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Sick after cruise


crazee4cruzin
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We got off Reflection on April 2. A few days later I had Bronchitis and my husband pneumonia. He was in the hospital for 5 days. Did we catch a bad strain? Anyone else have an issue like this after cruising?

Respiratory issues tend to pass around in airplanes. On cruises, it seems to be food related problems. Did you take a plane to or from your cruise?

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So sorry you are so sick. My husband once got a severe respiratory infection on an Antarctic cruise on the Infinity. He was put on inhalant therapy on board. Once we made it home he was on different antibiotics and ended up in the ER with intestinal issues from all of the antibiotics.

 

We now take many preventive actions on trips. We start using immunity enhancing probiotics 2 weeks before the cruise and on the cruise. We use sanitizer and wipes in the airplane and ship. We have also found that the mouth spray called “Halo” seems to keep us from catching respiratory bugs. It’s kept us healthy on our last 5 years of cruises.

 

Hope you both get well soon!

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Interesting this topic has come up. After our Mardi Gras cruise on Reflection, I came down with flu just one day after we left the ship. I didn't blame the ship because at that time South Florida was experiencing a high rate of flu cases. Luckily Hubby never got sick, but mine turned into asthmatic bronchitis so it was close to a month before I felt really well again...just in time for our two-week cruise on Eclipse.

 

So we were home one day and the next day, yes, I came down with the flu again! I'm still feeling bad. I am hesitant to blame Eclipse. My sister has told me a new fierce strain of flu is circulating in South Florida. The only reason I can imagine that I was so susceptible to the flu bug is that I probably got run down having so much fun on the cruise, especially sleeping less than I usually do.

 

I want to try that Halo spray mentioned above.

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We just did a 12 night cruise on Solstice from Sydney and wife ended up getting sick while on the cruise

We tendered into Port Douglas 7 April and it was 32c (89.6f) and 90% humidity - very hot and sticky

then we came back onto the cool air conditioned ship and wife thinks that's how she got sick. She spent a day and a half in bed (sea days) then felt better, but upon leaving the cruise she developed a nasty cough and is seeing the doctor tomorrow

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40 cruises and on probably 35 of them I come home with what we call “ cruise cough”. It lasts a couple of weeks.

 

When you think about it you have approx 2800 people, many who flew on airplanes (haven for airborn germs) to get to the ship add to that the people in the hotels where many stayed. Then there folks who board the ship ill but don’t declare it for fear of not being allowed to board and it is amazing more people don’t get sick.

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Count me also as one who almost always comes down w/ something at the end of the cruise or shortly after getting home, whether I drive or fly to port. Mostly I chalk it up to drinking more than usual, eating more and "richer" than usual, sleeping less, doing more. .. the old "burning the candle at both ends." I think my immune system is stressed by the experience.

Interestingly last cruise I never got off at any port. I slept a LOT and mostly stuck around my suite and chilled. One of the few cruises amongst many, where I didn't get sick.

I am scrupulous about hand washing and I use Airborne and take pro-biotics. But I'm going to look into the Halo spray in addition. It seems anything I pick up "around" a cruise seems to take forever to go away.

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There's plenty of products, like Airborne, that have vitamin C and other ingredients that help prevent you from getting sick. Personally, i just buy the liquor package and somehow that seems to keep me from getting sick - alcohol does kill germs.

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Does anyone think that the germs travel through the air conditioning system and that is what can make us sick?

 

I think it’s a lot more likely to be the effect of being in close proximity to 3000 other people, exposing each other to germs from other areas of the country or the world, that they may not have met yet.

 

If you spent the rest of they year crammed together with a changing group of 3000 people and only ever got sick on a ship, then I might wonder about the ship’s air conditioning system.

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Science doesn't lie.

 

You don't get sick by going from a hot outside to an air conditioned inside. You don't get sick from an air conditioner (with some rare exceptions, but then almost all the passengers and crew would be sick). You can't prevent being sick by spraying something in your mouth now and then (come on - you would need to be spraying it regularly on and off all day and even then there is no scientific proof it works or it would be major news headlines worldwide). If Airborne really helped big pharma would have glommed onto it years ago and you would be buying it as a prescription. There is no scientific evidence that taking tons of vitamin c (it's primary ingredient) prevents respiratory illness. There is some evidence it MAY shorten a cold by one day (as does zinc).

 

You get sick when traveling because you are exposed to thousands of people, in the air, on the cruise, in the ports. The vast majority of these people are from different states and on ships many times different countries than where you live so you have no immunities built up to their germs. You get sick if you don't wash your hands often enough and if you touch germy surfaces like elevator buttons and handrails and then touch your face. You get sick if you party/drink/eat too much and sleep too little. You get sick if someone in the buffet line before you coughed on the food and then you unknowingly eat it.

 

All you can do is try to wash your hands often (especially before eating), and keep them away from your face. Keep your distance (as possible) from people coughing or sneezing. Avoid the buffet. Avoid uncooked foods while onshore in some ports. Probiotics may help - science is still divided on this. If you don't eat properly take the right vitamins - if you do eat properly (which also helps you stay healthy) science says you don't need them. Get 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

 

Believe what you want to believe, but the science is the science.

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We got off Reflection on April 2. A few days later I had Bronchitis and my husband pneumonia. He was in the hospital for 5 days. Did we catch a bad strain? Anyone else have an issue like this after cruising?

 

 

If memory serves, the incubation period for bronchitis is 4-6 days and for pneumonia 1-3 days after exposure. That may help you figure out where you were exposed.

 

Despite rigorous hand-washing and sanitizing, you are still be exposed to germs and bacteria on ships, airplanes, and all sorts of public places. We have been lucky by washing our hands before meals, sanitizing on the way into the food venue, and then sanitizing again after we've touched serving ladles, menus, the chair when we pull it in, the salt/pepper shakers, etc.

 

Overkill? Think about the person who left the restroom without washing his/her hands, skirted the sanitizer station, touched the serving ladles, the menus, the chair, the salt/pepper shaker, etc.

 

Having grown up in the pre-polio vaccine era, we learned all about hand washing at an early age.

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Does anyone think that the germs travel through the air conditioning system and that is what can make us sick?

No. The AC has a filtering system that the air has to pass through, also the air intakes are on the outside of the ship so it is n ot recycle air.

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Does anyone think that the germs travel through the air conditioning system and that is what can make us sick?

 

 

This can be a real possibility. The worst is probably Legionnaires Disease which seems to pop up somewhere every couple of years. The issue with the AC system is if the condensate doesn't flow out of the AC system and forms pools of water in the system. These pools of water can be the home of many forms of bacteria or viruses to grown and eventually infect people. Usually people with compromised immune systems are affected first.

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My DH and I both got sick after our April 2 Reflection cruise. I got the stomach bug and DH caught a bronchitis type cold. Still recovering. Who knows where we caught this. We flew in and out and stayed in hotels as well. I seem to get sick after every time I fly these days and I fly a lot. I wash my hands and use sanitizer frequently but still get sick. I'm going to try airborne before leaving. My TA swears by it or maybe she's just lucky. She travels all the time and never gets sick. She starts taking Airborn a week before leaving and Emergen C.

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My DH and I both got sick after our April 2 Reflection cruise. I got the stomach bug and DH caught a bronchitis type cold. Still recovering. Who knows where we caught this. We flew in and out and stayed in hotels as well. I seem to get sick after every time I fly these days and I fly a lot. I wash my hands and use sanitizer frequently but still get sick. I'm going to try airborne before leaving. My TA swears by it or maybe she's just lucky. She travels all the time and never gets sick. She starts taking Airborn a week before leaving and Emergen C.

 

 

 

Husband and I too got sick while on April 2 cruise... bad cough.... I noticed there was a lot of coughing around the ship ....staff too... hope everyone feels better soon... cough cough☹️

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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We also catch a COLD, cough etc. Eclipse March 18 to April 1. Many passengers with symptoms. Sea water was cold and the hot sun, then enter to the ship with the AC at the top. Many factors contribute to get the cold

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40 cruises and on probably 35 of them I come home with what we call “ cruise cough”. It lasts a couple of weeks.

 

When you think about it you have approx 2800 people, many who flew on airplanes (haven for airborn germs) to get to the ship add to that the people in the hotels where many stayed. Then there folks who board the ship ill but don’t declare it for fear of not being allowed to board and it is amazing more people don’t get sick.

 

Yes this is very common. More often than not, I have some kind of cold, flu, bronchial issues either right on the ship or after coming home. I have been lucky on the last few cruises, always washing hands, wearing a glove to touch serving utensils in the Buffet, really recommend taking zinc at the slightest throat scratch. Ok I am not a germaphobe, so dont come down on me like a ton of bricks. Just trying to help.

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Sea water was cold and the hot sun, then enter to the ship with the AC at the top. Many factors contribute to get the cold

 

Is this a joke? Those factors have NOTHING to do with getting a cold.

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