not getting sick

[lizajune]

Hoping to here back from some of you veterans... We leave in 3 weeks and are traveling with close friends. My girlfriend and I are extremely concerned with keeping our families healthy as you hear some horror stories about passengers getting sick. Is it really that bad. I am not talking motion sickness, but stomach flu. My friend thinks we should all get a flu shot before we go, but isn't this for a different type of flu. What did you do? Were any of your family members hit with this on your cruise? I know how hard it is to make sure your kids are always washing their hands... Thanks

 

[LoveMickey]

We did not experience any sickness. Just make sure that everyone in the family washes their hands frequently. As we all should

There are signs posted in every rest room reminding folks of this. The other thing I personally try to do, is not use the hand railings when going up and down the stairs. I try to do this at work too. There are a lot of people in my 3 floor building and everyone uses the stairs.

Stay well.

 

[ohiominnie]

Follow my math...
4 ppl on a 4 day
6 people on a 3 day
7 people on a 4 day
4 people on a 7 day...

that's 16+18+28+28=90

That's 90 "people days" on the DCL ships in our family....
No one has been sick at all. We do the following things:

wash your hands ALL the time, but especially after you go to the bathroom, and before you eat.

do not touch handrails and avoid touching as many publicly touched things as possible.

go back to your own stateroom to use the bathroom (it can't be any more than 960 feet away) as too many people leave the bathrooms without washing their hands and they contaminate the door handles.

try not to touch your nose, your mouth or your eyes unless you've just washed your hands.

use that antibacterial hand gel frequently.

HTH!

 

[lopezgang]

In the kids clubs they are VERY good about having the kids wash their hands. They do it every time you check them in and every time they go to a different room and when they come back and also after using the rest room. Every time I was there I saw them telling kids to wash their hands, so that will help with the kids.

 

[TheWog]

naaaah, don't worry. not much different than being in an office or going to school. Just take the proper precautions and you will be fine.

 

[SparkyC]

*Wash your hands a lot.

*Don't rub your eyes (many many viruses are most easily spread through the eyes!)

*Use antibacterial hand gel when you can't wash.

*When you use the restrooms, wash hands, then grab a papertowel and dry your hands...THEN use that papertowel to open the door as you leave.

I'm a neat freak and I was really impressed with how clean they kept the ship as well as the "reminders" about hand washing.

 

[disneylover5]

You should also not worry to much because you are going before the worst part of the season. Don't let it ruin your vacation.

We also washed our hands all the time, and carried anti-bacterial gel around with us......

My DS15 got sick on our last cruise about day 5....not with the stomach but some type of skin reaction. He was itching so bad that he was screaming. They were so nice in the "hospital" and gave him all the medicine he needed. He had several shots, about 10 different tests to try and figure out what was wrong, lots of medicine and about 6 visits with doctors. I was surprised the whole bill came to less than $500 and my insurance ended up paying for all of the medical care. No, I did not want to use this facility, but I sure was glad it was there and I was glad they treated us "Magic"ically!

 

[Olsons]

Off with vacation hat, on with physician hat for a moment...
1. "Flu" shots are for influenza which typically occurs in mid-winter. Yes you should ask your doctor if you need one but it will not help in preventing GI illness on board.
2. Most viral illness (GI and Upper Resp) has a 1-2 week incubation period. I worry most about protecting my family in the week before cruising. Norwalk virus and others implicated in cruise ship "epidemics" are almost always controlled with hand washing. Wash those hands people!
3. Great advice in the above posts about door knobs, bathrooms etc., which all boils down to...wash those hands!
Vacation hat ready for 10-9 cruise. Physician hat in use to afford said cruise...

 

[lizajune]

Thanks to all for some great advice!!! I truly love this board...

 

[BELLE16127]

My DS just did a paper about the flu shot so thouhgt I would add to this one....If you do decide to get it you should do it ASAP as things we read about it said that it takes 2 weeks to build up the antibodies in your body to fight off the Flu once the shot is received.

 

[SeaSpray]

We were on the Magic a few weeks ago and they had huge bowls of those individually wrapped moist toweletts that had antibacterial soap on them right as you entered each restaurant, so you could grab them on the way to your table, then "wash" your hands before eating. It was good to see that DCL added this extra bit of help in trying to deter the spread of germs to the guests.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Agree with above posters on strict handwashing. And in between try not to touch your face with your hands.

As a hospital nurse I've taught my kids ways of keeping germs at bay and we practice them so faithfully they're now second nature. We use our elbows whenever possible to touch buttons (like the elevator) and either a paper towel or our shirt to open doorknobs everywhere, but particularly in the bathrooms (and don't forget not to touch the toilet handle or door latch inside the stalls, think how gross those are - uugghh - use a piece of clean toilet paper and then throw it in the toilet).

I must say the Wonder was extrememly clean and the measures they take to prevent the spread of germs were impressive. They have signs in the stateroom bathrooms on how to wash your hands effectively, they have kids wash their hands as they enter the club, and outside the buffet they have an (optional) basket of wipes for handwashing before entering/eating. (I asked the CM manning the basket how many people were using the wipes and he said it was a "good response"; however, I observed many walking right by. I also had one problem with the basket routine: the swinging door of the trash can used to dispose the wipes was itself dirty and therefore germy - those washing their hands and then touching the trashcan just defeated the whole purpose of washing their hands! I did report this observation to the dining room supervisor and the dining room "crew chief" but am also planning to report it to DCL directly - anyone know who I would write to??).

One night DH took DD to the bathroom and observed another Dad whose child had a BM, he helped her wipe, and they both left without washing their hands. Nasty - but just goes to show you have to protect yourself since you can't always count on others to do the right thing.

Lastly, we brought a can of Lysol with us and sprayed the room as much as we could when we first arrived. I then sprayed all bathroom knobs every day even though it was cleaned just because some of the cleaning supplies used by the room steward may have left their own germs. Many people on the boards talk about bringing sanitizing wipes but I think the spray is more thorough.

I can't imagine anything worse on a cruise than being sick and confined to your cabin. Two cruises we haven't had a problem.

Olsens, thanks for posting. Again, the flu shot will not prevent a GI bug, it's for a specific respiratory bug.