concern about the Zika virus while cruising

[halfmonkey]

We're scheduled to cruise in March of 2017 to the Eastern Caribbean and the CDC website list the US Virgin Islands as an active place of Zika transmission. Our cruise says it will stop at St Thomas/St Johns. Nobody is pregnant in our travel group but we do have 3 little kids. Has anybody recently gone on a cruise and visited this area or Tortola in the British Virgin Islands? The CDC doesn't actually list Tortola as a place of concern but seeing that's it's right next to St Thomas, I'd imagine that it should be.

 

[dcassetta]

From the CDC - http://www.cdc.gov/zika/about/index.html http://www.cdc.gov/zika/symptoms/index.html

I think the only real concerns are for expecting women. Take precautions for mosquito bites.

 

[kdogfister]

The CDC lists the USVI, but not currently any of the BVIs, yet much of the rest of the area falls under the advisory. I saw reports from February (googling Zika in BVI) that indicated Zika had not been detected on the BV islands yet, but given the proximity one has to assume it is only a matter of time. We are travelling on the Fantasy Eastern in July and leaving pregnant mom at home. We'll also be taking full precautions for our 3 children (cool pants and long sleeves, mosquito repellant).

The risks are incredibly low, but all it takes is being on the wrong side of a statistic to change your life. That said, unless information on the virus changes in the next month, we'll continue with our plans and be extra cautious.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We went to Costa Rica for a week in April (on the CDC list) and brought insect repellant (we bought the Sawyer brand with picaridin which is supposed to be safer than DEET, but just as effective) and some mosquito repellant clothing for some of our off-resort treks. ExOfficio is a good brand of insect repellant clothing for adults and we also purchased some from a website called insect shield (they have children's clothing). There are some other websites as well if you google insect repellant clothing. We were fine! Had a great time and no zika to report.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

We are leaving for Cozumel & Progeso on June 6th (Carnival cruise out of NOLA), so I went to see my doc today and she said as long as I'm not planning to have any more children, just use bug spray and have fun.

 

[bethy]

I'm nervous about this but no one in our party is anywhere near being possibly pregnant. IF I were pregnant or could be in any way then I personally would not visit or cruise the Caribbean.

 

[anricat]

We currently have a cruise booked for May that departs from Puerto Rico, which is supposedly some kind of hotbed of Zika activity. I'm not pregnant (with no plans to become so) but my mother is out of her mind with concern for us. She says that there's evidence it's causing weird brain issues, guienne barre syndrome (sp?) and other odd neurological side effects.

Right now, my plans are in place and we plan to bring bug spray. I'm trying not to let my mom freak me out. (She's a chronic worrier and always buys into any kind of media hype about stuff.)

 

[FigmentSpark]

We currently have a cruise booked for May that departs from Puerto Rico, which is supposedly some kind of hotbed of Zika activity. I'm not pregnant (with no plans to become so) but my mother is out of her mind with concern for us. She says that there's evidence it's causing weird brain issues, guienne barre syndrome (sp?) and other odd neurological side effects.

Right now, my plans are in place and we plan to bring bug spray. I'm trying not to let my mom freak me out. (She's a chronic worrier and always buys into any kind of media hype about stuff.)

SHHH! Don't tell MY mom those worries! She's just like your mom. Some days I think she's happiest if she has something to worry about.

 

[AquaDame]

We're scheduled to cruise in March of 2017 to the Eastern Caribbean and the CDC website list the US Virgin Islands as an active place of Zika transmission. Our cruise says it will stop at St Thomas/St Johns. Nobody is pregnant in our travel group but we do have 3 little kids. Has anybody recently gone on a cruise and visited this area or Tortola in the British Virgin Islands? The CDC doesn't actually list Tortola as a place of concern but seeing that's it's right next to St Thomas, I'd imagine that it should be.

We were on a Southern Caribbean cruise in January and just got back from a cruise that stopped in Mexico last week. Neither of us had any issues, and I did get bit a bunch of times, but that doesn't mean much... what MAY put you at ease is that if you aren't pregnant or plan to be pregnant there isn't much to more to worry about from the zika virus than a slew of other viruses out there as far as we know.

I will say that they are suggesting both pregnant women/women who plan to become pregnant AND the father/father to be should be concerned. Since we know so little about how the virus is causing issues (or even if since they have not come out and stated it with absolute certainty yet).

FWIW Red Cross will only accept blood donations four weeks after you get back too, even though it says symptoms should only last about a week since so many people won't even know they are sick with it.

 

[MUN]

The CDC lists the USVI, but not currently any of the BVIs, yet much of the rest of the area falls under the advisory. I saw reports from February (googling Zika in BVI) that indicated Zika had not been detected on the BV islands yet, but given the proximity one has to assume it is only a matter of time. We are travelling on the Fantasy Eastern in July and leaving pregnant mom at home. We'll also be taking full precautions for our 3 children (cool pants and long sleeves, mosquito repellant).

The risks are incredibly low, but all it takes is being on the wrong side of a statistic to change your life. That said, unless information on the virus changes in the next month, we'll continue with our plans and be extra cautious.

Are you visiting a beach? Will your children wear long pants and long sleeves in the water?

 

[xlxo]

This news article that came out today may give you some Zika ideas...

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zi...ito-repellents-don-t-last-group-finds-n579001

 

[noladis]

My wife is pregnant and we are cruising next week on the 4-day Bahamian. There have been no cases of Zika detected in the Bahamas. Of course there is a risk, but we live in New Orleans so at this point the risk is as great at home as it is in the Bahamas.

We plan to spend most of our time on the ship in Nassau (though we may walk around in the morning). We have bug spray and have treated a couple of items of her clothing with Permethrin, which she'll wear on CC (in addition to the bug spray).

Hopefully this helps reassure others that are pregnant or planning to get pregnant and are worried about cruising.

 

[kdogfister]

Are you visiting a beach? Will your children wear long pants and long sleeves in the water?

We'll do the beach at Castaway Cay, otherwise probably not visiting beaches in USVI or BVI. The kids all wear long sleeves (SPF swim shirts) for the sun but normal swim shorts or bottoms (for my daughter). I hadn't thought mosquitos would be bad near the ocean, it's usually standing water inland that poses the biggest problem, but I guess I shouldn't assume.

 

[MUN]

We'll do the beach at Castaway Cay, otherwise probably not visiting beaches in USVI or BVI. The kids all wear long sleeves (SPF swim shirts) for the sun but normal swim shorts or bottoms (for my daughter). I hadn't thought mosquitos would be bad near the ocean, it's usually standing water inland that poses the biggest problem, but I guess I shouldn't assume.

I bet Castaway Cay sprays to kill mosquitoes. I expect that USVI and BVI does as well. But, you can't kill them all.

 

[Sytrace]

We were in St. Thomas and Tortola the end of January, first week of February and had no issues. I never even opened the bug spray.
We are going back in September though and will be in the Bahamas next week on a 4 nighter.

I will bring bug spray and sunscreen but I think the real issues are if you are inland with standing water where the pesky critters like to hang out.
We are from Orlando (mosquito capital of the south...or at least that is how I feel about it) and will just use regular precautions like we would any summer time vacation.