Every year, thousands of cruise passengers become ill onboard cruise ships with an illness called, “Norovirus”. Norovirus is a gastro-intestinal illness that is transmitted through contact with an infected person, or through drinking fecal contaminated water. As the second most common illness in America, it causes nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and generally makes you feel rather sick. It lasts for several days but usually, you only really feel the symptoms for about 24 hours.
Obviously, this is an uncomfortable subject for the cruise lines who would much rather not speak of it at all. Every time there is an outbreak aboard a ship, news outlets go on and on about the “cruise ship virus,” “hundreds sick,” and all the dangers of sailing. On top of that, there are several organizations and people running websites that would lead you to believe that all of this sickness is a real threat to the industry, and to the traveling public. Some websites go on, and on, and on about how cruise lines do not care about their ship’s cleanliness, or the safety and health of their passengers, and therefore do not take steps to prevent sickness onboard, and then try to cover it up when it does happen. That doesn’t even make sense. According to them, cruise ships are breeding grounds for horrible diseases, and a danger to society.
Let me say it loud and clear….DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE! At least get the facts and both sides of the story before you decide one way or another.
I know it probably sounds like I am cheerleading for the industry (maybe just a little…
;] ) but still the facts are thus. Yes many people get sick on cruise ships, (several thousand every year get Norovirus on ships) but lets stand back and look at the big picture. According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represent the cruise industry, the industry will carry 14.5 million people this year alone…now compare that with the few thousand people who actually get sick….its not even one tenth of one percent of the total number of cruise passengers.
Bottom line…though, yes it can sometimes seem like people are getting sick left and right, the fact is that’s not the case. You are unlikely to get Norovirus onboard a cruise ship, so don’t be afraid of cruising. You’re more likely to get Norovirus at the grocery store, or from your children contracting it at school, or anywhere else.
As you probably noticed, above I said that Norovirus is transmitted through drinking water contaminated with fecal matter…in fact, this is the primary way the sickness spreads, as well as by human contact, and through airborne particles.Now I am sure you are probably wondering about the water supply on cruise ships….the above statement probably has you worried that when you drink water on a cruise ship, you are drinking poop water filled with disease and death.
Again, let me try and allay those fears. On a cruise ship you are not drinking poop water, in fact, the water you are drinking is very clean, never been drank before, water. Drinking water, and toilet/waste water are on separate systems that cannot be mixed so do not worry about that. The water you drink at your house isn’t even as clean.
Outbreak investigations by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have shown that Norovirus on cruise ships is transmitted not by water, but by person to person contact. In fact, a ship’s water supply has never been implicated in one of these investigations.
Now I imagine you are wondering why this would be...why would Norovirus spread differently on a ship, than on land? Well the reason is really quite simple if you think about it. On land, people are spread out over a larger area and there is much less person to person contact. On a ship, the opposite is true. You have thousands of people in a much smaller space where its inevitable that there will be more contact between people and, yes…when it’s there (which it usually isn’t), transmission of different illnesses, like Norovirus, through human contact, or by touching something a sick person has handled.
Also, something else worth pointing out, is when a cruise passenger becomes sick onboard, they will be quarantined in their cabin for the remainder of the cruise, or until the ship’s doctor determines that they are no longer contagious (bummer for them). On top of this, every time there is an outbreak, the ship’s crew will thoroughly sanitize the ship and implement increased sanitation measures, such as making sure passengers sanitize their hands before entering any restaurants.
In conclusion…fear of contracting a sickness while on a cruise should not keep you from cruising, nor should it taint your opinion of the cruise industry. It’s pretty unlikely that you will ever get sick on a cruise. Is there a chance you will? Of course there is! But when are you ever going to be completely safe from that chance? Never. No place is completely safe from sickness.
Always remember to use common sense when traveling anywhere though ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS! And do your part to make sure you and the people around you do not get sick. Be smart, be clean, be courteous and you will be fine.
So take a cruise and go without the fear of getting sick.
(Above photo by flickr member "StGrundy ")
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