Flu on Disney Dream

[n2mm]

Sorry to hear you guys were sick. Something I do worry about. We always get our flu shot every year, regardless of effectiveness. My husband gets the mega dose because he's 65 now. Other than getting your shot and washing your hands, I don't think you can do anything else about it. We leave in 3 weeks for our B2B cruise.

 

[cruisehopeful]

This might seem like a stupid question, but do they MAKE you take sanitary wipes for your hands? I hate those darn things as they dry out my skin like crazy. I avoid sanitizer. I'd rather just go wash my hands.

Yes, they do. You cannot enter the buffet or restaurants without taking one.

 

[Princess Melody]

So sorry you got sick! We were on the cruise right after that (Jan 29th Dream). We live in Orlando and 3 out of 12 kids in my daughter's preschool class were out the previous week with a very nasty flu. I was so scared she would catch it! Constantly reminded her to keep her fingers away from her face and out of her mouth (very hard with a thumb sucker!) and wash her hands frequently. Asked her teachers to do the same and kept her away from Disney and all the other theme parks and other fun kid friendly places we usually visit daily all week before our cruise. The flu is all over Orlando right now so I pretty much confined her to playing in the house & backyard, did all shopping and errands I could while she was at school, and ultimately ended up keeping her out of school the day we left for the cruise when the original plan was to send her (it's a half day program) after I learned a 4th child had fallen ill. I am a substitute teacher and took all week off myself to avoid the extra germs. Thankfully we had a wonderful cruise and nobody got sick. And for what it is worth my husband got the flu shot at work and ended up with the flu not too long after so I decided not to get it for myself and my daughter this year. I know 2 of the little ones in her class with the flu right now did have the shot so I'm not regretting my decision. Last year she got it and still got really sick. Unfortunately it does not prevent all strains. Adequate rest, eating well, washing hands a lot and keeping them away from the face work well but it is so hard to make an infant/toddler/preschooler do those things. Hope you and the baby are feeling better!

 

[bcwife76]

Yes, they do. You cannot enter the buffet or restaurants without taking one.

But they can't make you USE it. On 3 separate occasions on our first cruise I saw someone either (a) avoid the wipes altogether by walking so far to the left they nearly walked into a wall or (b) take the wipe, barely touch hold it with two fingers and then toss it into the garbage.

 

[Shanti]

With it only being a 4 day cruise, chances are you contracted the flu before getting on board.

Influenza has an average 2-day incubation period, and since they all fell ill "toward the end of" a four day cruise, it is most likely that they caught it on board. Cruise ships are easy places to spread illness: so many people crammed into one area for days during flu season makes it quite easy to catch the flu on the ship, despite DCL's sanitary precautions.

OP, I'm sorry this happened to your family. My son is currently at home, recovering from the flu (likely caught at school).

 

[anricat]

It's an average of 2 days, but it can incubate up to 4 days, so it's possible it was caught just before the cruise. Airplanes are big petri dishes of germs, too.

 

[2prettygirl]

We cruised January 2014 on the Disney Fantasy, this was our 2nd January cruise and probably will be our last cruise that time of the year. My husband fell ill our last day on ship (Castaway Cay day) and ran a high fever all night, the day we were set to debark my youngest was running a high fever too. Talk about a long day at the airport and flying home....UGH! After a few days of being home and both of them still being ill, I was reading the ever so depressing Facebook page for our specific cruise that some of our fellow cruisers had started prior to cruising and there were a few instances where people were having the same symptoms has my husband and daughter, one specific case was H1N1 influenza so we headed off to the doctor and sure enough, they were both diagnosed with H1N1. It made it's course around the ship obviously but I can't say Disney was to blame. They are such a clean facility and take all the pre-cautions to keep everything sanitized but when you cruise during flu season, there is always that risk.

I think we have learned not to cruise during the winter months when flu season is running rapid, granted there is always that chance but after this experience, we will steer clear as much as we can.

 

[Savikins]

If it's antibacterial, it must have some sort of antibacterial agent in it (thus leading to resistant bacteria). The sani wipes are just alcohol. There's no antibacterial agent in it.

Rubbing alcohol is an antibacterial agent! As I said, you're thinking of a particular antibacterial agent known as triclosan, which has been phased out of nearly every type of antibacterial product on the market. Even when triclosan was still the main ingredient in nearly all antibacterial soaps and experts were warning that it could lead to resistant bacteria, the use of it was still encouraged in environments that facilitate the rapid spread of disease - such as dorms, hospitals, and cruise ships.

I'm going to keep doing what has been working for me and recommend my methods to anyone who has an issue with getting sick on vacations - cruise ships especially. Bottom line, it works, and was recommended to me by my doctors.

 

[BrownieBites]

Thanks for all of the responses! I wasn't meaning to try and place blame on DCL at all, I was just wondering if it really was spreading as rapidly as it seemed and thought this would be a good place to reach others on the same cruise.

The first of our party to get sick did so on the last day of the cruise, so day 4 of the 4-night/5-day. My husband, son and I traveled in our own car but the other 5 people traveled by air. We spent 2 days in Orlando before boarding the ship.

I was referring to influenza, not noro, and unfortunately even the people in our group with the flu shot got sick. It's a nasty bug.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

unfortunately even the people in our group with the flu shot got sick.

Most likely because the strain the caught wasn't one of the strains that's covered in the shot. They try to figure out which strains will be the most dominate (difficult as this decision is reached about a year out from when the "season" will be) and have about 3-5 of them in the shot. But, there are a lot of strains that aren't covered.

 

[CZA2608]

Thanks for all of the responses! I wasn't meaning to try and place blame on DCL at all, I was just wondering if it really was spreading as rapidly as it seemed and thought this would be a good place to reach others on the same cruise.

The first of our party to get sick did so on the last day of the cruise, so day 4 of the 4-night/5-day. My husband, son and I traveled in our own car but the other 5 people traveled by air. We spent 2 days in Orlando before boarding the ship.

I was referring to influenza, not noro, and unfortunately even the people in our group with the flu shot got sick. It's a nasty bug.

There was 7 in my family on the same cruise, we all have tested positive for influenza A, it is absolutely terrible. I hope you are feeling better! I hope not too many other people got sick since this is highly contagious

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

Yes, they do. You cannot enter the buffet or restaurants without taking one.

I love this!

 

[BrownieBites]

There was 7 in my family on the same cruise, we all have tested positive for influenza A, it is absolutely terrible. I hope you are feeling better! I hope not too many other people got sick since this is highly contagious

That's terrible, I'm so sorry your whole family got sick. I think I'm finally on the upswing but my 15 month old is on Day 6 and is still very sick. Anyone else out there from this cruise that picked up the flu?

 

[AquaDame]

Ooooof I am so sorry to hear this and hope you all feel better soon! My husband and I both came back from our RCCL cruise ill last weekend - I bounced right back after a couple days of a sore throat but he was out from work for three days and is still quite ill (though he had to go back). We weren't running fevers so we didn't get tested, could have been anything I suppose!

 

[jpeka65844]

I was also on the 1/25 Dream and 7 of the 10 of us came down with a tummy bug starting yesterday. The baby got it first and then others have followed suit. I'm not 100% sure it's b/c of the cruise. There's school, daycare, lots of other places to pick it up. We all seem to be managing fine.

And no flu shots here for my family. They don't cover all strains and I find they make us all sick when we get them and I'd rather not pay $$ to be sick. If I'm gonna get sick, I'm gonna do it for free!

 

[TutuWahineLV]

Our two youngest kids get sick EVERY time we go on a cruise. Usually a bad cold that they have for four weeks after. They have all possible immunization s and I sanitize the cabins, but it just never fails.

Not strictly Disney related, but my Mother used to get sick at the end of every trip we took, this past year we started doing probiotics.... especially in the month or so leading up to a trip, and haven't brought home any nasty bugs.... (knock wood) for the last 3 trips. most recently was 1 week ago.

Try boosting their immunity system with some probiotics before hand...

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Not strictly Disney related, but my Mother used to get sick at the end of every trip we took, this past year we started doing probiotics.... especially in the month or so leading up to a trip, and haven't brought home any nasty bugs.... (knock wood) for the last 3 trips. most recently was 1 week ago.

Try boosting their immunity system with some probiotics before hand...

I agree with your thinking on the pro-biotics. Youngest and I are the ones prone to getting sick. DH and oldest kid rarely get sick and when they do it is mild. It was getting ridiculous how often we were getting ill one year, so decided to take probiotics and make sure I was getting vitamin D (dr found my vit D levels were low and indicated vit D is important in immunity). Anyway, youngest and I take them regularly (although not every day, and brand depends on what is on sale). We are noticeably sick less often. I fully accept the possibility this is a fluke or maybe even just due to the vit D. Maybe next week we'll be sick with something, but it seems to help us. We've gone on several trips where exposure was high and varied (lots of people in close quarters for days on end) and we've stayed healthy.

 

[OKW Lover]

I was also on the 1/25 Dream and 7 of the 10 of us came down with a tummy bug starting yesterday. The baby got it first and then others have followed suit. I'm not 100% sure it's b/c of the cruise.

You would have gotten off the Dream on 2/1 (we boarded that day!) so its doubtful that a "tummy bug" would have waited 8 days before manifesting itself.

 

[BrownieBites]

Just chiming in to update everyone. Everyone else in the family recovered except for me and the baby, who ended up being hospitalized this past Monday - Thursday for severe respiratory distress, acute bronchospasm, and hypoxia. He had developed bacterial pneumonia. It was a very scary night for us all but they were able to stabilize him. They were able to determine the exact strain of Influenza A he had and they said it's one that's notorious for developing pneumonia. I went to the ER myself the morning after he was admitted because I had a sneaking suspicion that I might also have pneumonia... and yep!

We're all home and finally on the mend, but man has this been a scary and horrible couple of weeks. It won't stop me from cruising in the future, but I will probably be a little bit more wary about touching things like handrails and doorknobs, etc. I'm already a frequent hand washer, but there's only so much you can do I guess.

 

[cruisehopeful]

veryone else in the family recovered except for me and the baby, who ended up being hospitalized this past Monday - Thursday for severe respiratory distress, acute bronchospasm, and hypoxia. He had developed bacterial pneumonia. It was a very scary night for us all but they were able to stabilize him. They were able to determine the exact strain of Influenza A he had and they said it's one that's notorious for developing pneumonia. I went to the ER myself the morning after he was admitted because I had a sneaking suspicion that I might also have pneumonia... and yep!

I'm sorry to read that you both got so sick. I'm glad you both are on the mend, but that is very scary that the baby got that ill. I know flu spreads everywhere in public, but the close quarters of a cruise ship with so many things being indoors and so many people coughing, sneezing, etc all over everything the place, it is too hard to avoid.