Any illness?

[JoeFixes]

Has anyone heard about any more illnesses on the ships recently? I'm a little nervous about my kids getting sick. We're still going, but I want to brace for the worst!

 

[AnnMorin]

Well living in Plymouth which is not that far from Boston if your kids didn't catch the norwalk yet they probably are immune!
Relax, wash your hands and have fun!

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

I know it is always nerve-recking, but your kids are much more likely to get sick at school, then on a cruise in reality. I live in Florida, and I haven't heard of anyone getting sick on the local news. It was an outbreak, and had to run its course I think.

But if you are concerned, I would just practice good-hand-washing skills, teach them to be careful to not drink any pool water, and to rinse immediately after getting out of the pool. I also travel with lysol, and spray surfaces down good.

But I wouldn't be too concerned... Kids get exposed to so many germs at school, a lot of parents would be sending them in bubbles if they could see the germs.

 

[fred ferdlap]

We were on the Jan 25th sailing and the people across the hall packed up in St. Maartin or St.Thomas and left. Later that week I spoke to the Cabin Steward and they said the room was fumagated or Fogged after they and their friends left. Not sure if Disney paid or who paid for them to leave the ship. The steward did say they would be invited back on a future sailing.

I noticed that most of the stuff in the room was removed. The steward said that Pillows were in short supply so they simply fog these items as well. Again this was a room that was documented and identified as sick. They said that Fogging of the rooms is only done on sick or quarantined people.

Only saw vomit once it was roped off like a crime scene and a guy with a cart and 10 bottles of stuff was cleaning it up.

On night (late) I saw this guy in the hallway with a white suit , gloves and a mask cleaning an area of the hallway carpet with some extractor.

Pools were drained and cleaned often. I would stay clear of these or only enter early in the morning right after they have been cleaned. Lots of closures for floaters and kids getting sick in the pool and most of the time you could not see the bottom. Hundreds of kids in a pool. No thanks. Not disney's fault.

The kids areas smelled of chemicals. Especially the first day.

Overall you have to wash your hands often, before and during your cruise. If one person in your party is sick it's a good chance to pass to the rest. In my opnion The ship was very clean and any chance for illness comes from the people entering the ship each week. Our theory was that if we get on the ship rested and in good health our immune system was better prepared for new germs. Of course we used Lysol and antibacterial wipes to clean the door handles and areas of the room where the kids touched.

 

[sjm]

I also was on the 1/25 sailing. I heard, rumor only, that 4 families, 20 people got off the ship with their luggage. I heard another rumor, that there were 55 people sick on our sailing.

A couple of people from the 1/25 sailing thread, got sick on the cruise. Also some got sick when they got home.

I think that if you are careful and wash your hands all the time, you will be fine. As someone posted above, there is so much going around now.

sue

 

[Cassi]

Well, not to make you nervous...

We were on the 4 day Wonder, January 19. We were all fine on the ship, but DH got sick our first night home. He was sick for 4 days straight, sleeping in between. I should point out that I am a germ-o-phobe, and I sprayed everything that wasn't breathing with Clorox spray daily. I also took along and used 5 tubs of antibacterial wipes. No one touched food without washing hands! Anyway, I called the doctor on the fourth day of diarrhea and vomitting because I was afraid DH was getting dehydrated. My mother offered to take him the his appointment, but when he got in the car, he was so out of it he didn't know where the doctor's office was. So she took him to the ER. He was very dehydrated, and he ended up being admitted. He stayed in for three days. In the mean time, I got a very mild case, with just diarrhea. A few days later, my daughter woke up vomitting in the night.

I really don't see what else we or Disney could have done to have avoided this. They were cleaning that ship constantly, and we were cleaning our hands constantly. There really must be something airborne. I'm just grateful that our illnesses held off until we got home! I would definitely go on another Disney cruise (I'm not so sure about DH, though!), but I would probably shy away from the seven day.

Go and have fun. Be as careful as you can be, but don't spend your whole vacation worrying. The illnesses are everywhere right now. There's only so much you can do.

Cassi

 

[Gina]

The illness is still hanging in there.. just in lower numbers, and it seems, less-violent cases. I know of several families sick on the Magic this past week, and one family left in Cozumel. We also saw a medical chopper fly over us at Castaway Cay, but I never did hear what, if anything, that was about. Mine and DS's colds came back toward the end of the week, even with our fanatic hand-washing and de-germing, and I suddenly had an upset stomach the day we left -- but not nearly as severe as the typical "Norwalk virus" that other people have had. I just didn't eat anything for two days after getting everything out of my system (finally got to eat today! *smiles*) and I feel fine now.

Anyways, it's waning, but it's still out there! Just do what you can to protect yourself, and have a great time!

-gina-

 

[tkd lisa]

We were also on the 1/19 Wonder, and our family was quarantined. I wrote a pretty thorough report about it on the cruise trip report board. If you have any other questions. Feel free to pm me. I agree with Cassi that it's not Disney's fault, people just get sick sometimes.

Cassi, I'm sorry to hear about your DH. I hope he's feeling better now!

 

[Cassi]

He's fine now, thanks for asking. Just curious... where were you on the ship? We were in room 7138, the handicap room all the way in the back (stern?). Just wondering if there's a correlation!

Hope you're all well now, too.

Cassi