Illness on Wonder

[Ernie]

We just today finished our first ever cruise. The Disney Wonder was amazing. the food fantastic, and the crew unbelievably good.
Here's our question:
The last day (all day at sea), five of our party of nine became very ill with flu-like symptoms, and were quarantined in their cabin. Then we noticed others on our same deck with the same restriction. The medical office had about 4 folks ahead of us with the same symptoms. As we left the ship today we noticed other cars pulling over to the side of the road so that fellow passengers could get out and throw up.
Is this unusual on a cruise, or something that happens when you have so many people living so closely together?

 

[mlholster]

This happened to us on the New Years cruise on the Wonder. Out of 18 of us 12 got sick. The seas were very rough so at first just one family got sick we weren't sure what was going on. Then slowly one by one others came down with it too. After the cruise everyone went back to AKL Jambo house. In fact my GD needed to be transported by ambulance to Celebration hospital because she was getting dehydrated. Thankfully she responded well.
Some of our family have written to the cruise just to have it on record, I'm sure the hospital will record it too.
Sorry this happened to your family, this illness is no fun.

 

[QVCshopper]

Was this the flu or a stomach bug? Any other symptons? Did kids pick it up first? Just wondering. I don't have any info about getting sick on board, but we did get a stomach bug about 2 years ago in Disney, and it was BAD. I'm sure it happens anywhere there are a lot of people, though.

Hope everyone feels better soon. We go in 2 weeks--this makes me nervous!

 

[catzle]

This is why I got insurance. If I or anyone in my party gets sick and are made to stay in our room we are given that portion of our cruise back. Did you check with the manager on the ship. I am curious to see what they say. Did it last long after you got off the ship? Hopefully everyone is feeling better.

 

[barbarasc]

Sounds like Norwalk Virus - NOT fun we had this a few years ago on a cruise. This is why the cruise line always has anti-bactrial stuff around!

Outbreaks of norovirus infection often occur in closed or semi-closed communities, such as long-term care facilities, overnight camps, hospitals, prisons, dormitories, and cruise ships where the infection spreads very rapidly by either person-to-person transmission or through contaminated food.[9] Many norovirus outbreaks have been traced to food that was handled by one infected person

 

[mlholster]

No one in our party was quarantine. We did have a disappointment because the ship has a doctor onboard, he only has certain hours. My daughter called about my GD(3) around noontime and was told she could call back when he would be available. DD was asking what can we do to help GD keep things down, they didn't offer any suggestions. So then she called guest services and they told her that there is frozen pops made for kids. They told her she normally would get that at the medical center. They finally agreed to get her some. This was very frustrating when you are worried about a sick child and have to jump through hoops.
Thankfully we are all fine now, but it did take a good week, for some a little longer.
Op just curious what deck were you on? We were on 6.

 

[atm55]

This is why I got insurance. If I or anyone in my party gets sick and are made to stay in our room we are given that portion of our cruise back. Did you check with the manager on the ship. I am curious to see what they say. Did it last long after you got off the ship? Hopefully everyone is feeling better.

Another vote for buying the insurance! If you can afford the cruise - why not the insurance??? Hand sanitizers are only as good as long as everyone uses them. With all the little tykes on board doesn't it make sense that the risk for infection is there? Another note, small injuries that can occur anywhere with children - why do people expect Disney to cover the cost?

 

[smoof]

I don't know if it is normal, but I think that is why people have to be quarantined when they show symptoms like that. Even though it doesn't seem like close quarters to us, it is. Before getting on the cruise they give a short survery about whether anyone in the party has flu-like symptoms. The cruise ships have had some terrible outbreaks of different viruses.

Sorry to hear half your group missed out on some of the fun.

 

[kelston]

We just today finished our first ever cruise. The Disney Wonder was amazing. the food fantastic, and the crew unbelievably good.
Here's our question:
The last day (all day at sea), five of our party of nine became very ill with flu-like symptoms, and were quarantined in their cabin. Then we noticed others on our same deck with the same restriction. The medical office had about 4 folks ahead of us with the same symptoms. As we left the ship today we noticed other cars pulling over to the side of the road so that fellow passengers could get out and throw up.
Is this unusual on a cruise, or something that happens when you have so many people living so closely together?

Interesting...we got off the Wonder on Sunday Jan. 10th. My hubby was violently ill from 6 am on Saturday thru Sat. evening. On Sunday he wasn't physically ill anymore, but he was totally wiped out from the whole ordeal. We were thinking it was possibly food poisoning. We felt that if it was Norwalk, at least ONE other person in our party would most likely have gotten it (even with all the handwashing we did). We'll never know for sure, of course, but oh it's not fun to be sick on a boat with a tiny bathroom that's for sure! lol

 

[pmama]

Well our Wonder cruise ended 12/20. DH and DD got terribly sick that evening. It lasted about 24 hours but was pretty bad at the time. We ended up having to extend our time in Orlando by two days. Thank goodness we had trip insurance.

 

[truck1]

I just looked at the CDC site for cruiselines, and so far, there has been no reports either way for either DCL ship.The only report so far is the Queen Victoria with at this point an unknown issue.I think this makes 3 the number of cruiseres reporting sometype of GI issue on a DCL ship.I say GI issue because it may not be norwolk but could be something else like salmonella which has happened before.

Now, by CDC rules, there may not be enough people sick or reported sick to warrant it being reported to the CDC. I think the number is 3% or more of the crew or guests on a cruise to be reported.

 

[shaylahc1]

We just got off the Wonder yesterday and no one in our party was sick. I did notice quite a few children coughing though.

Maybe it was food poisoning? I noticed while dining at the buffet & hot dog stand several times that food temperatures were inconsistent. That would be my guess.

But yes anytime you have so many people in close contact you will see illness. Sorry you were sick

 

[safetymom]

It could have been something you picked up before you got onboard.

 

[andrewsmommy]

We got off the wonder yesterday too - I DID see one boy throwing up in the bathroom outside of the Walt Disney Theater, but that was it. My kids got the cough - as did my dad. Not a big deal except for my 2 year old who has asthma - I had to get up at 1am on the last night to give him a breathing treatment. I wonder if the cold weather contributed to the cough. Hasn't developed into anything more - just a little stuffy and a cough.

I thought that they did a good job with cleanliness. I understand why they serve the food in the buffets, although I find it annoying.

 

[shaylahc1]

We got off the wonder yesterday too - I DID see one boy throwing up in the bathroom outside of the Walt Disney Theater, but that was it. My kids got the cough - as did my dad. Not a big deal except for my 2 year old who has asthma - I had to get up at 1am on the last night to give him a breathing treatment. I wonder if the cold weather contributed to the cough. Hasn't developed into anything more - just a little stuffy and a cough.

I thought that they did a good job with cleanliness. I understand why they serve the food in the buffets, although I find it annoying.

I agree. This was our first cruise and I was impressed. I constantly saw people disinfecting and cleaning surfaces. I am a germophobe and this made me happy

That being said, I noticed quite a few children who were obviously ill (coughing, etc) before they boarded the ship and no one said anything Seems like the health questionnaire is more of a "CYA" than a real attempt to stop sick people from boarding. Unless you throw up in front of someone or have an obvious rash, no one is really going to know if you are truly sick

 

[don8life]

Oh no! We are going on the wonder on the 24th. My daughter is immuno suppressed due to liver transplant and the poor thing had a wish trip on the Magic last January and had the noro virus for 4 days. So I am making it up to her with this trip. Oh no no no. I am soooo worried now.

How does insurance work if we have to stay over in orlando before coming home. (DCL insurance)?
Does the insuraNCE PAY FOR THE SHIP DR.?

 

[HallsofVA]

We were also on the Wonder from Jan 10-14 but didn't have or experience any illness in our group. We were also on the Magic Dec 12-19 and there was one very noticable change between the two sailings. On the Wonder cruise this week, you weren't allowed to serve yourself from any of the buffets, or from the drink station during the day. They even had crew serving the food from the Palo buffet (which made for a very crowded buffet with the servers and the guests all trying to get around the food tables.) On the Magic in December it was very much help yourself.

I asked several times if this was always the case on the Wonder or something they'd started recently (since our previous cruise was less than a month before.) Each time I got the same answer -- that it was fairly recent within the past few weeks, and was because of the cold and flu season the crew was taking extra precautions to help keep people healthy. Our stateroom host also mentioned that he was late preparing our room the first day because they had just had to sanitize the ship from the previous sailing (1/7 - 1/10 cruise).

I know DCL likes to keep any illness issues quiet, but between the extra sanitizing mentioned by the stateroom host, the extra precautions around the buffets and drink stations, and the illnesses being reported by others in this thread, it makes me think it was just more than precautions and more like damage control.

 

[flagfred]

I didn't put it together but we were on the Wonder from the 3rd thru the 7th and on Friday evening my 13 yr old was so sick for a day or so....like I thought we were going to have to take her to the hospital. She was miserable...I figured it was food poisoning but perhaps it was from the ship.....it was really really bad, I can't imagine what we would have done if we were in one of those little bathrooms.

 

[Tneah]

I just looked at the CDC site for cruiselines, and so far, there has been no reports either way for either DCL ship.The only report so far is the Queen Victoria with at this point an unknown issue.I think this makes 3 the number of cruiseres reporting sometype of GI issue on a DCL ship.I say GI issue because it may not be norwolk but could be something else like salmonella which has happened before.

Now, by CDC rules, there may not be enough people sick or reported sick to warrant it being reported to the CDC. I think the number is 3% or more of the crew or guests on a cruise to be reported.

Yes, I read in the past that it is 3% before needing to report it.

As a comparison, 10% of a school needs to be ill before it gets reported to the CDC.

I think most people associate cruises with GI disorders. We went on 4 cruises this past year. Two on the Wonder and luckily non of us got sick.

 

[truck1]

We got off the wonder yesterday too - I DID see one boy throwing up in the bathroom outside of the Walt Disney Theater, but that was it. My kids got the cough - as did my dad. Not a big deal except for my 2 year old who has asthma - I had to get up at 1am on the last night to give him a breathing treatment. I wonder if the cold weather contributed to the cough. Hasn't developed into anything more - just a little stuffy and a cough.

I thought that they did a good job with cleanliness. I understand why they serve the food in the buffets, although I find it annoying.

Our last trip in August I saw the same thing. I was about run over by a little boy in the aft bathrooms near Parrot Cay, who managed to vomit in the hallway before making it to a stall. As far as I know, he was the only one sick.

As far as a cough, and this has happened to me more than once, is the dry air, fromthe acs in the cabins will dry out your sinuses, and cause a cough. the way I found around it is to open the balcony door for a little while each day with the AC off or lowered, or open the door to the hallway for a little bit to restore the humidity level.