Just off Wonder - Anyone else get sick?

[ilovetexas]

Me, the hubby and three kids set sail 1-7-10 for a three day Bahamas on Disney Wonder. By midnight the second night, our 13 year old was sick and about 16 hours later it hit the 11 year old. Ship doctor said "GI" infection and gave us anti-nausea meds, he was cranky and rude (which is unacceptable when dealing with sick children). In his defense, however, I quickly discovered why. I'll bet he and his staff were up all night dealing with sick people. By the second morning, after the first kid got sick, all buffet stations were no longer self-serve. Even the beverage stations on deck were roped off and crew members were handing drinks to people.

 

Add to that the fact that we missed Castaway Cay due to weather (all shore excursions were refunded) and the stateroom steward wouldn't even bring ice (much less popsicles w/ pedialyte) for the sick kids, and this is probably the first and last Disney cruise. Maybe not, though. I'm just currently disappointed for the kids.

 

I know that a few cruise lines have been having problems with Norovirus the last few weeks, but haven't heard anything about Disney yet. If I call the CDC, will they give me info about how many people were sick on that ship? Believe me, it was more than a few!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I am so sorry to hear you had such a terrible cruise.

 

Unfortunatley illness spreads so fast in close areas like ships and planes that once someone is ill and spreads their germs nothing much can be done.

 

We too have cruised when there was half the ship down with something and DCL took the same precautions like they did with you. Even without illnesses DCL is great about making sure everyone wipes their hands with anitseptic wipes and the crew is cleaning and sanitiaing constantly to try and prevent this. All ships do this now.

It can happen on any ship no matter how hard they try to keep germs away.

I know thats no consolation when your vacation has been ruined.

 

I hope everyone is feeling better now.

Whether you decide to cruise again or not, just remember this can happen on any ship, not just DCL. I just takes one person who isnt feeling well to bring their germs aboard because they dont want to miss their vacation to cause this. And someone could have been exposed to a illness and not known it and brought it aboard too.

 

Out of my many cruises ( listed below) we have had this happen 3 times with a major outbreak and twice more with just a few getting ill.

Not counting sea sickness.

 

I don't know if they will tell you if you call but you can call if you want. The worst that can happen is for them to say no?

 

Kathy

[blk1964]

Oh, thats sounds like a terrible time, Im so sorry! Im curious about the steward in your room tho, did you ask for ice and not get it? And if so did you ask anyone else further up, like a supervisor? I wonder if its part of keeping the ship germ free (I dont see how, but what do I know?). And it brings up the question, are there pedialyte pops on board, normally? I would think since stuff like this does happen it would be something they would have.

 

What was the weather issue? And when you were on board, did you talk to others that were sick? Could it have been seasickness, given the weather?

 

Im not doubting you, just wondering. Im due to go on the wonder and I just might pack a few pedialyte lollipops, just in case. Hope everyone is feeling better soon.

[ilovetexas]

Oh, I don't blame Disney for the weather or the illness, that would be silly. They take every precaution necessary for germs to stay where they belong. ;)

 

When we arrived, the steward had left a card asking when we wanted ice, we indicated twice daily (we were in adjoining cabins). It was brought once the next morning, and that was it. When the first kid got sick, I asked for some. He knew she was ill, we talked about it. He wanted to know when he could clean the room. I told him that I would hang out the sign for service when we were done in our room, then if she wasn't better later, that I would move her to our room so he could get in hers. Etc., etc. He never came back with ice, then we couldn't find him. I called, still nothing. Went to guest services, they said they would take care of it. I walked to deck 9 to get some from the machine, but by then they had everything locked down tight, so you couldn't help yourself (good for them!) and there was a huge line for drinks. Got back to cabin, they called to see if we had ice yet and I LOST IT!! This was NOT all over the course of 15 minutes, this was going on for hours. Finally a guy from the stateroom staff (and judging from his uniform, I'd say he was a supervisor) showed up with popsicles, that's how I knew they had them. Then two buckets of ice appeared. Then the next child got sick!

 

Seriously, other than the horrible cabin steward, it was fine. You're eventually going to run into bad service, I just wish it hadn't been this time. The dining room host called up to see if we wanted food sent up and our main server was a sweetheart! He somehow produced some chicken soup and crackers for us to take to the kids that night when he heard they were sick. Our main goal was to keep them comfortable and away from everyone else.

 

On a positive note; the ship was beautiful, the food was fantastic, and the entertainment was over the top!! I was thrilled when I watched the little ones at the Princess signing. They think the princesses are REAL!! I wish I had taken mine when they were that small. See, I'm getting over it already. I just wish the kids had a better time.

[blk1964]

Glad to know there were some folks looking out for you. Still, so sorry it was crappy for the kids.

[lulubell]

We had similar experiences on the pre-xmas cruise!

Illness,bad weather i understand but below ordinary food and bad sevice i can't forget or forgive.We had a sever and assistant that you had to literally flag down and BEG for food,couldn't remember drink prices or daily specials.It went so far he never even explained to us where and when to show up for the last breakfast.We have sailed on many cruise lines and i have to say the experience on the WONDER was the pits!

[truck1]

First Im sorry about your kids getting sick on the Wonder. Having sailed on her at least 4-5 times,and her sister more than a few times, I can honestly say that the level of service you got was not the norm.

If it were me right now, Id write or email corporate for an explanation.

 

Second, dont let this deter you from trying them again.This is just my opinion, but if there was more than 1 bad sailing, due to bad service, than Id say there was a problem.

 

As far as the CDC, I just looked, and had to go all the way back to 2002 and 2000 to find any reference of an outbreak on either Disney ship, and they were both on the Magic.1 was noro the other was salmonella.When you consider that both ships have been in service for 11, and 12 years, thats a pretty good record.Im not trying to minimize what happened to you, but at least for the moment, it either not something that the cdc, requires to be notified of, or it hasnt made it to the cdc site yet.As a comparison, the Queen Victoria's illness has been added as an unkonwn cause, and she docked today.

 

Heres the link directly to the CDC reoprt site.

Heres the CDCs definition of reportable illness:

Outbreak Updates for International Cruise Ships

 

 

On this Page

 

• Additional Information
  
• Updates by Year
  

 

 

 

 

 

Cruise ships participating in the Vessel Sanitation Program are required to report the total number of gastrointestinal (GI) illness cases (including zero cases) evaluated by the medical staff before the ship arrives at a U.S. port, when sailing from a foreign port. A separate notification is required when the GI illness count exceeds 2% of the total number of passengers or crew onboard. The data below were obtained from these surveillance reports and from CDC-led investigations. The GI illness cases reported are totals for the entire voyage and do not represent the number of active (symptomatic) GI cases at any given port of call or at disembarkation.

Cruise ship outbreak updates are posted when they include the following criteria:

• fall within the purview of VSP (see about VSP),
  
• are sailing on voyages from 3-21 days,
  
• are carrying 100 or more passengers, and
  
• are cruise ships in which 3% or more of passengers or crew reported symptoms of diarrheal disease to the ships medical staff during the voyage, and
  
• are gastrointestinal illness outbreaks of public health significance.
  

[TravelSmarty]

Sad to hear that you and your kids had a bad exprienced in cruised,..Germs can easily spread in a crowded area,..You should be aware of it!..

[cb at sea]

Unfortunately, you don't always KNOW you're sick before it hits! Some of these viruses are in your system well before you show any symptoms!

[grand isle joe]

Unfortunately, you don't always KNOW you're sick before it hits! Some of these viruses are in your system well before you show any symptoms!

 

I agree. Do a search on airline ice / bacteria and it is amazing how filthy that one area really is. Never get ice on an airplane because that plane may have refilled in a third world country with lax standards as well as a disreguard for cleaning of the ice holding area on the plane. That is only one area if not the airport as well that we are all exposed to numerous bacterium that sickens us all. We all get sick and sometimes it does take time to appear in our system. Sorry to hear about your bad trip but it happens to most of us unfortunatly sometimes in our travels.:(

[kclcruise]

We had similar experiences on the pre-xmas cruise!

Illness,bad weather i understand but below ordinary food and bad sevice i can't forget or forgive.We had a sever and assistant that you had to literally flag down and BEG for food,couldn't remember drink prices or daily specials.It went so far he never even explained to us where and when to show up for the last breakfast.We have sailed on many cruise lines and i have to say the experience on the WONDER was the pits!

 

 

You must have had the same servers we had. ;) We were on the Wonder April of 2007 and our servers were horrible. We went on the Magic after that and they were great.

[Life in a nutshell]

I'm so sorry about your terrible time!

 

However, this explains sooooo much for me. We just got off the Wonder 1/10-14, so we were right after you. We were trying to figure out why the buffets, drink stations, ice cream, etc. were all full service and you couldn't get ANYTHING for yourself, other than pre-packaged food (yogurt, milk cartons, etc).

 

I felt so bad for this poor woman who was at the buffet on Wednesday. My DH was up at the buffet going through the line (we did it in shifts since we have a toddler), and a woman and her little boy- about a year old- were at a nearby table. Out of the blue, the poor kiddo threw up all over the place. I went to her and gave her some baby wipes to clean herself/her son up, and within minutes they were whisked away by several crew members.

[dlfjmp04]

Our family was also on the January 7th, 2010 Disney Wonder Cruise. My 7 year old was very sick. Although I understand that these things happen, Disney handled the entire matter poorly. Our cabin was full of vomit. The evening room steward came & handed us a change of sheets & a very small blanket. We changed the sheets while he cleaned the floor of the bathroom. He tried to leave without cleaning the carpet ( I will spare you the details). When he finished with the carpet, he tried to leave again without removing the shower curtain that was badly soiled. Dining room servers were sick. The sicker ones were put on the outside areas & removed from dining room duty, but they were still handling food. The MDs on the boat made it very clear that they do not work for Disney. Their biggest concern was that we not tell other guests that our child was sick (We didn't have to since there were dozens of people in the doctor's office within the 30 minute period that we were there & more were pouring in). There second biggest concern was that we understood that our child did not have a "reportable" illness. The outbreak appears to have begun by most of the cabins on our floor at approximately 1AM. When I went to guest services, there was an initial denial of wide spread illness. However, the person behind the counter finally admitted that the ship was at its "highest state" of medical alert. Disney circulated a letter to everyone who was sick at 5:00PM saying that we should call them if we needed anything. That letter also said that it was likely that this was the flu. We left the boat around 9AM...they reboarded the boat approximately 3 hours later. There is no way that our cabin or anyone else's cabin could have been cleaned & dried out in that time period.

I called the CDC & the FLorida department of health to see if Disney reported these illnesses. Both department said that they should have. However, they did not. I called Disney Cruise Guest Relations. I was told that Disney didn't need to report because they are "Disney".

Things happen...but this was handled very poorly.

[truck1]

I called the CDC & the FLorida department of health to see if Disney reported these illnesses. Both department said that they should have. However, they did not. I called Disney Cruise Guest Relations. I was told that Disney didn't need to report because they are "Disney".

Things happen...but this was handled very poorly.

 

 

 

Granted from what you have posted, this seems to have been handled badly,

BUT,if the ship didnt meet the reporting guidelines, then Disney doesnt have to report the illness.Not because there Disney.Doesnt matter what the cm said.

Ask OSHA about being "Disney".They just fined Disney for several infractions, including a repeat offense in the monorail shops.

If its less than 3% of the passengers (roughly 80 passengers give or take)or 3% (roughly 30)of the crew,(not both together) its legaly not reportable.The CDC would be the ones to accept the report, and it hasnt made it to the site, assuming that it is a reportable event.Not sure if FLDOH is involved in the matter.

 

Now the med staff onboard both DCL ships are contracted by Disney. That is true.In todays age when someone gets a certain set of symptoms, a lot of people will jump the gun and assume the worst.I.E.Noro.That can and will be a lot worse than if it actually is Noro.

Which is why theyd be pushing to assure you that its not reportable.Because it may not have been a reportable issue.

[dlfjmp04]

Re: Reportability

 

I am very familiar with the reportability law. I did talk to the CDC and FL department of health. They both agreed that my son's illness is reportable.... which is one of my concerns. He clearly had a reportable illness, but the doctors on board wrote all over his paperwork that it was not reportable. In addition, they attempted to have me sign blank paperwork which indicated that he was not confined to the room...although he was. I agree that he should not have been with other passengers. However, here is my biggest concern...they may have indicated on lots of folks' paperwork that they did not have a reportable illness...when they really did. Any "cluster" of illness on a ship is clearly reportable to the CDC. From other posts, it is clear that people on the next cruise were ill. They should have delayed the sailing of the next cruise until they could have gotten everything sanitized and they should have voluntarily reported.

 

I love Disney. I have a timeshare & own stock. I am just shocked by all of this. I would have at least expected a letter from the Cruise Line by now with an apology.

[Host Mick]

Re: Reportability

 

I am very familiar with the reportability law. I did talk to the CDC and FL department of health. They both agreed that my son's illness is reportable.... which is one of my concerns. He clearly had a reportable illness, but the doctors on board wrote all over his paperwork that it was not reportable. In addition, they attempted to have me sign blank paperwork which indicated that he was not confined to the room...although he was. I agree that he should not have been with other passengers. However, here is my biggest concern...they may have indicated on lots of folks' paperwork that they did not have a reportable illness...when they really did. Any "cluster" of illness on a ship is clearly reportable to the CDC. From other posts, it is clear that people on the next cruise were ill. They should have delayed the sailing of the next cruise until they could have gotten everything sanitized and they should have voluntarily reported.

 

I love Disney. I have a timeshare & own stock. I am just shocked by all of this. I would have at least expected a letter from the Cruise Line by now with an apology.

 

This is a very serious charge.

You should write a letter to DCL and cc to the CDCP attn: Vessel Sanitation Program. In the letter you should write in a just the facts manner a description of what you personally witnessed, no speculation or heresay and no demands for apologies, discounts or free stuff (makes it look like a shakedown). They need to know about this because the vessel reporting is a core part of the VSP program and if someone is gaming the system, they need to be dealt with.

Thanks for taking an interest. Future cruisers thank you.

 

And another thing, post a copy here. I'd like to read it.

[dlfjmp04]

Yes, I think that it is very serious. I attempted to talk to a manager at Disney Cruise line & ended up with an employee who kept saying that the manager was on the phone & couldn't talk with me. I communicated exactly what I saw, nothing else. I was personally aware of many people who were ill. Some passengers were collecting names of everyone that they met that had someone ill. I never gave anyone my name. I am not out for vengence. The DCL representative is the one who answered that they did not need to report because they were "Disney". However, they were aware of the situation. I have written a letter to Disney & filed a complaint with both my state's health department and Florida. I really do not want a refund. As I said before, I love Disney.

[Life in a nutshell]

I did not mean to give the impression that people were ill on the 10-14 sailing. I saw one little boy throw up, and the response seemed rather enormous, although understandable. It really seemed like a situation where that little boy perhaps ate too much. I did not see any other indication of others being sick.

 

Again, I am really sorry to hear about your terrible time.

[Host Mick]

Yes, I think that it is very serious. I attempted to talk to a manager at Disney Cruise line & ended up with an employee who kept saying that the manager was on the phone & couldn't talk with me. I communicated exactly what I saw, nothing else. I was personally aware of many people who were ill. Some passengers were collecting names of everyone that they met that had someone ill. I never gave anyone my name. I am not out for vengence. The DCL representative is the one who answered that they did not need to report because they were "Disney". However, they were aware of the situation. I have written a letter to Disney & filed a complaint with both my state's health department and Florida. I really do not want a refund. As I said before, I love Disney.

 

You should write to the CDCP also. The Vessel Sanitation program is theirs and they should know if there is a problem.

I wasn't saying that you were out to get anything but I've seen others write letters like this then make demands at the bottom, sometimes hilariously.

[truck1]

Found this on another board reagrding the Jan 7-10 sailing of the Wonder Disney DID indeed report the illness.

 

 

Response from VSP on Jan. 7 - 10 sailing

FYI ... Here is a response I received from the VSP. The sailing did not fall within their reporting threshold

 

... On the Disney Wonder's cruise of 7-10 January the ship reported to CDC as required the following: 46 GI cases among passengers from a total onboard of 2,721 (1.691%) and 3 crew GI cases from a total onboard of 972 (0.309%).

 

We do recognize that some people fail to report their illness to the ship's medical department, and that is somewhat factored into the outbreak definition above, but there is little we can do to change that outcome.

__________________

[rrfsteve]

RE: Poor Service

 

Although I understand your feelings regarding this, and I am not making excuses here I am pointing out fact.

 

If quite a number of guests were sick, it is likely that this would be the same with the crew. Add in the fact that 1 sick crew member in a cabin of 3 or 4 means that they all will be quarintined. It is highly possible that a substantial pecentage of crew were unable to work, hence the less than ideal service.

[texkat]

Another factor to consider in the "less than ideal service" category is the fact that many of the Wonder's experienced crew were just reassigned to the new Disney Dream. A huge number of the Wonder crew is brand new, having just started a contract in December.

[Mrs. Chernabog]

Another factor to consider in the "less than ideal service" category is the fact that many of the Wonder's experienced crew were just reassigned to the new Disney Dream. A huge number of the Wonder crew is brand new, having just started a contract in December.

 

They were assigned a year ago?

[texkat]

They were assigned a year ago?

 

Oh, duh!!! I didn't realize that the poster above me had bumped a year-old thread!!!

[Mrs. Chernabog]

Oh, duh!!! I didn't realize that the poster above me had bumped a year-old thread!!!

 

:D I couldn't figure out how they had already returned from a 1/7-1/10 sailing. LOL