2 adults just off Disney Dream - Good, the bad and the Noro

[Trekker954]

We are 30+ royal cruisers that wanted to try Disney due to hearing how great the shows are, the food and heard Castaway Cay is the best private island.

 

We drove up to Melbourne Wednesday and stayed overnight in Fairfield. Had an awesome casual dinner at Shells Seafood. Received a 40% off coupon for port Canaveral parking garage from Fairfield with our stay. unfortunately this was going to be a very cold weekend.

 

Parked on Disney garage Level 3 with the flyover bridge. This was great although we ended up right at security but still had our bag which we had planned to drop off. You have to go out of your way to drop off the bag, if you do the flyover bridge so we ended up keeping it with us. Security was a breeze, then you go down an escalator and get in line. This was our first Disney cruise so we got in the bigger line, but it moved quickly. We checked in around noonish, so moved right along and go on the ship right away. There were many lines waiting to take photos with characters who were in the terminal and this would be a scene we would see over and over again. Some lines to get your picture with Mickey and Minnie or even Peter Pan would be over an hour long. So I feel for those parents who wanted their little ones to have many photo ops. you might spend most of your day in lines. The good part was, although there were always ship photographers, there always seemed to be staff who would use your camera to take photos if you wanted to be in the picture.

 

We went to Cabanas (buffet) for lunch (dragging our luggage), we stopped at the dining hall to request just us for a table, but was told they would put us on a wait list, but right now we were at a table with two other adults. So that was fine.

 

We got into our room by 1:30 and it was nice having our bag so we could unpack. We had an inside because we wanted that infamous magic porthole and were not disappointed. This porthole is far better than a regular porthole. Regular portholes you must stand up by it to see out. This magic porthole showed the outside view with the occasional surprise from anywhere in the cabin. And it was more or less High definition. it was quite a good picture. We were across from a NCL in Nassau and it seemed so magnified I was truly able to see the activity on those balconies (maybe a bit too much). lol

 

Now regarding rooms on DCL. A shock that I can't believe I didn't read about before boarding nor having my travel agent tell me. I typically travel with my daughter or friends. My only experience is on Royal, Celebrity and Carnival. I've always had the beds separated. No problem. Disney cruise lines has a queen bed, a real bed unlike the cot like on others, but its a bed that cannot be separated. They do have sofa bed in all their cabins and of course bed/s that recede from the ceiling. This may have swayed me from booking had I known this. We were two adults. Now my daughter would have to be on the sofa bed, which she declared uncomfortable after the first night. One thing I will say about Disney. One little mention of anything negative, they bend over backwards to help. The stateroom attendant had said they did not have any extra padding when I asked. That was it, yet I got a call on Day 2 from Housekeeping telling me they found some foam and it was on the sofa bed that night.

 

The food was very good. We started off dining in the Enchanted Dining room. (BTW, we stopped in our room, filled up our wine glasses with wine we brought on board and took it into the dining room) no problem. When we showed up for our 5:45 dining, they told us they tried to reach us to tell us we could have a "just us" seating at the 8:15. We decided we were hungry and were fine with a table for four. Our seatmates were a pleasant couple who probably would be eating in specialty anyway. Our staff was wonderful. Food great. next night was Royal Palace, service was much slower and we were alone. We didn't get to eat in Animators Palace where we were most looking forward to. (more on that later).

 

Everywhere we went we saw these crazy lines for the character photos. The children were all so cute, dressed up in princess outfits. The pool was packed with children at most times, Many times I passes, they were emptying the pools to clean them. I imagine anytime a child had an accident in the pool (poo or vomit), they would get everyone out. I only walked by a few times to get a drink and saw this, so I imagine this happens pretty often.

 

While in Nassau, the pool was still crowded, so I guess many didn't get off the ship. We've been often, so do not usually get off. The terminal does have free wi fi now, so we got off to check our mail for about 1/2 hour. The crew is there in full force emails and skyping, etc. its nice not having to walk to dunkin donuts for wi fi.

 

Emily and I decided to try the Aquaduck that day and still had a 45 minute wait but that wait can get over an hour as well. It was very cold and the water took my breath away. it was a lot of fun but was over in probably under a minute. Once was enough. Maybe on a warm day I would have waited again.

 

The shows Golden Mickeys and Villians were pretty good, but didn't get to see Believe. I expected more with the reviews. I wouldn't compare them to Royals Broadway shows, but the singers were pretty good and the costumes were amazing.

 

Castaway Cay was a disappointment to me. I don't think it was any prettier than Coco Cay (Royals island). I think there was more to do there if you opted for one of the excursions. What I did like about it. All the chairs were set up equally over the beach. There was not staff/locals bothering us to set up chairs for tips. The tram drivers did not solicit tips. There was not anyone bothering us to buy their wares or solicit tips. We took the tram to the adults area but left quickly as that beach was not calm nor as nice as the other coves. We went back to pelican point cove and as it wasn't the greatest day, it was fairly quiet and the kids did not bother us. The water was too cold to do snorkeling.

 

The main movies being shown were Frozen, Thor, Saving Mr. Banks and Monsters.... I saw Frozen in 3D, it was great.

 

The adult areas are very nice. The pool area was great, although lots of kids are walking through to use the forward elevator. The adult Jacuzzi is a little on the small side and gets way overcrowded.

 

Even though there are adults areas, make no mistake, you cannot get away from the children. This is a Disney cruise afterall. There are really a ton of kids and young kids at that. You will hear crying and whining during dinner and in the movie theaters. Probably the theater was the most annoying. With that said, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. parents did seem to be very involved, I didn't see any kids on their own causing havoc on board. The kids were all pretty well behaved.

 

I do believe the Disney staff was far more accommodating than on Royal ships.

 

So when we woke up on Saturday, our last full day, Emily complained of a tummy ache and she took some pepto. We left the beach early to go back to the ship b/c her stomach was hurting more. when we got on board, she had some plain rice. We were going to see Frozen at 3ish. She decided to sleep instead. When I returned from the movie, she was in a lot of pain to the point, lets go to Medical. We know that's never good, but she was afraid as it was so painful, and although no fever, she had both ends working against her. When we got there, there were quite a few others with the same symptoms. BTW, we are those crazy people, that wipe down our cabin with Lysol wipes when we get on board. We are OCD in washing hands and more so on a cruise ship. So we take every precaution possible. The doctor gave her a full exam, concentrating on her stomach. Said he doubted it was food poisoning but probably a virus. He gave her a shot, pills consisting of anti diahrea, anti cramping, ummmm, one other forgot what that was. As well as here it goes - ISOLATION. The shot was extremely painful. Emily has a high threshold but said it was the most painful shot she has ever gotten. It goes right into the bloodstream. It took a long time to ease her pain. The doctor was a little concerned it was taking so long, but eventually it helped. She was no permitted any food.

 

This is why we missed dinner in Animation (boo hoo) and the show Believe. I went by the restaurant to drop off their tip envelops. The concierge , who was already told about Emily told me to come back at the 8:15 dining time and he'd make sure I'd have a good dinner, but I didn't want to leave Emily. Emily received an isolation letter in our cabin within the hour with the do and don'ts. When I wanted to order room service, they wanted to make sure it was "just" for me as Emily was not allowed anything. They even knew. So they must send out a 911 to All venues to make sure they turn away the sick. lol

 

For those who receive an isolation letter, it does state that if there are children in the room with the person who is isolated, they are asked not to participate in any activities either (not sure what that means, maybe they cannot participate in the childrens' program). Didn't really apply to us, so I didn't pursue, but found it interesting it was geared toward children.

 

Emily was not going anywhere as she was pretty ill and would never subject others to illness. I spend the next hour, packing our suitcases as disembarkation was the next morning.

 

I knew that I wasn't feeling that great either by around 7 as I hadn't eaten since noon and wasn't hungry. By 9 I could barely leave the bathroom and the rest of the night I was in the same state as Emily but without the severe pain. Luckily Emily had so many drugs in her system by now that she slept through and we weren't fighting for the bathroom.

 

Everyone has to be out of their staterooms by 8. By 7:40 Disney makes an announcement the ship is cleared, to go have breakfast and leave the ship. Everyone must be off by 9 am. We left immediately and walked right off as neither one of us wanted breakfast. At this point Emily was in better shape then I was, so opted to do the driving home (3 1/2 hours). We made one stop and made it home in 3 hours. We both went to bed. I slept the entire day and night. I feel much better today.

 

So noro was definitely on board. I've never heard of Disney noro on the news as much as you do Royal, Carnival, NCL. But with the number of folks in Medical plus the doctors reaction, it was in full force. I wonder what the number is. BTW, there was no charge for the medical service we received due to the diagnosis.

 

Emily lost out on her internet package she purchased the first day as she was too sick to text about $40 worth. I probably could have gone and asked for that to be refunded back to her since she was too sick, but wasn't sure if she would end up waking up feeling better.

 

This illness definitely takes 24 to 48 hours to pass through as is reported.

[aimish]

I hate reading stories like this. It stinks that noro is a virus because the bacterial wipes don't kill it. I'm sorry you both got so ill. Glad you are feeling better now.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

What a bummer.

 

Our 3 Day Disney Dream was Magical. Btw, Believe was our least favorite show with Golden Mickeys being our favorite (if that helps :( ) and its a shame about AP, as that was indeed our favorite dining room. DCL is constantly on the wipee patrol to sanitize, but as mentioned, it may not help keep the viruses away. I think the number one problem is that I let myself get dehyrdated (who wants to drink water when diet coke is free) and so now, whenever I am getting ready to travel or around people sick, I stock up on EMERGEN-Cs and drink them round the clock. It has helped me to get rid of sickies on the way to WDW and cruises (I left feeling better, than how I got there) and keep the crud at bay once I arrive. I also am a VERY BIG BELIEVER in probiotics, although they help me more digestively but I have heard that they help with immunity as well. I don't suppose there is much else any of us can do regarding noro. There are still too many hand rails, public bathroom doors and so forth that it is hard to keep the crud at bay.

 

Sorry that you had lousy weather on Castaway. We really truly did LOVE this island, but we went in Mid-april and it was perfect 82 degrees, great for volleyball, count to 1-2-3 and jump into Pelicans point. I haven't cruised in January because sometimes they can't even dock at Castaway due to weather. We don't cruise before the end of Feb and we think our May 5th will hopefully have ideal weather (although you never know.)

 

Hope you enjoyed the ship as much as we did! We used to cruise Royal quite a bit growing up but found their cruise ships to be less than memorable (although Hawaii was wonderful of course!) Then we switched to CCL when it was good and honestly it was the same or better than RCCL back then. Now CCL just stinks, has major service and entertainment let downs and so we are just excited to be cruising DCL with our Visa rewards discounts, 10% off bookings and off season to help us get on board.

 

We definitely thought they had the best stateroom we had ever stayed in, the best servers we have had in years, and the nicest ship and island. I haven't been to CoCoCay in some time but there weren't very many amenities there when we did. However, it was some of the best snorkeling we have ever had. We also LOVE LOVE LOVE Nassau (blue Lagoon). If you have a plan, you can have a great day. But since you lost a day being sick, I suppose it is good that you stayed on board.

 

Sorry to hear that your trip did not end well. :(

[dinkydee718]

Sorry your trip did not turn out as you had hoped.

 

I definitely think DCL is an atypical cruise line. Unlike other lines, there is no casino, few late night adult activities, less daytime activities that adults might enjoy (like climbing walls,rope course and that sort of thing), and less food variety. Having said that, nothing beats DCL's service. In my experience, they will do whatever it takes to make sure their guests are having a great time. Apparently, that carries over to keeping their sick guests away from their healthy guests and potential carriers away as well!

 

When I first read your post I was taken aback by the fact that they'd keep a healthy child "isolated" just because someone else in their cabin was ill. Then I realized that these viruses are often spread by touch, so it makes sense that a child with no symptoms has been exposed to a virus in his or her cabin. That child would then be touching everything in the Club and other kids would touch it, put their hands in the mouth, rub their eyes, whatever...and the virus would just keep spreading. I guess I should be grateful Disney takes such a hardline approach about "isolation."

 

Castaway Cay is not my favorite, so I can relate to what you're saying. I have never been to any other cruise line's private island so I have no point of comparison. From what I have heard, it is one of the better ones.

 

I hope you and Emily are feeling 100% now!

[wdwlvr]

Thank you for your review and comparing Disney to Royal. So sorry to hear you and your daughter both got sick. Not a great way to end vacation. I'm not 100% sure, but I think if you have travel insurance she might be compensated for that lost day.

 

I believe the Wonder still has the queen beds that split into two twins. I know the Dream and Fantasy don't as it was talked about quite a bit on Disney sites when the Dream first came out. I think the Magic got the beds that don't split on the last dry dock.

 

It was interesting to hear your take on Coco Cay especially concering all the asking/hinting for tips.

 

I hope you and your daughter get to enjoy Disney again, hopefully with better weather and no sickness.

[Host Mick]

I hate reading stories like this. It stinks that noro is a virus because the bacterial wipes don't kill it. I'm sorry you both got so ill. Glad you are feeling better now.

 

Norovirus is killed by both >80% alcohol and chlorohexidine, both are commonly found in "Antibiotic" wipes and gels.

 

Why would a cruise line hand out a product that doesn't kill what they are trying to kill?

[Loonbeam]

Most of the wipes aren't that strong. But they do help a lot by physically removing the virus shed from the hands, etc, greatly limiting spread potential.

 

Norovirus is killed by both >80% alcohol and chlorohexidine, both are commonly found in "Antibiotic" wipes and gels.

 

Why would a cruise line hand out a product that doesn't kill what they are trying to kill?

[Melanore82]

Norovirus is killed by both >80% alcohol and chlorohexidine, both are commonly found in "Antibiotic" wipes and gels.

 

Why would a cruise line hand out a product that doesn't kill what they are trying to kill?

 

From what I was told by my child's pediatrician, alcohol-based wipes are ineffective against viruses. You need to use a specific type of wipe. Assuming that the ships use the correct wipes, most people do not use them effectively. You'd have to rub them on every crevice of your hands to kill everything. Plus, they kill the "good" bacteria on your skin, not just the bad. Better to wash with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds.

[Ex techie]

Just install these, no more wipes.

 

 

ex techie

[runnergirl71]

Wipes and various sanitizing measures only go so far.

 

Sadly, there are people who lie on the pre-boarding form about signs of illness so that they are not denied boarding. My guess is that at least a good portion of the cases that run rampant over ships could probably be traced back to someone (or someone's child) who HAD indeed suffered symptoms in the time-frame not being honest on the form and figuring it wouldn't hurt anyone.

[Host Mick]

From what I was told by my child's pediatrician, alcohol-based wipes are ineffective against viruses. You need to use a specific type of wipe. Assuming that the ships use the correct wipes, most people do not use them effectively. You'd have to rub them on every crevice of your hands to kill everything. Plus, they kill the "good" bacteria on your skin, not just the bad. Better to wash with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds.

 

Handwashing is always better than gels and wipes but gels and wipes are better than nothing.

 

Here's the CDC page on cruise ships and Norovirus.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/norovirus/Norovirus.htm

[Host Mick]

Most of the wipes aren't that strong. But they do help a lot by physically removing the virus shed from the hands, etc, greatly limiting spread potential.

 

That 80% should have read 60% to 95%. That's the current CDC recommendation for alcohol hand sanitizers. Oddly, 100% alcohol doesn't kill germs well. It needs the water to work.

[ilovetexas]

Very sorry you got sick! We've been on two DCL cruises and got sick on both. Kids came down with Noro (well, some sort of GI grossness) on the first one and I came home with strep throat on the second one. The kids are horrible at hand washing but I'm not. Strep was an ongoing problem on the Fantasy when it first sailed, from what I heard/read.

 

I think DCL under-reports it's numbers when it comes to illness and that's why you don't hear about them as much. We can all argue about this if we want but I know for a fact that the Wonder in Jan 2010 should have been reported to the CDC and wasn't. We (and several other parents I spoke with) were told NOT to bring our second child in to medical when he got sick, too. They just had me come pick up meds for him. That means only 50% of the sick people in our cabin were correctly reported as sick. The ship was on lock-down by the second day, staff was sick, etc. It really stinks trying to disembark a ship with sick children!

 

Anyway, hand washing beats wipes or gels any time as it will get the germs (viral or bacterial) OFF your hands. I do like the hand washing stations posted by Ex Techie, they have them on CCL Sunshine and I'll be on her a week from Sunday so I can see if people really use them.

 

Your review was great, DCL is a great line. I do think they made a dumb mistake with the beds that can't be separated. A lot of us travel with family/friends that we don't typically share a bed with! I also thought Coco Cay was just as nice as Castaway and Half Moon Cay was far prettier than either. That said, I loved the tram on Castaway!

[Host Mick]

Very sorry you got sick! We've been on two DCL cruises and got sick on both. Kids came down with Noro (well, some sort of GI grossness) on the first one and I came home with strep throat on the second one. The kids are horrible at hand washing but I'm not. Strep was an ongoing problem on the Fantasy when it first sailed, from what I heard/read.

 

I think DCL under-reports it's numbers when it comes to illness and that's why you don't hear about them as much. We can all argue about this if we want but I know for a fact that the Wonder in Jan 2010 should have been reported to the CDC and wasn't. We (and several other parents I spoke with) were told NOT to bring our second child in to medical when he got sick, too. They just had me come pick up meds for him. That means only 50% of the sick people in our cabin were correctly reported as sick. The ship was on lock-down by the second day, staff was sick, etc. It really stinks trying to disembark a ship with sick children!

 

 

What makes you sure that your second child wasn't reported? They issued meds so they may have counted your child without seeing him. It looks as though they were trying to reduce contamination by keeping the kid in the cabin.

It may be possible that Disney ships are cleaner than most. The Fantasy and the Dream both scored 100% on their last VSP inspection.

[runnergirl71]

Very sorry you got sick! We've been on two DCL cruises and got sick on both. Kids came down with Noro (well, some sort of GI grossness) on the first one and I came home with strep throat on the second one. The kids are horrible at hand washing but I'm not. Strep was an ongoing problem on the Fantasy when it first sailed, from what I heard/read.

 

I think DCL under-reports it's numbers when it comes to illness and that's why you don't hear about them as much. We can all argue about this if we want but I know for a fact that the Wonder in Jan 2010 should have been reported to the CDC and wasn't. We (and several other parents I spoke with) were told NOT to bring our second child in to medical when he got sick, too. They just had me come pick up meds for him. That means only 50% of the sick people in our cabin were correctly reported as sick. The ship was on lock-down by the second day, staff was sick, etc. It really stinks trying to disembark a ship with sick children!

 

Anyway, hand washing beats wipes or gels any time as it will get the germs (viral or bacterial) OFF your hands. I do like the hand washing stations posted by Ex Techie, they have them on CCL Sunshine and I'll be on her a week from Sunday so I can see if people really use them.

 

Your review was great, DCL is a great line. I do think they made a dumb mistake with the beds that can't be separated. A lot of us travel with family/friends that we don't typically share a bed with! I also thought Coco Cay was just as nice as Castaway and Half Moon Cay was far prettier than either. That said, I loved the tram on Castaway!

 

If the ship was on lockdown by the second day, that's almost for sure a case of someone lying on their embarkation form about someone in the party exhibiting signs of illness.

 

To me, that's the truly terrifying thing. The ship is depending on people's honesty as they're not going to do random health checks as you board (though I'd assume something would be done if a child or adult barfed in the terminal), and far too many people think that rules don't apply to them, didn't get trip insurance, and/or just figure no one will know (if parents will tell a child to say they're younger than they are to get a child's rate, I definitely don't think they're above saying "Act like you're feeling well. Don't tell anyone you threw up."). They don't realize they're endangering everyone on the ship for their selfishness.

[moki'smommy]

Dcl has a series of steps that are instituted when a threshold of ill persons on board is reached. They do not take the needed viral identification tests, but diagnose "Noro" based on symptoms (there are other viruses that can cause the same symptom complex, but Noro is the most common in a closed population situation.) These steps include serving at the buffets and beverage stations (rather than self serve), increased cleaning, etc.

 

DCL runs one of the cleanest fleets anywhere--they are constantly cleaning and sanitizing elevator buttons, hand rails, menus, etc. However, nothing can eliminate all contamination whether it comes from someone who boards ill/during the incubation period or someone who contracts the illness on board. Doing our part as guests includes both the hand wipes and careful attention to hand washing.

 

Sorry you were ill.

[cruisegirl99]

Sorry you got ill onboard. Getting sick is never fun, much less when you are on vacation. AP is my favorite too. I have heard of other's being able to get their dinner delivered to their stateroom in this situation. Also all the shows are "on demand" in the staterooms. I loved all the shows but I've seen them a number of times so I'm going to skip them this time. I hope that you give Disney another chance. I know that I didn't have a good time on my first RCL cruise and I have planned a few but with the service I get from Disney, I know what to expect but with the new Oasis class I don't know if I can hold out much longer!

[ilovetexas]

What makes you sure that your second child wasn't reported? They issued meds so they may have counted your child without seeing him. It looks as though they were trying to reduce contamination by keeping the kid in the cabin.

It may be possible that Disney ships are cleaner than most. The Fantasy and the Dream both scored 100% on their last VSP inspection.

 

When I got back in touch with DCL afterwards, they gave me a refund for my daughter's cruise but had NO indication that my son was sick "since he didn't go to the medical center". So no, I don't think it was reported. Plus I don't believe DCL has managed to go over a decade (legitimately) without making it onto the CDCs VSP list. It just isn't possible with that many kids onboard, I don't care how clean they are. We've sailed many times on four different lines and the only time we've gotten sick was on DCL.

 

Take a look at posts 22 and 73 in this thread from the DIS (and 115 is my post). This family that LBGraves is speaking of is not us, it's another family that we don't even know that was on our same cruise: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2927716&page=2

 

Also, this is a CC thread I started after the incident and you even commented a couple of times. Post #20 is amazing since I know those numbers to be FALSE! Between speaking to our steward, our servers and Guest Services, there were far more than 46 passengers and 3 crew sick. We were told our service issues were due to so many sick crew members. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1118671

 

There are others, but I can't quickly locate them. I like DCL, I really do. If they weren't so darned expensive, I'd be on their ships more than I am. However, their illness reporting doesn't pass the sniff test with me.

[CI66774]

I am so sorry you fell ill on your cruise. I've (knock on wood) never gotten noro on any of my cruises. However, I came down with a nasty cold on the QM2. It's never good to be sick unless you can rest in your own bed. I loved my DCL cruise but with so many children, I believe the probability of getting something (cold, bacterial infection, etc.) probably is higher than those lines without high numbers of children. When my daughter started daycare, she brought home every cootie known to mankind and Mommy caught most of them!!

[Tenderpaw]

I've been on 6 Disney Cruises and have been sick on 2 of them. One was a respiratory illness at the end of the cruise that made the last day miserable and the other was on the Fantasy last year where i got a stomach bug. The stomach bug started out on day 5 as just feeling "weird" but not bad. I wasn't really hungry all day (definitely unusual) and just didn't feel right. Then about 11 that night it hit me. I took some meds and felt better and was able to sleep. The next day i was fine but I self quarantined and pretty much stayed on our balcony and didn't go the buffet or dining room. My wife brought my food to the room. I didn't go to the med center though, so Disney never knew i was sick.

 

I too am OCD about washing and wipes but i got it anyway. When i knew i had it, i wiped everything in the room and especially the bathroom and my wife and child never got sick. Of course it may not have been noro.

 

I think the number of kids on Disney makes it more likely to get sick and i don't think there is anything Disney can do beyond what they are doing. I have gotten sick on other cruises, usually catching a cold. I also had a stomach bug hit me the day after we got home from a Royal Caribbean cruise that i suspected i picked up on the ship.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Tenderpaw

[Talex831]

I think it is actually just the opposite. Kids are in school exposed to way more germs daily than they will encounter on a cruise ship. Because of this, kids most likely have stronger immune systems than the adults cruising. Also consider other lines attract more seniors who are almost always more susceptible to catching illnesses. I do think it is likely that DCL has less illness than other lines. Also regarding the OP's comment about children sharing a cabin with the sick quarantined person....I think they ask the child to not visit the clubs in case they have the ability to spread the virus. They are not quarantined to the cabin.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[aimish]

I think you're both right!

 

There are more kids on Disney ships, so there are more germs onboard than on non-DCL cruises, but because there is probably a much lower percentage of elderly people onboard, there are less people actually getting sick from the exposure to the germs!

 

It is probably more likely that elderly or those with a weak immune systems will get sick on a Disney cruise.

[Host Mick]

I think it is actually just the opposite. Kids are in school exposed to way more germs daily than they will encounter on a cruise ship. Because of this, kids most likely have stronger immune systems than the adults cruising. Also consider other lines attract more seniors who are almost always more susceptible to catching illnesses. I do think it is likely that DCL has less illness than other lines. Also regarding the OP's comment about children sharing a cabin with the sick quarantined person....I think they ask the child to not visit the clubs in case they have the ability to spread the virus. They are not quarantined to the cabin.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

It's the other way around. Adults are much less succeptable to communicable disease because they already have had many of the strains and their blood streams are full of antibodies. Kids on the other hand are very succeptable to colds and the like because they are mostly antibody-free.

[Host Mick]

When I got back in touch with DCL afterwards, they gave me a refund for my daughter's cruise but had NO indication that my son was sick "since he didn't go to the medical center". So no, I don't think it was reported. Plus I don't believe DCL has managed to go over a decade (legitimately) without making it onto the CDCs VSP list. It just isn't possible with that many kids onboard, I don't care how clean they are. We've sailed many times on four different lines and the only time we've gotten sick was on DCL.

 

Take a look at posts 22 and 73 in this thread from the DIS (and 115 is my post). This family that LBGraves is speaking of is not us, it's another family that we don't even know that was on our same cruise: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2927716&page=2

 

Also, this is a CC thread I started after the incident and you even commented a couple of times. Post #20 is amazing since I know those numbers to be FALSE! Between speaking to our steward, our servers and Guest Services, there were far more than 46 passengers and 3 crew sick. We were told our service issues were due to so many sick crew members. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1118671

 

There are others, but I can't quickly locate them. I like DCL, I really do. If they weren't so darned expensive, I'd be on their ships more than I am. However, their illness reporting doesn't pass the sniff test with me.

 

I didn't notice that we were rehashing an old event here. Perhaps you should call the CDC and tell them that you think that DCL is falsifying the records. That might make you feel better.

[dinkydee718]

It's the other way around. Adults are much less succeptable to communicable disease because they already have had many of the strains and their blood streams are full of antibodies. Kids on the other hand are very succeptable to colds and the like because they are mostly antibody-free.

 

That's why they always recommend that children, elderly and pregnant women (who generally have weakened immune systems) get flu shots, but they don't typically push regular, old adults to get it. Most adults have already been exposed to many different flu strains. Kids have not.