Are people honest on the health questionnaire?

[wdwfamilyinIL]

Well even though we are not there, I will be added to the not honest list. My youngest gets allergies bad at times, well with that comes drainage to the tummy and then he gets sick. Its no harm to anyone else, never has a temp....since I know him I will prolly medicate him a couple of days before to try and keep things under control. I feel bad saying this since I am a nurse, but if it won't hurt anyone else then really why does it matter? I went on a carnival cruise a couple of years ago, and there were a lot of sick people....and yes we had the health form.

 

[AquaDame]

We've lied, twice actually. I was pregnant and had awful, miserable morning sickness (that lasted all day). But I said "no" to the vomiting thing. I knew why I was sick, but also didn't want to risk them denying boarding.

I doubt I would have either - morning sickness is NOT a communicable disease, which is what they are looking for. Neither is being car sick or air sick or anything kind of sick that is going to have 0 impact on anyone else on the ship! Just my opinion though!

 

[carmiedog]

Glad I saw this thread. Guess I'll be lying if need be on our first cruise. DS gets migraines with vomiting (much more controlled now with allergy meds) - he's fine after aspirin and a long nap. No way I'd chance missing the boat if he gets one close to our cruise time.

 

[shelbell77]

Add me to the list of liars. I had the great pleasure of food poisoning two days before we were setting sail last may. I knew that's what it was, and I was over it by sailing (other than my abdomen hurting from all the vomiting) so I did not disclose.

Communicable things are one thing- I have little tolerance for that. But when you know it was something like excitement, motion sickness etc, I think that's different. But I doubt Disney will see it as such because they don't want to take a risk.

 

[GoofyCrazy]

Why were they not able to claim it on their trip insurance?

I don't remember. I do remember them not being able to claim it because the guy ranted over it. I'll look around and see if I can find it again. Like I said it was along time ago when I read it.

 

[liberty6201]

I remember that post and that they couldn't claim on their insurance but i can't remember why either. I have ulcerative colitis and was really panicking about the form at the port. Luckily my tummy had been ok all summer so i honestly had nothing to say but i don't think i would have disclosed it. I personally can tell the difference between a UC flare and a proper tummy upset and since UC is not catching i wouldn't feel it necessary to disclose. I was really panicking about my kids being sick before we got there but luckily they weren't!!

 

[rachelm23]

I live very close to the port and remember a few year back..maybe 5, all the cruise lines had hundreds of people getting off the boats sick. I recall seeing it on the news. People just throwing up all over the place. I also remember them canceling cruises to clean the ship from top to bottom because the viruses had gotten so outta control. It kept me from going for a few years. Now they take extra precautions like the questions and all the Purell onboard because they have to.

 

[mmmears]

We were honest on the forms, and it was very stressful wondering and hoping that we would all be ok. But as someone who tends to "catch" whatever is going around, I appreciate other people's honesty as well.

 

[cmwade77]

I am in the camp that if you know it is nothing contagious (i.e Car Sickness, IBS, etc.), why disclose it?

Now on the other hand, if you are even least bit unsure, you should disclose it, you do not want to get others sick.

Please note that I have no intention of lying either, but if it is just car sickness or some such thing, then you know it's not contagious, so why bother with the hassle?

 

[clawmachine]

Here's my thinking: if you already know you have some nasty communicable virus, and you presumably feel just awful from it, why would you even go to the port in the first place? My assumption would be that 99% of people who make it that far genuinely believe that they are either healthy or have something minor that should not block boarding..

 

[livie1205]

my dss has a bad allergy issue so I will be making sure his doc gives us a note saying this...he is ALWAYS sneezing and blowing his nose but he has nose spray that helps.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Count me as a liar too! Before our first cruise, DD and I got food poisoning at WDW. I knew that's what it was because we had eaten the same thing, and started vomiting within 30 minutes of each other. No fever, no sore throat or other cold/flu symptoms. We felt fine once it was all out, so to speak! I knew we were fine, and we had a great cruise...not a bit of sickness. If that same situation arose again (geesh I hope not!!) I'd do it again. Would I lie though if we had flu symptoms? No.

 

[allison k]

I was nervous about this as well as DD was recovering from her 3rd cold of the year. I had taken her into the doc on Friday prior, and he said that she was fine and that we would be okay for the cruise, especially as there was no GI involvement. The form at the LA port this last weekend (2/13 MR) listed the cold/flu/GI symptoms AND fever in the past 3 days (AND was capitalized and bolded). She didn't have a fever with this cold, so I knew that I wasn't lying and felt comfortable checking the NO box.

 

[makaylee]

YES, people lie!!

I just got off the Wonder on Sunday and there were A LOT of sick people on the ship. Sitting in the Walt Disney Theater there was a constant chorus of coughing. A little boy threw up on the first night there two rows behind us and the woman commented that he had been sick for 2 days. Obviously, that means he was sick at the time they boarded and she knew it.

I pulled my kids out of the Mickey Pool one day due to an obvious sick child in pool area. The kid was OBVIOUSLY sick....I'd guess he was about 10 months old and his mother was holding him standing over the pool area watching her other child. The poor baby looked MISERABLE. Green junk oozing out of his eyes, which the mother kept wiping with a towel and then setting it down on the little ledge that all the kids stand on/touch to get off the slide. She kept checking his forehead for fever and his cheeks were bright red. He was crying that poor miserable cry that made it clear he didn't feel well. The last straw for me, was when she was holding him right over the pool and the snot and gunk from his nose and eyes were just DRIPPING into the pool. She eventually saw it and tried to put her hand under his nose, but by then it was too late.

We saw this family multiple times in the common areas and every time the poor kid had green junk just oozing out of his eyes and nose, bright red cheeks and he was usually crying. His eyes were so swollen, crusty, red, that I don't think he could even see. I overheard the mother telling someone that the kid had been sick with a fever even before they got on the boat, but she thought he would get better. I totally get it that it would SUCK to have to miss the trip due to illness, but honestly, this poor baby was really sick and probably shouldn't have been there anyway. No telling how many kids have now have pink eye or some other infection from being exposed to this baby on the ship. I for one, wasn't thrilled.

So, based on some of the things I saw and overheard on the ship, I'm pretty sure people lie on those forms!!

I think (I know ) I would have reported this to a CM, Ridiculous! How do some people behave this way, total disregard for others.

 

[myolite]

People lie and they really hurt other people's cruises. We were perfectly healthy before boarding. 2 1/2 days in, dd4 gets a fever of 104. It stays, we go to the on board doctor, she tests positive for influenza b. We are then told she has to be in isolation. Then when her isolation period was over, she still had the fever of 104. so we were in our cabin almost the entire cruise. heartbreaking.

the doctor said that the incubation period is typically 24 hours so she had to have gotten it on board.

 

[braysmommy]

my dss has a bad allergy issue so I will be making sure his doc gives us a note saying this...he is ALWAYS sneezing and blowing his nose but he has nose spray that helps.

Thank you for the reminder! My DS has seasonal allergies and has medication so I will be getting a note from his doctor too.

 

[Kelsie]

Did I lie, no! But did I get sick? YES!

I sailed on the 2 night on January 19-21, WDW from 21-23 then back on the ship on the 23-26. When I boarded on the 23rd, I was fine but by midday on the 25th I was in bed with a fever and upper-repertory symptoms. It's been a month and this is still hanging on.

I confined myself to the room but who knows how many people were infected between my 2 cruises and the flight home.

It's not always something you can control or know in advance so you can even answer the form honestly. It just goes to show even if people do answer honestly (as I did) there is no guarantee there won’t be sick passengers on the ship. Unfortunately, there probably always will be

 

[justhat]

A previous poster reminded me that my daughter and I also got food poisoning at WDW before a cruise. Technically, we were okay as the last bout of our symptoms was *just* outside the window on the form, but even if it hadn't, since we were sure it was food poisoning, we likely would have lied. Both she and I ate the same food, and only she and I were sick. My husband and then 6 month old son never got it, and I had been holding my son all day before I got sick (which was overnight), so surely he would have picked it up. And my daughter literally threw up on my husband twice, so no way could he have escaped it if it had been a virus.

We did tell the AKL staff and they were super nice and helpful about it.


I agree though, sometimes you have no idea that you're sick when you board. I know when we did the 5 night Magic in 2008, we all got sick on the cruise, sometime around the 2nd night (I think, it was after our CC stop at any rate). Just colds, nothing major, but we could have had the bug before boarding. Or maybe we got it from someone on the ship, I can't be sure.

Actually though, I have gotten sick at WDW mroe often than I have on DCL. Twice in WDW I have gotten coxsackie (HFM), and that was miserable. The first time my kids got it too, and my son was not even 3 months old. And on another trip, my daughter spent a day in the room vomiting (and another in the room just resting as she still looked miserable), and that was about 5 days into our trip. On the cruises though, only ever picked up colds.


ETA: Right now, I have some sort of nasty illness. It's flu-like, my nose is literally dripping like someone posted about a kid on the ship (which has never happened to me before!), I have a congested cough, a fever, and feel achey. I wouldn't need to lie on the form though, as I simply wouldn't be going to the port. I HATE being sick out of the house, so I know I'd be miserable on the cruise, and would likely spread this crud around. But I know that, so I wouldn't even waste my time flying there (would also be miserable on the plane). And my guess is that a lot of other people likely feel that way too, so those who do lie on the form at the port probably really are feeling better by that point.

 

[disney 2010]

YES, poeple lie!!

I just got off the Wonder on Sunday and there were A LOT of sick people on the ship. Sitting in the Walt Disney Theater there was a constant chorus of coughing. A little boy threw up on the first night there two rows behind us and the woman commented that he had been sick for 2 days. Obviously, that means he was sick at the time they boarded and she knew it.

I pulled my kids out of the Mickey Pool one day due to an obvious sick child in pool area. The kid was OBVIOUSLY sick....I'd guess he was about 10 months old and his mother was holding him standing over the pool area watching her other child. The poor baby looked MISERABLE. Green junk oozing out of his eyes, which the mother kept wiping with a towel and then setting it down on the little ledge that all the kids stand on/touch to get off the slide. She kept checking his forhead for fever and his cheeks were bright red. He was crying that poor miserable cry that made it clear he didn't feel well. The last straw for me, was when she was holding him right over the pool and the snot and gunk from his nose and eyes were just DRIPPING into the pool. She eventually saw it and tried to put her hand under his nose, but by then it was too late.

We saw this family multiple times in the common areas and every time the poor kid had green junk just oozing out of his eyes and nose, bright red cheeks and he was usually crying. His eyes were so swollen, crusty, red, that I don't think he could even see. I overheard the mother telling someone that the kid had been sick with a fever even before they got on the boat, but she thought he would get better. I totally get it that it would SUCK to have to miss the trip due to illness, but honestly, this poor baby was really sick and probably shouldn't have been there anyway. No telling how many kids have now have pink eye or some other infection from being exposed to this baby on the ship. I for one, wasn't thrilled.

So, based on some of the things I saw and overheard on the ship, I'm pretty sure people lie on those forms!!

we were also on this cruise and dd 10 got sick on our last day. Actually we went to the show Friday night and out of no where she started coughing. dh and ds mentioned how so many people had been coughing around us during the week. The next morning she was tired wiht cold like symptoms. By the time we traveled home she was SICK....just like above. Green gunk in her eyes/nose and has not return to school yet this week.

Thanks lady for sharing your babies gunk with us all