post cruise bug bites?

[megsok7]

Almost been home a week from the Jewel and am covered in bites on my back, arms, and especially my legs. Very itchy and almost painful! I noticed a bite on my arm while at little French key in honduras and by that night I had multiple ones on my legs but a week later and it seems worse. Is it sand fleas?? Anyone experience this?

My husband has not had a problem.

[CTCruiser001]

Sounds like sand fleas. My DW was eaten alive once and I had no issues at all. Just curious...when you guys were on a beach, did you stay on land while he swam?

 

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[don24]

We had the same issue once .after that we used bug spray before we get off the ship as a matter of course and haven't had a problem since.

[gooch47]

I'm not sure if they are the same thing but we call them "no-see-ums." Tiny little things that leave big, red itchy welts. Roatan is famous for them.

 

I've had them still visible a couple weeks after the cruise. They don't bite my husband at all. I'm a magnet for them.

[RobinSie]

My husband and I both had bites from Roatan and Costa Maya. Luckily for us they only lasted about 24 hours and were gone. Hope you are better soon!

 

Robin

[SailBabySail]

So happy to have read this since we are stopping in Honduras and Belize. I will be packing "Off" when we take our cruise in April. Thanks OP for bringing this up and I hope your bites clear up asap!

[goaliegirl]

Yep, definitely Roatan. My hubby got it pretty bad when we went there. He was covered in bites!

[megsok7]

They are miserable! :(. I tried an aveno bath today so hopefully they will clear up soon.

[cacj]

Oh, so sorry! Try aloe gel...it works wonders on bites.

[soccersharon]

The only 2 times I've experienced something similar, was in St. Thomas (Sapphire Beach) in 2008. Sand fleas were really bad. The worst was in Providenciales: I was bitten on both legs and many bites swole and were extremely itchy. Took over a week to heal. Bug spray is always included on my packing list ever since.

 

Hope you feel better soon!

 

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[mommyto2girls]

I have gotten them every time we stop at Great Stirrup Cay, I will never get off the ship there again! NCL even puts a warning on the dailies in GSC to bring bug spray. I got a diagnosis on the ship (twice) and at a local hospital here (they got so bad when I was home)

Sand fleas and some people are just super allergic. I am the only one in the family who ever gets them. Our last stop at GSC a few folks had a bit here and there I was covered from head to toe.

[susea4000]

WOW! Thanks for this info, I never would have thought of this, and I have horrible reactions to bites! Just made up my mind to stay on board at GSC - not a problem because I don't really like the beach!

[Irene7]

Are sand fleas the same as sea lice?

[mommyto2girls]

Not according to the doctor on the Gem.

[LTC]

I'm allergic to bug bites when in the Caribbean and never travel without Benadryl. It works wonders to take away the itch and swelling. I don't know why I react like that there, as I don't experience it any other places.

[mommyto2girls]

I'm allergic to bug bites when in the Caribbean and never travel without Benadryl. It works wonders to take away the itch and swelling. I don't know why I react like that there, as I don't experience it any other places.

 

I never get them anywhere else and these bites laughed at Benadryl in my case.

[megsok7]

Thanks to the person who suggested aloe Vera. aaaamazing!

[mitsugirly]

I think the bites all have to do with the time of year or what the season is like (for instance if it has rained days before or not). We have never been bitten in Roatan, Belize, Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, St Thomas, St Maarten, Nassau...but we were ate alive in Costa Maya...go figure.

 

We ALWAYS take deep woods off with us...just in case. While me and the hubby aren't allergic to bug bites, my 5 year old is and breaks out really bad with any bites. :(

[deladypilot]

When we went to the Bahamas on a land vacation my mother and myself were eaten alive. Mine went away after a few days but my mother ended up at her doctors office twice over it. So any warm weather travel now includes off or some other bug spray.

 

Hope you heal quickly

[Seanote]

Are sand fleas the same as sea lice?

 

"Sand fleas" are tiny no-see-um flying insects. "Sea lice" are jellyfish larvae. One flies and bites, the other swims and stings. The end result, however, is roughly the same: Red painful welts.

[cruisecritiquer]

This happened to me on Sanibel/Captiva Island in Florida once. I will never be at the beach at dusk ever again. :( Everyone was having a good time and then all of the sudden 1/3 of the beach goers got up and ran for their lives. The other 2/3 were unaffected. DH and DS were fine.

 

It was like having the chickenpox. :(

[fergusonvt]

No sand fleas for me but army ants in Belize on the Lamanai tour. I didn't notice I was standing on a small ant hole until my ankles were covered with them. I took my shoes off quickly and brushed them off but they stung every time my feet got wet for about a month afterwards.

[jdvmd]

Definitely sand fleas. Got them during our stop in Honduras a few years ago. I was the only one out of our group of 17 to get bitten AND I was the only one who used bug spray. They will go away in a few days.

[Starrgazer50]

I had a very bad reaction to a bug bite this past summer. The worst ever in my entire life. (Don't know what kind of bug it was. I had recently got back from a caribbean cruise.)

It itched so bad I broke skin from scratching and the areas swelled to the width of an orange. I tried over the counter product benedryl, Hydrocortisone(except Aloe) and nothing helped. I went to the health food store and found out about Apis Mallifica and it worked wonders. The itching stopped within 15 minutes and the swelling went down within a day or two.

I have a caribbean cruise coming up in Jan. and I will definitely be taking some with me.

 

http://pureformulas.com/apis-mellifica-6c-by-boiron.html?CAPCID=1593018465&CA_6C15C=1394515127#sthash.kbsRTiZQ.dpbs

[loopy]

Thanks for posting about this. We leave on the Jewel for the Thanksgiving cruise.

 

I am not usually allergic to bites but I would hate to be itchy the whole trip or have bf itchy. I'll back some Off and benadryl cream or spray.