Magic 11/16/02 Illness - THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN POST ABOUT THIS INCIDENT

[4cruisin]

Target,

Good post, thanks for putting this issue into perspective. Everyone is subject to catching a bug whenever they go out to work, school or even a mall. Think of how many common areas you touch while in a store/mall. Now, you go home and a day later you feel lousy. So do 25 other shoppers but you never know about them because you are not in a confined area (ship or work etc) and it never gets reported to the CDC. I am cruising in January. Am I hoping that this is over by then? Absolutely. Am I going to cancel my trip because of it? No way. I could stay home and get the flu. I'd rather take my chances and go on the ship. I think DCL is doing everything they can to get rid to the virus and work with the CDC. I watched the entire speech my Matt Ouimet on Saturday and I believe that he is making the best decisions for the ship's personnel and passengers.

I feel very bad for the people that have gotten sick while cruising, but let's face it, it is a risk we take every day regardless of where we are. I am constantly reminding my husband not to bite his nails for that simple reason. My best defense will be to wash my hands frequently and keep them away from my face as much as possible, (except for when I'm slathering on sunscreen at Castaway Cay!!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

LisaFB - I was wondering the same thing - if some people were just throwing up, feeling sick, that could defintely be seasickness. The runs added to that would be the stomach bug. How many just had plain seasickness? On our cruise last March 2002, there were over 250 guests in the infirmary the first couple days of the cruise with seasickness - We had over 20 foot seas. I know that is alot of people to get sick, and maybe the cruise had calm seas, but my mom gets seasick in a rowboat!!

 

[buzz&woody'smom]

I posted some trip comments when we returned from our 4 day Wonder 10/27/02 cruise and mentioned that my 2 DS (16 monts and 4 years) became ill the day after we returned and were at WDW. Do I think DCL should pay for my ruined trip? NO! It ruined the WDW part of our vacation and Halloween but where you have large groups of people and children at this time of year people get sick.

In fact I never linked their illness to the ship I just thought one of them picked it up in the kids clubs. Being a former working mother I am use to my little petri dishes bringing home unwanted bugs all of the time from daycare and preschool.

That being said.....I would be very upset though if DCL knew about a wide spread out break and did not inform the passengers accurately or in a timely fashion. I for one lost my spleen to an aneurysm 16 months ago while pregnant with my DS and am extremly suspectible to anything and everything since my immune system is depressed. We also sailed with my DM who has had a stroke and gets very ill very easily.

I can understand both sides. Families who spent thousands of dollars and vacation time had a horrific vacation. I know from my 2 being sick it ruined the WDW part of our trip I am just glad it happened the day we got off the ship so we were on land.

But flame me if you must we have become a country of what the other person owes me.........the tragedy of the 9/11 or now the Oklahoma City bombings everyone wants to be compensated and some should be......but the flu is the flu. It is awful timing but it happens.

Personally I have a active duty Marine husband who has been deployed and if God forbid he were to be killed I would get virtually nothing......

Flame me for getting off the subject and I AM NOT STARTING A DEBATE for who should get what but sometime bad things happen and that is just the way it is.

I hope DCL does do something to help those affected be able to take another cruise and enjoy how wonderful DCL really is.

 

[madcoco]

There is so much misinformation out there.We should all take a deep breath and wait for some hard facts.There are so many different types of virus' out there with different incubation periods, means of transfer etc. Like others said 25 is a tiny number.Fact is,the CDC usually doesn't even investigate an outbreak until over 3%of the crew and pax document symptoms. That is, unless there are unusual circumstances.This fits the bill, since the last cruise had the large outbreak. So any breath of the words " I feel ill" are being investigated and documented to the fullest extent possible.Hopefully there will not be a repeat.

 

[LisaFB]

Lovethatmouse, the seasickness thought was in my mind for a while. I know not everyone who was sick had it but some may have. I've cruised before and I"ve seen peopel get seasick just from walking onto the ship and last week the boat was rocking non-stop. My parents cruised from France to NYC years ago and told me that my mom was in sick bay for several days with half the passengers on board becasue of seasickness. DH and I paid almost $7k for our Duisney honeymoon and we both got sick on the land part and we just chalked it up to that stinks but there's nothing you can do.... and I never let it bother me when I felt sick on board last week (I didn't even report it till we had the CDC survey to fill out and then I just checked off the few symptoms I had since I wanted to be honest, but I still think it was from eating too much! LOL)

 

[psimon]

CBS is reporting, as of about noon, at least 60 currently sick on the Magic (11/23 Magic).

http://kyw.com/news/topstories_story_330084358.html

 

[LisaFB]

Last I read on the CDC website (which I think gives the most updated and correct info) was that around 200 were sick and 75 just reported some symptoms but werne't really sick (like me). The article here says

The ship was disinfected Saturday after 275 people became sick on the Magic's last seven-day trip.

It seems like they are combining the #s... it's frustrating not knowing exactly what's truth and what's exagerated....

 

[LisaFB]

I'm wondering.. I know DCL cleaned their buses and their cruise terminal etc.. but I jsut read that

Persons can remain contagious for 48-72 hours after recovery. The NLV is frequently spread through contaminated food and water, but can also be spread person-to-person or through environmental contamination (e.g. handholds, counter tops and shared serving utensils)

. It is possible that those of us on last week's cruise were carrying the virus and we went to the airport or to the parks afterwards, etc... I know for a fact that we saw people at the airport going on the cruise this week... even though DCL did what they could to sanitize, it could have been passed to anyone after we left Disney property.... That could be why it seems to be back on the ship this week even after all the cleaning they did...

 

[wovenwonder]

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Disney Cruise Line said Tuesday that 60 people aboard its cruise ship Magic -- now in the Caribbean Sea -- have come down with flulike symptoms

Entire CNN.COM story is here

 

[Hans Solo]

A New Outbreak?

Hi Everyone

Just ran across this @ CNN website

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/11/2...uise/index.html

I hope this incident doesn't get any larger.

 

[KenP]

"but the flu is the flu"

Again, this is NOT influenza or the flu we are talking about here. Flu shots don't prevent this. This is a totally different virus with different mode of spread and sources.

If it is Norwalk as many suspect, it can be transmitted from food to people and from people to people.

Flu is only transmitted from people to people, usually by the airborne route or person to person by touching.

Norwalk mainly food to person ,or fecal-oral.

 

[mrsltg]

I think that the problem here is that Disney didn't take the cue from Holland America and dock the ship to sanitize it. Unfortuantely, Disney had seen what happed to HAL, tried what failed for HAL, and then sailed anyway. The whole situation is really sad, and Disney is going to come off looking bad because whether or not it's the truth, people are going to assume that Disney forged ahead wiih sailing this week simply for $$$, and not for concern of their passengers.

I think that if I were sailing next week, I might be hesitant. While you can get sick anywhere, at least you're missing work, or you're in bed all weekend. When you've paid lots of $$$ for a vacation I think that the situation is amplified. It's too bad for all the people who have had months of planning go down the drain.

Good luck to anyone sailing in the next couple of weeks.

Erin

 

[Carol RN]

Associated Press has just reported that 65 people are now sick on the 11/23 Magic cruise. It will be interesting to see what happens during the rest of the cruise, and if they will cancel the next scheduled cruise to clean and disinfect the ship appropriately. If I was scheduled to sail on 11/30, I'd definitely think twice about doing so at this point.

Remember, even if "only" 65 people have become sick so far, if you are one of those 65, it's of no consolation to you that it's a small percentage of those sailing!

 

[lruggiero]

Just spoke to Disney and they have confirmed that over 60 passengers are ill on the ship (this does not include crew) that's what Jim told me.
Alos, he advised that a crew has flown to Grand Cayman to change linens, bathrobes, clean etc...
Sounds like that they are doing alot but I agree with Carol, if you are one of those 60 or so, who cares that it's a small percent.

My problem is that my 3 1/2 year old asks everyday if today is the day for the Mickey Mouse Boat.

Do I let him go and get sick for about 2 days or so or do I just stay in Disney. We leave thursday morning....

Lori

 

[lruggiero]

Just spoke to Disney and they have confirmed that over 60 passengers are ill on the ship (this does not include crew) that's what Jim told me.
Alos, he advised that a crew has flown to Grand Cayman to change linens, bathrobes, clean etc...
Sounds like that they are doing alot but I agree with Carol, if you are one of those 60 or so, who cares that it's a small percent.

My problem is that my 3 1/2 year old asks everyday if today is the day for the Mickey Mouse Boat.

Do I let him go and get sick for about 2 days or so or do I just stay in Disney. We leave thursday morning....

Lori

 

[LianeMJ]

Originally posted by mrsltg
I think that the problem here is that Disney didn't take the cue from Holland America and dock the ship to sanitize it. Unfortuantely, Disney had seen what happed to HAL, tried what failed for HAL, and then sailed anyway. The whole situation is really sad, and Disney is going to come off looking bad because whether or not it's the truth, people are going to assume that Disney forged ahead wiih sailing this week simply for $$$, and not for concern of their passengers.

I agree. I sail on December 14th and am hoping they dock it before then (sorry 11/30 cruisers!) Either that or if they cancelled the Wonder's 3 day cruises (since it would be cheaper for the company) and docked the Magic and let the 7 day cruisers go on the Wonder instead, that would work too. But they need to do something. It just sucks that it if it happens (docking the boat) that some of us are going to miss out on our vacation.

 

[Thumper1]

People let's get real!

This was in the KWY-3 story "Jaronski said about 2,400 passengers and 950 crew members were aboard the current Magic cruise"

65 divided by 3,350 people is 2%. There's illness everywhere. Often flus, etc. don't get reported to the Doctors on board because one usually handles a flu by themselves. I got sick last December on the Disney Cruise on The Magic, but I didn't blame Disney. I could have picked up the disease on the plane. Disease is most often passed from person to person, cleaning and sanitizing inanimate objects can only do so much. Maybe if we all wore surgical gowns and masks disease wouldn't be passed.

So let's not panic. 65 out of 3,350 people is too many (wouldn't we prefer if no one got sick) and I feel sorry for the pain they're feeling, but disease is not unexpected for the winter. If the numbers increase a lot more than I'll worry about my Dec. 7 cruise. Of course, we can always go to WDW.

 

[Michelle]

I will politely DISAGREE with those who say to dock the ship.

Disney IS giving those who do not want to sail the TOTAL OPTION of A FULL REFUND. They are doing everything possible to sanitize the ship. The CDC inspected the ship and gave its blessing for the ship to sail. And there is no guarantee that when HAL's ship goes back into service on 12/1 that it won't happen again!!! That's just the nature of this virus.

I will be sailing on 12/7 and am fully aware of the illness and precautions to take. I do so at my own risk. I WANT to sail. Why on earth would Disney disappoint the MANY MANY passengers who also understand the risks but can live with it and still want to sail?

 

[LisaFB]

A friend of mine just otld me she heard that Disney stated the compensation they're giving, has anyone else heard about it yet? She heard they're offering eithe a free 3 day cruise or 50% off a 7 day cruise to those who got sick. Can anyone confirm?

 

[LisaFB]

Michelle, you snuck in on me! LOL I agree with you that they should not dock the ship, especially since CDC gave their OK. From what I heard (I could be wrong) the reason HA had to be docked was becasue they didn't sanitize nearly as much or as thouroughly as DCL did.

BTW, even before anyone knew what was happeneing (from day 1) every time I was in the hallways of the ship, I was crew members cleaning things and bascially keeping everything tidy. I ahd heard before my cruise that they ahve a habit of doing this and that is probably why they scored a 99 out of 100 on their last spot health inspection, so I have every confidence in them!