How safe am I from illness on board a cruise ship?
There have been some breakouts of viruses on board the ship where people have got ill. It's rare, relative to the number of people that travel. Twelve million people take cruises, and out of those twelve million people, we've caught stories from the news where once, twice or three times there has been an outbreak of a virus, where a number of people got sick and that sickness has lasted a few days, a couple of days or a day. It's generally not a big issue - the media blows it up. Statistically, and the things that I've seen in the media also document that these kinds of illnesses and breakouts occur more on land than they ever do on cruise ships. It's not any different than flying in an airplane - a lot of people get sick in an airplane because of the recirculated air on board the flight. But what are the cruise lines doing about it? There's been incredible efforts made by the cruise lines to diminish the chance of a virus outbreak, and if you go on board the ships today you'll find that any time you enter a restaurant, they have these automatic hand sanitizer dispensing machines which they ask for everybody to use. You're not obligated to use it, but it's to sanitize your hands so that whatever you touch - if you have any kind of bacteria, especially in conjunction with food - you are secured that way. Also the crew now works doubly hard; they are wiping down every handrail on the ship every night, so the sanitation programs on board the ship have really been increased. They were always good, now they're even better. The outbreaks of these things is really rare, and it's usually not something that starts on board the ship - somebody brings it aboard.
