Another cruise ship nightmare

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Tom

Tom

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I'm continually worried about the possibility of a virus spread aboard cruise ships that affect numerous passengers. The latest problem affects 330 passengers aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/12/16/norovirus-was-an-unwelcome-stowaway-on-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-sickening-332/?utm_term=.c8e2a54c9d9b

I've been on many cruises, as have others, and the norovirus threat is an ever present risk on any cruise.  Anyone who's been on a cruise ship can attest to the the eating "manners" of passengers in the buffet areas that are woefully negligent in how they approach the buffet bar and handle food. I've seen people pick up food items, place them on their plate then change their mind and put it right back with the other food.  Luckily, I've never been sick while cruising, but I also have almost 40 years experience in the healthcare servicing sector, so I'm well "educated" in bio-safety.
Pack a few thousand people in close quarters and people will share their bugs I guarantee.
So, be cautious, be informed and most of all, watch out for the idiots !
 
We took a Disney cruise 3 years ago, and there were staff at the entrances of each restaurant passing out anti-germ hand wipes.  No one was allowed in without wiping their hands first.  They were very strict about this.
 
SargeW said:
Where was it's port of call?
Click to expand...

Fort Lauderdale FL
My DW sister and her husband were on that cruise. They knew about some people getting sick but no one in their area got sick. The ship came back to port yesterday morning and no one was allowed on the ship till they did a complete wash-down.  I was looking at a WebCam last night of the harbor in Ft Lauderdale. A ship was leaving around 7:30 PM and we read the name one the side of the ship. I called my BIL when I heard the news tonight on TV and he said the name of his ship was Independence, the same ship we saw departing last night .
 
One reason I have no real desire to go on a cruise.  The other being,if I don't like the surroundings,I'm stuck there.
 
chindog said:
We took a Disney cruise 3 years ago, and there were staff at the entrances of each restaurant passing out anti-germ hand wipes.  No one was allowed in without wiping their hands first.  They were very strict about this.
Click to expand...
Same thing on a Celebrity Cruise to Alaska. Had a great time!
 
Hello Tom,

I was never a fan of cruises in the first place (for many of the reasons others have pointed to here -- too many people in too little space, etc) and now with those epidemia concerns, I like the idea even less...

Thanks for the info.

Cheers,
--
  Vall.
 
In 1980 I took a one week diving vacation to Bonaire down in the Caribbean. On the flight home the plane made a stop at Aruba another small island off the coast of Venezuela. I had about a half an hour to kill so I walked around the terminal and made the mistake of taking a drink of water from a drinking fountain. After I was in the air for another half an hour I got sick to my stomach. I was sick all the way home to California. That is the main reason I have been drinking bottled water ever since. The whole point of this rant is because there is no way to guarantee your health and safety every single place you go.
 
It took my other half 20 years to convince me to take a cruise. The only reason I agreed one time was because we were invited by two other couples, good friends, and one of the couples was celebrating their wedding anniversary. We had a great time, but every time I hear of a cruise ship returning to port with hundreds of sick passengers, I'm reminded not to take another cruise.
 
Several years ago we and several other couples were south of the border aboard our boats. We had dinner one evening at a nice hotel, and were served water in glasses. Being concerned this might be contaminated water from a kitchen faucet, one couple asked if they could have bottled water, and the waiter obliged. We teased the couple that the waiter filled the bottles with contaminated water from a kitchen faucet  ;D
 
It's not just cruise ships, any place many folks gather can be a problem.. Many here enjoy a good dinner in towns they visit and the danger is there as well.  I spent a night in the emergency room from eating norovirus at the best place in a northern PA town.

Went to a recommended lobster house in Maine and got food poisoning.
 
chindog said:
We took a Disney cruise 3 years ago, and there were staff at the entrances of each restaurant passing out anti-germ hand wipes.  No one was allowed in without wiping their hands first.  They were very strict about this.
Click to expand...

It has been a few years ago now since our last cruise but this practice has been carried out on Norwegian Cruises for some time using a spray type of cleanser. Sort of forced you to use it a bit better than wipes.
 
A number of Disney cruises have reportedly returned to port with several hundred sick passengers. Something isn't working.
 
chindog said:
We took a Disney cruise 3 years ago, and there were staff at the entrances of each restaurant passing out anti-germ hand wipes.  No one was allowed in without wiping their hands first.  They were very strict about this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, wasn't there some bird flu or similar thing going on back in those days?  I think a lot of places stepped up with hand sanitizer stations and the like back then.

2 or 3 years ago we went on a cruise and they had santizer stations set up everywhere.... and I recall at meal times they even had people standing at the entrances with bottles giving anyone a squirt that "wanted it"

The problem though as I understand it, these alcohol based solutions are pretty good against bacteria but not so much against viruses....

and then on top of that

you have the folks that will sanitize their hands on their way in..... then touch their eyes or their nose....then without thinking pick up that buffet spatula to get another slice of cake without thinking twice about it....
  or they'll eat finger food hand to mouth, then go straight away back to the buffet and pick up that same spatula to get that third slice!

this is why I really avoid buffet dining
 
We've been on three cruises over the last  years.  I proud to say we've never been on one where illness was a problem.  However, the older we get, the less enjoyment we get out of going through the hassle of embarking, disembarking, airports, transfers and such.  We'd rather just head off somewhere and spend the money on fuel, RV parks, and restaurants at our own pace.  We both grew up on Farms and love driving through the countryside just to see what's happening.
 
SeilerBird said:
In 1980 I took a one week diving vacation to Bonaire down in the Caribbean. On the flight home the plane made a stop at Aruba another small island off the coast of Venezuela. I had about a half an hour to kill so I walked around the terminal and made the mistake of taking a drink of water from a drinking fountain. After I was in the air for another half an hour I got sick to my stomach. I was sick all the way home to California. That is the main reason I have been drinking bottled water ever since. The whole point of this rant is because there is no way to guarantee your health and safety every single place you go.
Click to expand...

That's very odd. Aruba has no ground water sources, and all potable water is supplied via the desalination plant. The water has absolutely no flavor.
 
I took a cruise once - back in 1979. It lasted seven months. At one point we didn't even see land for 104 consecutive days. Our entertainment was machine-gunning trash bags from our helicopter, after the ship's crew had thrown them over the side of the ship. The trash bags were filled with old food and the like, because Russian sailors were always shadowing us, and they'd pick the bags up and scour through them for intelligence.

There were several ships and subs in our task force, and hundreds of sailors and airmen on our ship alone - sailing for weeks and months at a time, yet none of us ever got sick like those who always seem to on cruise ships.

Kev
 
Kevin, as an old Air Force hand, and former Navy brat, I'm here tell you it was because the Navy got all the best cooks.
Only AF base I've ever been on that fed as well as a Navy base was Clark, in the Philippines.
 
We not only had good cooks on submarines, some I would consider as a Chef. For the most part, we had really good meals onboard.
 
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