Norwegian Gem Turned Away from St Maarten

The Norwegian Gem was due to dock in St Maarten this morning, 3/18. We have a few friends on board the ship and they told us 68 passengers were sick with GI issues after the stop in San Juan. Numerous announcements were being given to wash and sanitize your hands frequently. The Gem was originally held off shore while health officials from St Maarten held discussions with the crew. After a couple of hours of discussion, the Norwegian Gem was denied entry to St Maarten and the ship has since departed to Tortola.

what with the Sonesta thing going on i can see them wanting to be extra cautious! Sorry youre friends are caught up in it!

Wow, sorry your friends got caught up in this situation and did not get to SXM as a result! I hope they do not get sick. I wonder whether they will be able to dock in Tortola or not..

somebody is going to need to let them dock at least for fuel and supplies

I was just reading on Cruise Critic, that NCL seems to think that people got some bad water in San Juan, and that it's not noro, but I have no idea if they can test to determine what the exact cause is.

The next question is "Will Tortola health officials let them dock?"

SXM??? Wendell

that is a very interesting excuse! never heard that one before!

Wow, that was very wise of Sint Maarten to turn the ship away. We saw the ship sitting offshore and thought it strange. Now we know why.

We were on the Riviera on Feb 17th when it docked in St Maarten. There was Noro on the ship at that time. We got off the ship first thing. Shortly after getting off, disembarkation was suspended for several hours but was allowed to continue.

What Sonesta thing?

Sonesta has been having some serious Noro issues in the past couple of months.

It's not just at the Sonesta....its all over Maho, and most of the island. unfortunately, after two days of being miserable, finally am feeling like myself. It is a stomach bug, that just zaps all the strength, and stuff right out of your system. Was not fun....but fortunately it really lasted only a day and a half. Some pepcid tablets, which i always have, and some extra strength tylenol seemed to have done the trick.

I am sorry that you were sick, but glad you are feeling better. It may well be all over Maho, but I really don't think it's a problem over the whole island. Noro seems to be limited to very specific areas that have problems. Recently I have not seen any reports other than in the Maho area.

10 years ago or so, before the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises went belly up, We started a cruise in SXM. We departed Monday evening for Tortolla. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling bad and ended up being the sickest I had ever been, from about 6:00 AM till about noon, then I was fine. About a third of the passengers and crew ended up being sick, including the captain. They traced it back to a virus in SXM - they said every hospital bed on the island was full.

Meant to say Ed, you are correct. Whatever name they give it, it is not fun.

Carol.....i hate to disagree with you. According to people that i have chatted with on Orient the other day....the largest seems to be Maho area, but it has spread down into other areas.......loads of people are getting this bug......the druggists are having a field day. Also heard lots of people in Simpson Bay are also coming down with it. Funny thing, we brought purex along, and i personally have never washed my hands as often as i did last week....but to no avail. C'est la Vie. Glad I have a bit more than two weeks left to enjoy our second home. Oh...BTW.....they aren't using the words Noro.....just a stomach bug....so who knows if it's really Noro or not.....

Hate to do this, but after reading this thread I felt I needed to do this... On two separate occasions last week, when we were on the island, someone in our party witnessed employees leaving the men's stalls in the restroom w/o washing their hands. Once at a casino and once at a restaurant. We had gone into have a cocktail before dinner at the restaurant and after seeing this we walked out. I did mention to the maitre d , on our way out, our experience and he immediately wanted names and would have fired the individual on the spot, my role in this was not to see somebody lose a job but I was just providing feedback for him. They no doubt need to do a better job of educating their workers, ala sonesta.......

They were allowed to dock in Tortola this morning.

We've been on island one week now. Spent time in Maho at beginning of last week but didn't eat or drink anywhere there. So far we are not ill, nor have we run into anyone ill or saying they've been ill. Spent Friday morning at Le Zafir, ate there, walked the beach spoke to a couple staying at Beachside Villas she said she hasn't heard of any sickness.

I mention this because I'm the one who always catches whats going around. On the plane I wiped down the armrests, seatbelt, tray table with clorox wipes, having heard about Sonesta on this site. At grocery store bought spray Lysol and sprayed everything when we entered condo.

The thing is, just because you're staying in one area, doesn't mean that's where you picked up the bug. It could be anywhere. When I was on island at Regatta, I did eat at Fig, but until this situation dies down some, I don't think I personally would go anywhere near any restaurant in Maho.

You are correct, Carol, in that the bug might be picked up anywhere, but since Ed is the third person I've personally known or known of staying in the Royal Islander/LaTerrasse/Sonesta area who has possibly experienced it over the past two to three weeks, much as I hate to say it, I think it might pay to be doubly cautious about this area of the island in particular right now. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

That's kind of what I meant to say, but didn't say it correctly. Ed said that the illness is all over the island. What I was trying to say, badly, is that people staying in other areas of the island might have eaten somewhere in Maho and gotten the bug in Maho. So, the fact that someone was staying at Orient and got sick might mean that they got sick at Orient, or it MIGHT mean that they went somewhere in Maho and got sick.

Yes, I agree. I'm not even going to shop at the grocery store there in Maho.
Both my husband and I had it in SXM, maybe 2 years ago, and it is a mean virus! I already have a stomach condition, so I'm very nervous.
Hope things are improving there.

I've heard of unconfirmed reports of issues at Westin at Dawn Beach going back to December, so i don't think this issue is confined to Maho. Precautions should be taken anywhere.

There is a story on the Gem's issue on Friday at http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin...lic-health.html

We are finishing our second week of a 3 week stay at Royal Islander. We have not been sick, nor have friends of ours here for 6 weeks, although another acquaintance of theirs was sick for 2 days. We are careful about hand washing and othe safety procedures. The resort is busy with lots of people around the pool, all seemingly healthy. However, a resort employee did warn us that a "virus" was going around and to be careful.

HOLY CRAP! You guys just added up everything for us here.

We were at La Terasse in January and left a day prior to Storm Jonas, trying to beat the storm home to NY.

While on the AA flight, someone was sick in the rear of the plane. Upon landing in MIAMI(NY connection was cancelled), my daughter woke up w/ a 24 hr bug, became a VOMINATRIX.

Within 24 hrs of her getting sick, my son and I got it. Then the family we were staying with in MIA all got hit later that week.

Now it all adds up. Likely Norovirus spread on the plane from a Sonesta visitor.


WILD.

Here is a prior discussion.

I always thought food poisoning was like a bomb going off in your body......that is until I got Noro (which is like a wmd). Luckily both of these horrific illnesses only last a day or two. My heart goes out to people who catch it on their vacation. Many people only make large trips every 10 years or so when they save money or for special occasions in life.....such a shame to build up a vacation in your mind and then be absolutely miserable.

Having had both actual food poisoning and Campylobacter (Google the term if interested), it is not something I would wish on anyone. Campylobacter can last from 2-10 days, trust me, I know.

Just read the other link, ruralcarrier. I think it was noro.

It was nuts w our daughter. She fell soundly asleep. When we got in bed next to her, she casually got up and without warning, she became Linda Blair. All through the night.


We never ventured to Sonesta, but that sick kid on our AA flight doomed us.

...without the head spinning I hope.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Hangover.gif" alt="" />