We brought home more than memories..lol

[Spurr002]

Originally Posted by Annette_C

Personally, I think that we get more illnesses from flying than anything else! lol Call me paranoid but I avoid traveling during the winter months (when flu, etc, is at its prime) for the reason OKW lover mentioned above.

At least one member of my family would get something after flying. No matter how much hand washing and disinfecting. I would recommend trying Airborne (Airbourne?); most US drugstores and grocers carry it. It's pretty much a super dose of anti-cold stuff. Whatever's in it it works You just dissolve it in a water bottle and drink it before your flight and it helps you fight off anything that you might pick up.

[Silverfox97]

Originally Posted by JimGA

Handwipes and sanitizers will not help with airborn viruses....

This.

We were on the same cruise. DH also picked up the flu & started feeling it the day we got off the ship on the 15th & he was pretty sick. He had fevers & chills for several days, then began coughing, which drug on as well. I did not get sick (I'm thanking the flu shot!). I commented several times about the hacking adults in the MDRs.....A floating Petrie dish.

DD brought home pink eye, but was playing with a girl in the pools/hot tubs almost daily that told me on CC day that she had to visit the ship's doctor for an eye infection the day before.

However, this was our 7th cruise (6 have been in the last 2 years), & the first time anyone has gotten sick.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[dharma517]

A couple are still a bit loose sounding in the chest but other than that we are on the mend. Thanks for asking.

Originally Posted by JimGA

Handwipes and sanitizers will not help with airborn viruses.... Hope everyone is well now?

[momof2minnies]

We leave in 5 days and hopefully no one is going to get sick before we leave- a severe upper resp infection is running wild here, not all medically diagnosed but being a RN it totally looks like pnemonia.


My DH who has not been sick in 10 yrs was flat on his back for a week, my BIL and SIL had the same symptoms, my brother and SIL same. My parents need to stay home before the cruise and not get it.


I find the time leading up to a cruise very stressful because of the possible sick factor.


Linda

[deanimal]

There seems to be a bit of confusion between airborne illnesses and those spread by droplet. As an RN, I assume that the OP used sanitizer and wipes because she knew that true airborne illnesses are quite rare. TB and SARS are so serious because they can be inhaled, and the only defense is proper masks and respirators. (Those cloth or paper masks that people sometimes where are pretty much useless against them.) Most respiratory illnesses are spread by droplets. It is possible that someone could cough or sneeze directly in your face and you could inhale the droplets, but it's far more common for you to touch something that a sick person coughed or sneezed on and than infect yourself by touching your nose, mouth or eyes. That's why kids are now being taught to cough into their elbow. It's not ideal, but you touch a lot fewer things with your arm than with your hand.
And sanitizers are only a substitute for when a sink isn't available. By far the best defense against illness is good old (plain) soap and water.

[maria-fan-22]

Sorry to hear y'all got sick.

Unfortunatly, the hand wipes and sanitizers ONLY PROTECT AGAINST BACTERIA that is important because influenza and other viruses are only stopped by washing your hands for 20 seconds or longer with warm to hot water with strong soap. Even though Disney passes out the wipes, there is no substitute for hand washing…

[Mom2TwinGirls01]

We were on the fantasy dec 8th sailing and we all ended up sick during the cruise and i'm sitting in the clinic now waiting because it hasn't gone away yet. Mine turned into a sinus infection my dd turned into an ear infection. We washed hands and were very carful but all ended up with fevers while on board. Kids didn't go to the kids clubs because i didn't want to spread it. It was sad because it was my dd's Children's wish trip and we each took a turn in bed sick!

I have to say that experience has made me afraid to cruise again. At least at Disney you are in open air. If we do we will keep our veranda door open and not stay in the recycled air!!

[mmouse37]

Originally Posted by Mom2TwinGirls01

We were on the fantasy dec 8th sailing and we all ended up sick during the cruise and i'm sitting in the clinic now waiting because it hasn't gone away yet. Mine turned into a sinus infection my dd turned into an ear infection. We washed hands and were very carful but all ended up with fevers while on board. Kids didn't go to the kids clubs because i didn't want to spread it. It was sad because it was my dd's Children's wish trip and we each took a turn in bed sick!

I have to say that experience has made me afraid to cruise again. At least at Disney you are in open air. If we do we will keep our veranda door open and not stay in the recycled air!!

Sorry you guys got sick but you can pick up something anywhere...in a school classroom, in a gym, in a supermarket, in the mall, at a house party. When people say they are afraid to cruise again it sounds drastic to me. Would you not send your kids back to school if they picked up something in class? Not being snarky, just genuinely curious.

If you do decide to cruise again DCL does not want the verandah doors left open because it messes up the air conditioning system. I don't the problem is so much that the air in the cabin is bad...it more there are so many surfaces you touch repeatedly onboard (or anywhere) like elevator buttons, door handles, menus, bannisters, etc. that cause people to pick up germs.

Hope you guys feel better.

MJ

[jahber]

Originally Posted by mmouse37

Sorry you guys got sick but you can pick up something anywhere...in a school classroom, in a gym, in a supermarket, in the mall, at a house party. When people say they are afraid to cruise again it sounds drastic to me.
MJ

True! When my first was a baby, she caught a pretty nasty cold. I insisted to the dr that no one we knew was sick, she didn't go to daycare, etc, etc. She just looked at me and asked if I ever went to the grocery store and touched a shopping cart. My kids don't even go to school (we homeschool) and they still get sick.

But that said, we take extra precautions on the ship because noro is no joke! A cold, we could catch anywhere. But I'm not messing around with intestinal grossness. No thank you!

[Purplejewel]

My DH got horribly sick on the 5th day into our cruise last February. He swore it was due to a seafood wrap he ate at one of the outside food places but I think it was due to the young girl who threw up right in front of him as we were leaving dinner one evening. He was sick 24 hours after that happened. He spent the next 2 days in the cabin throwing up and feeling miserable. He missed the entire day at Cataway Cay (our favorite day of any Disney Cruise). We had booked a parasailing excursion on Castaway Cay which he insisted I go on it without him since we had already paid for it and he didn't want me to miss out. One of the excursion guides had to go with me because he said I didn't weight enough to go up alone (I only weigh 110 pounds) which was a little awkward but he was a very nice guide and pointed out alot of landmarks on Castaway Cay while we were in the air. We have our next cruise in 5 weeks and I pray neither of us gets sick this time. Sorry that you all got sick on your cruise. I hope this doesn't effect your decision to cruise with Disney again in the future.

[gkrech]

My DW and I were on the 12/8 sailing of the Fantasy. Our 25th Anniversary. Surprised to hear so many got sick upon their return. Neither of us got sick. We did have flu shots, though.

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by dharma517

So I wondered what on earth could we have done to prevent this?

Illness is simply part of being a living organism. Sometimes it happens.

Originally Posted by divaprincess

Be thankful you all did get the flu shot or your symptoms could have been 100x worse.

IF a flu shot "works", you shouldn't get that sickness. Of course, they never test titers (unless you're a liver transplant patient, in which case you're on massive immune suppressants anyway, which then keep you from having an immune response, and it makes no sense to try to vaccinate anyway, but they kept on doing it with my liver transplant recipient friend! she never once mounted a response to any of the shots, because of the steroids she was on) after giving shots, so it's all laughable.

And the shots have failure rates. All of 'em.

And with the flu shot, it's only to a few selected strains.

It's all silly, really.

Originally Posted by momof2minnies

We leave in 5 days and hopefully no one is going to get sick before we leave- a severe upper resp infection is running wild here, not all medically diagnosed but being a RN it totally looks like pnemonia.

Confused. Pneumonia means fluid in the lungs. It's a reaction to just about any "bug" that a person can get. Like "croup". My brother and I would be exposed to the exact same bugs, and I would respond with bronchitis, while he would respond with croup. Same bug, different response. Some people end up with fluid in the lungs (pneumonia) to bugs, some don't. Pneumonia isn't a disease, it's a response by the body.

[lilpooh108]

Originally Posted by dharma517

Anyway. On the last two nights of our cruise our server was "sick" and unable to work. Well.....the day we got off the cruise 48 hours later all 10 of us got sick with flu like symptoms (not GI). Varying degrees of illness from just annoying to 104 fever. Two kids now have been swabbed positive for influenza B. All 10 of us had vaccinations. One child (healthy no history of asthma) went on to get very ill with pneumonia and two others required antibiotic for secondary infections.

I'm sad to say that alot of servers we saw on the Wonder during our last cruise was working sick. There was one server in particular who was so obviously sick with a respiratory infection that shouldn't have been working. We were seated next to the kitchen door (where food goes in and out) and we overheard other servers talking about how so-and-so had been to the medic earlier that morning but now she was on antibiotics and working.

That server was working with the family next to us, and our team of servers were annoyed she simply didn't take the night off (she'd hold her cough in during service but would cough as she walked passed us into the kitchen doors).

I'm sure they don't get paid when they skip a shift, but its the cruisers that suffer

[smootenloopers]

Originally Posted by divaprincess

You may be doing your family more harm then good by hand sanitizing, wiping everything & ODing everything in Lysol.

Amen!

[kikids]

Originally Posted by maria-fan-22

Sorry to hear y'all got sick.

Unfortunatly, the hand wipes and sanitizers ONLY PROTECT AGAINST BACTERIA that is important because influenza and other viruses are only stopped by washing your hands for 20 seconds or longer with warm to hot water with strong soap. Even though Disney passes out the wipes, there is no substitute for hand washing…

Ahhh! It seems this thread is getting off topic. But as RN myself, I prefer when people make comments about flu shot effectiveness, sanitizers, etc. that it is backed up by research. So here is info on anyone truly interested on whether or not alcohol based rubs and wipes prevent the spread of influenza virus (hint: they do).

http://www.virology.ws/2009/07/17/ha...fluenza-virus/