No telling how many onboard the Summit are affected since the crew is quite tight lipped about the matter. However, 3 days ago there was an obvious attempt to prevent people from entering any dining venue until they had received a squirt of anti-bacterial gel. Throughout the cruise the crew had been stationed at the entrances to the dining rooms, but were not very insistent about the gel.

All self serve beverage stations have been closed or now are manned by crew. Salt and pepper shakers have been removed in most dining areas. All buffet items are now served by crew. See my article below on swine flu, which addresses cruise health issues. It is known to be a tricky situation because of the close living/dining/entertainment quarters of hundreds or thousands of people. I have long been an advocate of buffets aboard ships that are manned by crew only.

The Summit is offering complimentary consultations and treatment if a passenger becomes ill with a gastrointestinal illness. From the obvious extraordinary efforts to disinfect everything onboard, one could assume that the medical facility is quite busy.

Personal efforts to stay well aboard a ship are important. Washing your hands each time you enter your cabin, use a bathroom, before and after you eat and after visiting a venue where you contact surfaces that have been touched by many people such as elevator buttons, door handles, casino machines, etc. A demonstration of effective hand washing is shown on one of the ship’s television channels.

Damian de Lorenzis today said that “1% of passengers have been ill from the norovirus.” He went on to say that the CDC in the US would be notified, as per standard operating procedure. A skeptic might wonder why the ship is going to such extremes if only 20 people have become ill.

Oh, oh. We thought those CDC inspection numbers were the final word on ship cleanliness. Not so.

The public bathrooms on 56 ships carrying 1,258 to 3.600 passengers from 9 major cruise lines were inspected over a 7 day period by a team of researchers from Boston University, Carney Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts and then reported in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Flush handles or buttons, stall inner handholds and door handles, restroom inner door handles, toilet seats and baby changing tables were the areas the researchers targeted. Guess which of these was the best cleaned? The toilet seat! On some ships these objects were not cleaned at all during a 24 hour period. That’s enough time for a lot of bacteria to accumulate. In some cases some of the objects tested were not cleaned at all during a 5 to 7 day period. Surgical gloves anyone?

What to do about this? Wash, wash, wash. Sing Happy Birthday to yourself while you wash those hands to assure you do the job well. Use a paper towel on the door handle while exiting. There should be a waste receptacle near the door as it is mandated by the CDC for ships, as I understand it.

By the way, the average CDC inspection score for the 56 ships tested?   97

Cover It Up!

that is the case.

What do you do when you are seated near someone hacking and sneezing on a plane? In general we are far too courteous to speak up and try and have the person moved or removed but maybe that is what we should do. Would a flight attendant help out? Any FAs out there care to comment about their airline’s policy on removing obviously sick people?

Poorly Protected Cruise Buffet

Cruise ships are a whole different issue. Buffet lines are standard on any ship, with food exposed to everyone’s sneezes and coughs, spoon handles accumulating dirty hand germs and kitchen employees who may or may not be exercising the best of personal and kitchen hygiene. Some cruise lines are manning their buffets with personnel so that there is a much reduced chance of airborne germs and germ laden hands coming into contact with food and utensils.

Every cruise line I have sailed since the novo virus scares has the antibacterial gel at the entry to dining rooms and buffet lines. Some cruise lines place personnel next to the gel and practically tackle you if you try to pass up the gel squirter, kind of like a bouncer. Make certain that your gel has at least 60% alcohol or it won’t do the job.

What do you do to protect yourself? It depends on your level of paranoia. My level is high so I go to the extreme. I leave home with antibacterial gel in my carry on and a refill in my suitcase. For flying I use Nozin, an orange scented liquid put on a swab then rubbed around the edge of your nostrils. I don’t know if it works or not. I haven’t ever gotten sick when I did use it for what that is worth. Others use Airborne. Some people take antibacterial wipes and wipe down their armrests and tray table. That makes a lot of sense. When do you think they were last disinfected? The same philosophy should be engaged in a hotel room and cruise cabin particularly with door handles, toilet handles, faucets, telephones and TV remotes.  Don’t use any communal pens – carry your own. Keep your hands off counters and desks. Wipe down the communal computer keyboard with wipes. Wash your hands diligently after visiting the casino.

Don’t touch door handles with your bare hands after you wash them. Use a paper towel or your elbow. Keep your hands far away from your mouth, nose and eyes. Sneeze into the crook of your elbow. Keep tissues handy also. Wash hands or use a squirt of gel after blowing your nose.

What to do if you start feeling flu symptoms and you are away from home? Hopefully, your doctor will have pity on you and give you and each traveler a prescription for Tamiflu or other anti-viral medication. If you start feeling sick, quarantine yourself the best way possible. Do your fellow travelers a favor and do not fly when sick. Stay in your hotel room or your cabin, call off the maid or cabin steward for their own safety, have meals delivered to your room or cabin and be doubly cautious within your confines when you touch anything that could spread it to your traveling companion. Drink a lot of fluid and take something for your temperature to stay more comfortable.