When we have been sick on a cruise - what about you?

[Love.II.Cruise]

Our average cruise length is 14 nights.  A couple months ago, on a walk, my husband and I talked about how often we get sick with a "respiratory" illness on a cruise.  It's A LOT.  It was hard for us to even find a cruise where we didn't remember either of us getting sick on the cruise, shortly near the end, or quickly thereafter.  

 

This probably will lead into how sanitary we are.  We wash our hands all the time before meals (not just use sanitizer before entry to a restaurant).  Even when we leave a public restroom, we never touch the handle with our clean hands (use towel).  We use our knuckles for elevator buttons.  We avoid touching handrails in hallways and stairways (our preferred mode of travel before elevators - just for extra exercise. 🙂).  

 

I do think we are just more highly susceptible to respiratory illness.  Our last cruise was last November and I kid you not, at one point it seemed like half the passengers and crew were sick.  We heard so much coughing.  That was a transatlantic cruise.  I do wonder if more people get sick on a long cruise when there are more sea days.  

 

So my question to you - how often do you get a respiratory illness on a cruise?  Do you think more people get sick on a cruise of longer length (14 days+)?  Do you think cruise ship size matters?  Do you think the number of sea days matter?  I encourage others to throw out other questions on this topic.  

Edited September 1, 2020 by Love.II.Cruise
changed title

[SelectSys]

I got sick right after my last transatlantic cruise.  I knew something was coming on as we were departing the ship and by the time we went home 5 days later I was in the midst of a really bad cold.  Who knows where and how I got sick.  It was probably on the ship or at our last stop.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 minutes ago, Love.II.Cruise said:

Our average cruise length is 14 nights.  A couple months ago, on a walk, my husband and I talked about how often we get sick with a "respiratory" illness on a cruise.  It's A LOT.  It was hard for us to even find a cruise where we didn't remember either of us getting sick on the cruise, shortly near the end, or quickly thereafter.  

 

This probably will lead into how sanitary we are.  We wash our hands all the time before meals (not just use sanitizer before entry a restaurant).  Even when we leave a public restroom, we never touch the handle with our clean hands (use towel).  We use our knuckles for elevator buttons.  We avoid touching handrails in hallways and stairways (our preferred mode of travel before elevators - just for extra exercise. 🙂).  

 

I do think we are just more highly susceptible to respiratory illness.  Our last cruise was last November and I kid you not, at one point it seemed like half passengers and crew were sick.  We heard so much coughing.  That was a transatlantic cruise.  I do wonder if more people get sick on a long cruise when there are more sea days.  

 

So my question to you - how often do you get a respiratory illness on a cruise?  Do you think more people get sick on a cruise of longer length (14 days+)?  Do you think cruise ship size matters?  Do you think the number of sea days matter?  I encourage others to throw out other questions on this topic.  

So - your example was a transoceanic cruise which suggests that you (and many other folks) may have boarded a plane days before embarkation.

There are just way too many variables at play to blame your ills solely on the cruise. But, it certainly is possible - particularly if your ship has a lousy passenger/space ratio and poor maintenance/food safety policies/procedures.

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

39 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

So - your example was a transoceanic cruise which suggests that you (and many other folks) may have boarded a plane days before embarkation.

There are just way too many variables at play to blame your ills solely on the cruise. But, it certainly is possible - particularly if your ship has a lousy passenger/space ratio and poor maintenance/food safety policies/procedures.

 

 

That was only our latest example, which was on NCL Epic - not a small ship.  However, we've done a 2 week cruise out of St. Martin (not transatlantic) with Windstar with under 350 passengers and were also sick at the end (only 1 sea day and sometimes 2 ports in one day).  And I'm pretty sure every one was on a plane before this cruise.  So, again, my questions are "how often do you get a respiratory illness on a cruise?  Do you think more people get sick on a cruise of longer length (14 days+)?  Do you think cruise ship size matters?  Do you think the number of sea days matter?  I encourage others to throw out other questions on this topic."  

Edited September 1, 2020 by Love.II.Cruise

[neverbeenhere]

I don’t want to speak for the wife(of course I do), but yes, you likely are highly susceptible to respiratory issues.  You probably could do everything “right” and you will still come down with something. Don’t worry about it, prepare for it. Bring whatever has worked in the past (the list could be a mile long). 
 

Added: while traveling, you run into numerous environmental items that are not in your everyday life. Any of which could lead to issues. Also: you are sure it is going to happen. Nervous tension is man’s invention. 
 

enjoy your cruises when you can. 

Edited September 1, 2020 by neverbeenhere

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, Love.II.Cruise said:

how often do you get a respiratory illness on a cruise?

The absolute worst respiratory illness I've had was at the end of my first cruise (a 15 night cruise).  My head and ears were so stuffed that they hurt.  It lasted for at least 2 weeks.

 

I've had such illness only occasionally.  Like on a 21 night Panama Canal cruise when our table mates showed up 2 nights before the end of the cruise hacking and sneezing (no one's going to stop them from eating in the dining room).  Yes, about 3 days after I got home, I got it.....

 

I also was so sick on the second leg of our Western/Eastern Caribbean B2B that I skipped Jamaica.  

 

We've done cruises from 4 nights to 29 nights in length.  And it seems that the longer ones have much more "cruise crud" going around than the shorter ones.  But it could be an illusion, because on a shorter cruise the same numbers of people could be getting sick, but they're home by the time the symptoms show up.

[Love.II.Cruise]

13 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

And it seems that the longer ones have much more "cruise crud" going around than the shorter ones.  But it could be an illusion, because on a shorter cruise the same numbers of people could be getting sick, but they're home by the time the symptoms show up.

I agree with you on that- we've also had those times when we get sick after a short cruise once we are home.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Love.II.Cruise

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Love.II.Cruise said:

NCL Epic - not a small ship.

FWIW, the size of the ship is only half the equation when figuring the passenger space ratio. A "large" ship can have s terrible space ratio with many thousands of passengers.

[bigrednole]

From an outside perspective, the people on a 14-night cruise are also older and retired. Not too many families can take that kind of time off and kids out of school. With that perspective, you are taking people from all over the country, putting them in a generally confined space, sharing germs they brought from wherever. You have a 100% older population, susceptible to illness far easier, antiquated air filtration systems circulating germs back onto everyone, and as you stated, people just hacking away on everything. To me it does make it sound like a petri dish of death floating.

[sanger727]

Just curious how long you remain sick after a cruise. Some people blame it on the ship's AC for causing respiratory symptoms in them, not necessarily a viral illness. I can only think of one cruise where I got sick during it. I could see it coming. It was a 12 nighter and noticed alot of people throughout the cruise coughing, sure enough, towards the end of the cruise I came down with cold symptoms. But I've been on other 10-12 day cruises without getting sick so think it was just a number of people on that specific cruise that boarded with a virus. I rarely get sick, so that might be part of the difference. 

[MBP&O2/O]

From the other side of the coin ..... I suspect the pax space ratio has an awful lot to do with it?
The first ship I went to sea on had, using the standard pax space ratio calculation, a pax space ratio in excess of 750!
The smallest had a ratio well in excess of 100 ...
All statistical I know, but I never met anyone who had any respiratory issues.

[K32682]

The typical cruise ship provides an environment not unlike that of a nursing home or retirement residence.  Older than average population living in close quarters, often with shared accomodation, communal eating at set times, group excursions and activities and a workforce primarily drawn from developing countries.  Nursing homes are regularly closed for outbreaks of infections so it shouldn't be a surprise that viral infections are frequent and spread rapidly on cruise ships. 

[Sea Hag]

We're careful about sanitation when we cruise. Hubby has gotten sick on two cruises and sick a day or two after one cruise. One of the cruises he came down with something on involved a plane trip, so anybody's guess on where he caught what he caught. The other cruise he got a really bad cold on was on Disney, where there were flocks of little bitty kids all over the place. Charming little germ factories. We drove to that one, so no plane flights. Last one, where he became ill a day or two after, was also a drive to the ship. I never have gotten sick either on a cruise or shortly thereafter. There isn't any trend on this that I can see, other than hubby fares worse than I do.

[Tapi]

No respiratory illnesses, but I’ve had food poisoning (or some sort of severe gastrointestinal illness) twice (once on a Holland America cruise and once on a Carnival cruise). 
 

I have become hyper-vigilant about hygiene, not only mine but that of those around me. One time I was in the restroom outside the buffet washing my hands, and this man was in one of the stalls going #2. He came out of the stall, bypassed the sinks, and walked out of the restroom in front of me and straight to the buffet line.🤢

 

Some passengers do so many stupid things, that it amazes me that more of them don’t get sick. 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Tapi

[lenquixote66]

14 hours ago, Love.II.Cruise said:

Our average cruise length is 14 nights.  A couple months ago, on a walk, my husband and I talked about how often we get sick with a "respiratory" illness on a cruise.  It's A LOT.  It was hard for us to even find a cruise where we didn't remember either of us getting sick on the cruise, shortly near the end, or quickly thereafter.  

 

This probably will lead into how sanitary we are.  We wash our hands all the time before meals (not just use sanitizer before entry to a restaurant).  Even when we leave a public restroom, we never touch the handle with our clean hands (use towel).  We use our knuckles for elevator buttons.  We avoid touching handrails in hallways and stairways (our preferred mode of travel before elevators - just for extra exercise. 🙂).  

 

I do think we are just more highly susceptible to respiratory illness.  Our last cruise was last November and I kid you not, at one point it seemed like half the passengers and crew were sick.  We heard so much coughing.  That was a transatlantic cruise.  I do wonder if more people get sick on a long cruise when there are more sea days.  

 

So my question to you - how often do you get a respiratory illness on a cruise?  Do you think more people get sick on a cruise of longer length (14 days+)?  Do you think cruise ship size matters?  Do you think the number of sea days matter?  I encourage others to throw out other questions on this topic.  

In the real world I suffer from 13 illnesses.On cruises I normally feel quite well.I was only sick once on a cruise and that was in 1973 when I was very healthy.

[donaldsc]

Never.  Neither has my wife.  

 

DON

Edited September 1, 2020 by donaldsc

[TNcruising02]

I've been on about 15 cruises that average 7 nights each.  I've never been on a `14 day cruise, but I would like to some day.  I've never been sick on a cruise and have eaten at the buffets at least once a day on every cruise.  I have used the public restrooms, touched the handrails, and touched elevator buttons.  But I also made sure I either washed my hands with soap and water or used hand sanitizer right before eating.   I have no problem moving away from someone who continuously coughs.

I always travel with hand wipes and use them, along with hand washing, often.  I keep hoping for the best.  Being sick on a cruise sounds miserable and I hope it never happens to me.

 

[Gwendy]

Only really sick once on a South Pacific Cruise of 7 days.  It was terrible weather and there were lots of sick people.

on longer cruises, over 50 nights, have had a slight cold with sniffles for a couple of days, just isolate myself in cabin, with room service for a couple of days.  It was great when Princess had 24 hour buffet.  I could wander up about 2am, have some soup and know there were hardly any others so I could stay away from everyone else.

 

last long cruise July 2019, there were a lot of people coughing etc, mainly older ones. I left afternoon tea once when a woman was seated next to me and continually coughed without making any effort to cover her mouth.

[jocap]

Just once- a month's cruise UK-Caribbean-UK, and on the return journey many, many people, including us, had a really nasty cold. We remember it because the on board shop sold out of decent tissues, and was telling everyone to ask their cabin steward for extra boxes. 

That's the only illness I remember on any cruise which are usually 12 days to one month.

[57redbird]

The only time I got sick was from a lady on our excursion bus -- she was sitting across from us - empty seat next to her, then the aisle -- she coughed almost continually from the time we got on the bus until we finally got off hours later.... silly me, I figured she had COPD/emphysema so I wasn't too concerned until I came down with the same thing a few days later....

[FredT]

With me, it's flights, not cruises....   (Ironic because I spent 15 years flying for an airline and never ONCE got sick) It's never bad, but it seem a good cold or allergies ALWAYS pop up after a couple flights (out and back).....   Wont keep me from flying (or cruising) though!

[clo]

5 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Never.  Neither has my wife.  

 

DON

We also. Did OP mention is they tend to have these issues when not cruising?

[Heidi13]

Sailed with Princess for 4 months back in 2015 and almost the entire ship had cruise crud. Sailed with Viking for 4 months earlier this year and was completely healthy throughout. Cruise crud was extremely rare and COVID non-existant on the Viking ship.

[navybankerteacher]

The only times I have had health problems on cruises were times when I boarded shortly after a flight.  When I have boarded after driving or taking a train - or on trans-Atlantics when I have spent a fair amount of time on land travel in Europe before boarding, I have not had problems.  I do regularly have respiratory problems (usually minor) after flying anywhere.   In my case I see plane travel as the problem.

[Ashland]

12 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Never.  Neither has my wife.  

 

DON

Yes, finally someone posting with our experience too.

After 26+ cruises we've never gotten sick...knocking on wood