But I'm sure Simon has this covered with his experience 
I hope so because back in 2010 he wrote this:
Boudicca has had problems with Noro Virus lately and this mass clean might be something to do with that. If so, I would urge everyone involved to make sure that they wash all of their clothing and scrub themselves down very thoroughly indeed. And wash down all equipment used on the ship before taking into another customers house. Theoretically you should not work in another public place, including customers homes etc for at least 48 hours afterwards. Norovirus is a very virulent and particularly unpleasant illness.
And Glynn wrote this:
I hope you exhausted every portable's vacuum outlet to outside atmosphere !, otherwise youv'e just made all the germs airborne again.
This is where Truckmounts win over because they vent to fresh outside air. Same with decontaminating hospitals after an outbreak, you must not exhaust spent germ ridden air back into the building.
Like Simon says theres more to these jobs than you think and a particular way of operating.
The rest is on this thread from 2010 if anyone is interested
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=90314.120
Neil,
The problem with that job was there was an unusually high re-infection rate from one cruise to another and that was down to how the initial outbreak was dealt with, which I assure you is way more in depth than just cleaning the carpets. I can't go into details but certain parts of the procedures were lacking in their depth and scope and hence the problem. To suggest, as you seem to be, that I was intimating that the mass clean up was the problem is misleading and out of context.
What most people don't realise is that when a passenger becomes ill a very wide ranging and thorough procedure is instigated by the ships staff. (watch Mighty Ships, Queen Mary 2 to see this in action) Their focus, as is ours in the small part we play in the overal scheme of things is to safeguard the health and well-being of every passenger, many of whom are on a trip of a lifetime, for which they have saved for years. By the time a ship returns to its home port the situation has already been dealt with and contained, as best these things can, even so, yet another cleaning and santising operation begins, which at this stage is more precautionary than a fight to manage an out of control situation that has raged out of control for the duration of the cruise.
Like you say, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.
Simon
