Sick & confined to stateroom- Anyone else ?

[monie516]

Just got back from the Magic 1/26. My husband became incredible ill ( yes gastro intestinal)and was confined to the stateroom for the rest of the cruise.
Anyone else have this happen and if so what did you do after you got home and settled down a bit?

We were offered no compensation and actually received worse service than before he became ill. Here's just one example ( I gathered all towels in the morning and trash bags (tied closed) and put them outside the room so our hostess wouldn't have to come in and chance getting sick herself. Late that night they were still not replaced - I finally had to call for them and she never once offered ANY special assistance to us. Our room was never cleaned again. Imagine stuck for 3+ days in a cat 11 in that condition! I am so disappointed in the level of service we received! There were many people visibly sick ( not seasick) yet because they did not go to the medical center they were allowed to enjoy their cruise. I could go on and on with horror stories but will not. Just hoping that anyone who may been in the same predicament can tell me how to proceed with Disney. We saved a long time only to have spent our vacation forced in our room. We missed St Thomas, a day at sea and the Disney Island.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I am so sorry to hear about your troubles! I know someone on this board will be able to help you as to what you should do next -
What a disappointment to be sick on your vacation!

 

[Gretel]

Dont flame me here, but people get sick...........on both of our last two cruises DD#2 was so sick we spent three days in our room. WE missed CC too but we did not expect anything in return, or to be compensated. We too had saved our pennies for both vacations.
The cleaning of the room however I find wrong. Our stateroom hostess went above and beyond for our daughter to make sure she was comfortabe and he repeatedly asked if she was better. Our servers even sent dinner to our room when we could not go to the dining room for our seating. I guess it all depends on who you are assigned. WE had great people who bent over backwards to make our cruise magical.

 

[rae519]

We caught colds while at WDW during our 3 night land -4 night sea vacation this past December. We went to the ship's MD when we embarked. DH had a cold and received medication ($1.00), and I had a cold and strep throat and received medication ($167.50).

We were not "confined to quarters" but consciously tried to avoid others and did have some meals in our room to prevent the spread of disease.

One cruise we received traumatic information regarding our oldest son in a ship to shore call. Disney Cast Members went out of their way to make sure we were as comfortable as possible, to include bringing our dinner to us one evening when we were emotionally drained (category 6 doesn't get this service). Even our Dining Room Head Server called to inquire if he could be of any assistance. Between the servers, Guest Relations and our DVC Cast Member - we were made as comfortable as possible.

I don't think there is any excuse for not cleaning or towel exchange; likewise, I don't think Disney owes anyone compensation for becoming ill unless THEY were directly responsible (e.g., food poisoning). And often Disney will extend that to acts of Mother Nature -
For Example - WDW offered to refund the MVMCP tickets for the evening we attended due to torrential rain cancelling most events and attractions. We received a check for the full amount within a month of mailing our wristbands in. We didn't expect this but were very grateful for it.

Rae

 

[kajohn]

I have been paying close attention to this topic since November, and actually considered cancelling our cruise in a week, because I was afraid of this happening to my family. I did decide to go, and hope for the best.

But, just to let you know, if you read your cruise contract that came with your documents, it says that the ship has a right to quarantine guests for the safety of all etc. etc. etc. And I believe you have to sign this contract before boarding. So, they don't have to compensate you.

However, if you have purchased travel insurance through DCL, the brochure has a clause about quarantining. I don't know exactly what it says, but I believe you can file a claim for quarantining. I don't know how much a person would receive, and if it is only for the person actually quarantined, or the full family, but it is worth checking into.

As for the cabin steward, that is aweful. Did they say they wouldn't come in to clean your room, or did you say you didn't want them to clean it because someone was sick? There have been many reports about people quarantined and none of the cabin stewards refused to clean the room.

I hope you don't let this ruin all your memories of your trip. I know it is hard to forget something bad that happens on a trip, however, you did have 4 days of hopefully great memories.

 

[kpgclark]

Anyone know how many people on any particular cruise get this gastro thing?

 

[monie516]

Well I certainly feel chastised instead of supported. Unfortunately we didn't have any days of wonderful memories. My husband has back problems with chronic pain. I hoped the relaxation would help him. He is actually worse after the illness. After the drive down it took Sat & Sun just to get him comfortable again and then the illness started. We did manage a nice dinner at Palo on Sunday night so that is my "magical memory" I guess. Hard to have a good time when your partner is locked in the room. I spent most of my time there out of guilt.
Disney downplayed illness on board. The 1st 2 days you barely saw antibacterial wipes on board. On Sunday they were handing them out to everyone in the kids club(parents and kids) and having you use them before you left. That night our table partners children both became ill with severe vomiting & diarrea. They called the med center and were told it was surely seasickness. One child threw up over 9 times(they lost count after that) and I've never heard of seasickness causing diarrea. It went downhill from there. They went the last day to get something for nausea and the Dr. joked that it was a good thing they hadn't come in sooner or they would have been quarrantined. Said they had been very busy during this cruise.
I do not blame Disney as much as I do all the passengers who were sick and continued to move about the ship, pool's and spa's. That's how this spreads. If we had been well taken care of I wouldn't think about compensation. The only phone calls we got were check up type calls making sure we were staying in the room. No one called to offer dinner from the dining room and you ahve all heard the room story.We asked up front for ice each night- he needs it to fill an icebag for his back and had to ask for it every night.
A DIS friend had a tablemate who's child threw up at dinner. They never even moved the other table mates to another table and low and behold the child was back at the next meal- no quarantine there! She counldn't believe it.
It's just not right to only put those who ask for medical assistance in quarrantine. Trust me 72 hours in a cat 11 is tough.
Only those who were quarantined can truly understand the situation. Would love to here from them, but my guess is most are no longer reading the board.

 

[mmouse37]

At the top of this board Webmaster Michelle posted an article on the Norwalk Virus and how it relates to cruise travel....check it out...it is very informative and it gives numbers of a "normal" amount of sick people per cruise and then how many were sick due to the virus. Here is the link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=297265

People can get on on a ship from a variety of reasons....seasick, overindulgence, etc. So at any given time you may have people not feeling well. This is very different from the outbreak of the virus that happened weeks ago.

MJ

 

[Gillian]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience! It sounds awful.

I think part of the problem here is that very early on, Disney WAS compensating people who got sick. We've all read of the families who were flown home, at Disney's expense, and given a refund. And I believe that other families were compensated for time stuck in their rooms. I guess it had to end somewhere, but it set a bad example. Those going on cruises more recently probably felt that they, too, would recieve some special treatment if taken ill.

Anyway, I can see why people won't go for medical help. It doesn't seem like they much for you except make you stay in your room. I'm not saying it's right, but I can understand it.

 

[monie516]

My point exactly Gillian. At first Disney did take care of passengers who were ill. My husband required an iv and 2 bags of fluid. His heart rate was very elevated and his blood pressure low. They kept him for 2 hours in the med center. The Dr said he was in serious condition due to dehydration. I was amazed that noone was concerned about us. Even the med center did not follow up!

 

[AnnMorin]

That is amazing that the med center did not follow up!
Certainly not our experience, on our 12/7 cruise both DS and myself got ear infections. In the case of DS (who was probably the first visitor to the med center that cruise as we went saturday before dinner) they called the next morning to check on him and even asked to recheck him on weds. (complimentary visit). In the case of myself I went in on Cozumel day, they called me the next day also to see if the motrin was helping or if I needed anything stronger for the discomfort. It did cost us almost $220.00 -most of which our insurance reimbursed but I thought we were treated wonderfully. I was quite surprised with the follow up calls, my doctor at home does not do that.
I am shocked that if your husband had been on IV's etc that they did not follow up. Somehow the ball must have been dropped somewhere because like I said that was not our experience at all and we only had ear infections. so sorry to hear your trip was unhappy. Hopefully you have travel insurance and will be able to take another one or at least recoup some of your money.

 

[monie516]

Unfortunately our travel agent misquoted the insurance rates and we decided to pass. They quoted $95 pp including our daughter for insurance. Found out after it was too late to take it that it was $95 per stateroom.

 

[AnnMorin]

To this day my husband refuses to buy trip insurance. Granted we have excellent health coverage that covers med-evacuations etc. (our $220.00 bill which included over the counter meds was covered to the tune of 200.00) We usually book with a mastercard and then pay off (we only pay for half the cruise as we are DVC which covers the other half) and do our airline tickets with MC which has trip protection coverage. I keep telling him about the quarentine possibilty but he says he would rather sit our our veranda sick and have an extra hundrend in his pocket. Having a veranda I'm sure would have made you all more comfortable-just for the extra half bath and the ablility to get fresh air into the room. So sorry that things did not work out for you.

It is unfortunate that Disney had set a "precident" of paying people who were sick. That creates expectations from other passangers. However, I can see their point that if it is not a rampant outbreak they can not afford to compensate everyone forever. I felt horrid when my ear was all blocked up and spent a day sleeping on our veranda it certainly was not their fault. Although my confinement was self imposed not directed by Disney.

I never noticed on the cruise contract that it says they can quarentine you (funny DH is an attorney and we didn't read the fine print ) but if it does say that then I guess they certainly have the right and duty to protect passangers from further contamination. Maybe it would be in their best interests -public realtions wise at least- to highlight that more and suggest that folks get travel insurance to cover the quarentine. Many people think of travel insurance to cover cancelled trips, sudden emergencies etc, not quarentines. (Maybe they could even offer a low cost "quarentine insurance " that only covers that)


I do think Disney has everyone's best interests at heart and do find it so unfortunate that your room steward was so lax. I would definately complain about that-infact I would have raised a stir onboard about it. It certainly could not hurt to write a calm letter to them expressing your unhappieness. Your situation is a bit different than others though as your husband truely was sick and quarentined unlike some who were not ill and wrongly
quarentined. So when writing I would focus on how you feel you were not treated appropriately during your husband's illness. Good luck and hope your DH is all well now!

 

[parkaroo]

My sister is still not well after becoming severly dehydrated on our Dec. 25 th cruise. She is still weak and has diarrehea. She has spent three weeks in a hospital and is now at home. Her doctors tell her it will be about a month before she is feeling better. She is a nurse and is very concerned at the vagueness of her medical report from the ship's doctor. She was sent a voucher to take another 7 day cruise within a year. Which she will not be using. We are thankful because she almost died during this whole experience and dont blame anyone for what happened.

 

[monie516]

Again- not blaming anyone, just amazed at the lack of concern and yes vagueness by the medical staff. I would think they would try a bit harder to help those who are ill. It's tough as a mom traveling with a small child when your spouse is made to stay in the room. After hearing so many stories of people upgraded, flown home, reimbursed, etc I feel pretty lousy about our treatment.

 

[parkaroo]

It was about 3 weeks before she got a letter from disney. I would wait and see if you recieve a note of apology. Maybe because so many people have become sick the staff have become kind of "unconcerned" to the whole situation. I felt the same way as you. The only very helpful person was our cabin steward Mario. He was wonderful, but unfortunately by the last day he had become sick and so we didn't get to thank him in person. Their were some other families sick in the same cabin area and I feel bad he worked so hard taking care of everyone else that he got sick himself.

 

[Stewblue]

Sounds like you had a really bad experience. I agree with AnnMorin that writing a letter that clearly documents the problems that you had is a good course of action. You may want to include a copy of the medical report (assuming you got one from the clinic). Both the lack of follow-up and the room steward's actions are inexcusable.

 

[monie516]

Medical gave us no documentation. I should have thought to ask, but at that time just wanted to get him to bed and continue to give fluids. I am truly concerned for the people who have that stateroom on the current cruise. I can only hope it was thoroughly disinfected for them!

 

[pigelet]

I was on board with monie516 and felt her misery. She was not having a good time. Disney was way to lax with this sickness. A boy vomitted at the table next to us, a crew member cleaned it up with a mask on himself and our servers wondered why we wanted to leave. Another child vomitted all over his mother at the pool. A crew member cleaned it up again with a mask and gloves. In both cases the boy was at dinner the next night and the child was at the pool the next day. Noone made then go seek medical attention. They were free to roam about. Medical is only voluntary. Noone want to be quaranteened so they don't seek the medical attention.

Swim diapers were worn in the pool by lots of children!! I was also there when someone vomitted outside Topsiders restroom.
By Thurs. you were able to serve yourself breakfast and lunch.

We had a great time and tried hard to avoid "sick" situations. None of us got sick but was very surprised to see that nothing was being done about those who were getting sick especially when crew members were getting involved with the clean-up.

 

[monie516]

Thanks Carolyn! Glad to see you made it home safely. We saw a great photo of Chrissy while thumbing through the boxes in Shutters. I moved it out to the front- hope you found it. It was after her hair was braided and by the pool.
Sydney would love to keep in touch via email. Will have her send one sometime next week.