A friend of mine stopped going on cruises a few years back due to the norovirus that sometimes hangs around cruise ships. She seriously questioned our recent Panama Canal cruise decision in light of ebola.
Ebola? Central American is further away from West Africa than Florida is. But I don't think logic plays a role in her thinking.
Norovirus is an extremely common and highly contageous bug that gets passed around in schools, nursing homes and everywhere in between. But, because cruise ships are required to report its presence, we hear more about it. It causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and usually lasts two or three days.
On one of our earlier cruises there was an outbreak of norovirus. Dave and I were impressed with how fast the ship went into action. Every sick person was quarantined in their stateroom. We passengers are not allowed to touch much of anything. The library shut down, no salt and pepper shakers, roll or cream and sugar passing in the dining room. Hand sanitizing was (and still is) required and/or encouraged every place on the ship.
I've never been sick on a ship, other than seasick. But I kind of understand that, with all that's going on in the world right now, some folks are paranoid.
Our our recent cruise we had an excellent cruise director. His name is Hammish. These guys direct all of the activities (which are plenty) as well as serving as master of ceremonies and stand up comics. One of Hammish's lines was, as we were pulling into a port, "If you're late boarding the ship from Aruba, you will be a resident of Aruba."
A couple of days into the cruise Hammish got sick. Very sad. We missed him. A couple of days after that we saw Hammish on deck. Exciting! Dave shook his hand. I shook his hand.
A couple of days after that Hammish was sick again.
A couple of days after that Dave got sick. Of course, my first thought was:
Hammish!!!
But Dave had a chest cold that hasn't come to much. He could have caught it from any of a couple of thousand other people on the ship. I feel bad that I so quickly blamed the only person I knew of who was sick. I hope Hammis will forgive me.
I guess we can all get a little paranoid these days.
***
Ebola? Central American is further away from West Africa than Florida is. But I don't think logic plays a role in her thinking.
Norovirus is an extremely common and highly contageous bug that gets passed around in schools, nursing homes and everywhere in between. But, because cruise ships are required to report its presence, we hear more about it. It causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and usually lasts two or three days.
On one of our earlier cruises there was an outbreak of norovirus. Dave and I were impressed with how fast the ship went into action. Every sick person was quarantined in their stateroom. We passengers are not allowed to touch much of anything. The library shut down, no salt and pepper shakers, roll or cream and sugar passing in the dining room. Hand sanitizing was (and still is) required and/or encouraged every place on the ship.
I've never been sick on a ship, other than seasick. But I kind of understand that, with all that's going on in the world right now, some folks are paranoid.
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| Cruise Director Hammish |
A couple of days into the cruise Hammish got sick. Very sad. We missed him. A couple of days after that we saw Hammish on deck. Exciting! Dave shook his hand. I shook his hand.
A couple of days after that Hammish was sick again.
A couple of days after that Dave got sick. Of course, my first thought was:
Hammish!!!
But Dave had a chest cold that hasn't come to much. He could have caught it from any of a couple of thousand other people on the ship. I feel bad that I so quickly blamed the only person I knew of who was sick. I hope Hammis will forgive me.
I guess we can all get a little paranoid these days.
***
