The New York Times published an article yesterday that should alarm women who are pregnant and thinking about taking a cruise calling on ports in the Caribbean or South America or Central America. CDC May Warn Pregnant Women Against Travel to Countries With Zika Virus written by science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., says that test
The Bahama Mama cruise ferry, operated by Balearia Bahamas Express, recently failed a bi-annual sanitation and health inspection conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
I first read about the Bahama Mama flunking the CDC inspection in an article by Theresa Norton Masek in Travel Pulse titled Bahama Mama Ferry Fails CDC Inspection
News sources in Hawaii are reporting that dozens of Princess cruise ship passengers have been quarantined on Maui after a norovirus outbreak.
Newspapers are saying that Princess Cruises’ Star Princess is ported at Lahaina. According to the local health department, around 30 people are quarantined in their rooms. Health officials report that the virus originated in
Researchers in Canada have concluded that norovirus can spread by air, according to a publication in the highly respected Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Eight doctors participated in a study of norovirus and determined that norovirus can be transmitted in an airborne form. They published an article titled "Detection and Quantification of Airborne Norovirus During
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flunked Silversea’s luxury cruise ship, the Silver Shadow, for unsanitary conditions.
The Silversea cruise ship received a failing score of only 82. The inspectors determined the ship had improper medical protocols for crew members with acute gastroenteritis. The inspectors found 40 unsanitary conditions such
The operator of a fan Voyager of the Seas Facebook page (not operated by the cruise line) posted the following:
“If you where on the Voyager of the Seas relocation cruise from Singapore to Sydney cruise and you have a really bad cough, then I suggest you got and see a Doctor as you may
On November 27, 2014, I received a communication directly from a Royal Caribbean crew member indicating that the United States Public Health (USPH) conducted a surprise health inspection of the Freedom of the Seas on November 23rd. The crew member said that the USPH flunked the cruise ship for being unsanitary.
The crew member
Earlier this month, we were contacted by passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas because of back-to-back norovirus outbreaks requiring "deep cleaning" of the cruise ship.You can read our article about the situation here.
A number of passengers complained of some pretty gross conditions:
One lady said "i was swimming and
The cruise industry finally instituted Ebola-specific protocols after the highly publicized incident yesterday when a healthcare worker from Dallas was discovered to be on a Carnival cruise to the Caribbean.
TravelPulse published an article discussing the new protocols Cruise Industry Adopts Stricter Ebola Screenings.
Cruise lines like Carnival are finally asking cruise passengers whether
A week ago, I went to Twitter and complained that the cruise industry had not issued an Ebola-specific protocol for the cruise lines to follow. The threat of Ebola was growing, but the cruise lines seemed asleep at the helm. Neither the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) nor its CEO Christine Duffy had even mentioned
ABC News reports that a Dallas health care worker who handled clinical specimens from Ebola-infected Thomas Duncan is on a Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Magic.
The cruise line says that the female worker is allegedly being "self-quarantined" and is being monitored for signs of infection. She apparently has no symptoms yet.
She departed on a
I have received a dozen inquiries in the last few days about the chances of contracting Ebola during a cruise. My thought is that the chance is slim that anyone is going to go on a cruise and return home infected with the virus. But there are some issues that concern me.
For U.S. Travelers,
Today I received a comment from a Royal Caribbean passenger who said that he was infected with the dreaded chikungunya virus when he sailed to St. Martin last year on the Oasis of the Seas:
You might need a new cruise category "Disease" as the cruise industry has become a vector for spreading the
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 111 out of of 2122 passengers (5.23%) and 6 out of 790 crew (0.76%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness involving vomiting and diarrhea. The Royal Caribbean ship was on a 7 day cruise from Baltimore.
The first official norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship this year involved the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Norwegian Star.
The outbreak occurred during a cruise from January 5-19, 2014. The virus sickened 130 of 2318 cruise passenger (5.61%) and 12 of 1039 crew members (1.15%). You can read the CDC report here.
The
Several cruise passengers have informed us that there is a gastrointestinal outbreak on the Holland America Line (HAL) Maasdam which is currently sailing routes in South America.
Passengers are stating that numerous people are sick with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other noro virus like symptoms. The number of sick passengers and crew has not been
The British press is reporting that the Oriana cruise ship has returned to port in Southampton with “dozens” of passengers sick with norovirus.
The 19 year-old P&O cruise ship ended its cruise around the Canary Islands early because of propeller problems. The Daily Echo newspaper in the U.K. is calling the ship “cursed” because of
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that there has been a disease outbreak on the M/S Veendam operated by Holland America Line (HAL)
The CDC states that the Veendam cruise ship has returned after a a 14 day cruise from February 8-22, 2014 with 114 of 1273 (8.96%) passengers suffering from norovirus-like
