to the safety of navigation and to cope with critical incidents.

More about AIS

AIS is initially intended to help ships avoid collisions, as well as assisting port authorities to better control sea traffic. AIS transponders on board vessels include a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, which collects position and movement details. It includes also a VHF transmitter, which transmits periodically this information on two VHF channels (frequencies 161.975 MHz and 162.025 MHz – old VHF channels 87 & 88) and make this data available to the public domain. Other vessels or base stations are able to receive this information, process it using special software and display vessels locations on a chart plotter or on a computer.

 Some Ship Tracking Resources

 

 Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions

 Cruise ships and ocean liners

  FleetMon - the first public Ship Wiki, your tool for live ...

  Shiptracking.eu - Real time ship traffic

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Senate Passes Cruise Ship Safety Legislation

Legislation to Enhance Cruise Ship Safety

As discussed in previous blog post  Keeping Cruise Ship Passengers Safe, there are several safety measures in place today which were implemented by the cruise industry.   Legislators have been reviewing the existing measures and believe there is room for improvement.

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed legislation by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) to increase security, law enforcement, and accountability on cruise ships in international waters.

Sen. Kerry is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which unanimously approved the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act in July 2009.  Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) is the sponsor of companion legislation, H.R. 3360, which has already been passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act will:

• improve ship safety by requiring forty-two inch guard rails, peep holes in every passenger and crew member’s door, on-deck video surveillance, and an emergency sound system;

• provide transparency in reporting by establishing a structure between the cruise industry, the FBI, and the Coast Guard, including requirements that each ship maintain a log book, which would record all deaths, missing individuals, alleged crimes, and passenger/crewmember complaints regarding theft, sexual harassment, and assault;

• improve crime scene response by requiring rape kits, anti-retroviral medications, and a trained forensic sexual assault specialist be aboard each ship; and

• establish a program designed by the Secretary of Transportation in consultation with the FBI to train appropriate crew members in crime prevention, detection, evidence preservation, and reporting of criminal activities in the international maritime environment. 

Senator Kerry commented on the legislation:

“The term ‘duty free’ does not apply to the safety of passengers." He continued “Murky lines of jurisdiction are no longer an excuse for risking the safety of millions of Americans who will board cruise ships this year. I applaud my colleagues for helping to ensure that security, safety, and accountability be strengthened to hold criminals accountable and end the cycle of serious crimes on these vessels.”

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) supports the legislation

“This legislation brings greater consistency and clarification to many industry practices and existing regulations, including a longstanding federal requirement to report to the FBI allegations of serious crimes occurring in U.S. waters or involving a U.S. national anywhere in the world. The legislation also establishes additional safety provisions,” CLIA said. 

“The safety and security of our guests and crew is CLIA's number one priority. The cruise industry has reported allegations of serious crimes to federal law enforcement agencies for many years and looks forward to continuing our longstanding work with the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, and law enforcement both here and elsewhere around the world. The cruise industry has comprehensive policies and procedures that ensure guests are safe and secure while enjoying a cruise vacation. In fact, serious crime on cruise ships is rare, with millions of guests each year enjoying a safe cruise vacation.”

For more information, visit www.cruising.org or www.cruiseIndustryfacts.com.