What to do if you're sick on embarkation day?

[bus man]

The noro outbreak on the Explorer has brought back to mind a question I've had. Suppose, on the morning of your cruise departure, you wake up to find yourself nauseous, or having to, ahem, sit on the toilet for awhile. Then you go to the port, and you have to fill out the health form. What should you do?

 

If you tell the truth, you run the risk of being denied boarding. So there goes your cruise down the drain, and the people traveling with you have to decide whether to leave you behind or give up their cruise as well. Assuming you have trip insurance, would it cover the costs in this situation? And even if it did, you're still out the airfare, not to mention you'll probably have to pay a change fee and/or a higher fare to return back home earlier than you'd planned. In other words, you've probably just lost thousands of dollars, not to mention the vacation that you've been anticipating for months.

 

On the other hand, if you lie and manage to get aboard, you run the risk of infecting hundreds of other people, and ruining their cruise. For anyone who is not a sociopath, this has to be a very important consideration as well. Would it help if you self-quarantined yourself in your cabin, so at least your companions could still get their cruise? (And, you wouldn't have to deal with changing your return plane tickets.) After all, your stomach troubles could easily clear up in a day or two. Or, should you report to the infirmary?

 

There is a great financial incentive to lie, and a great altruistic incentive to tell the truth. What would you/should you/could you do in this situation? (Before you flame me, please know that this is a hypothetical situation for me; I've never yet been sick on departure day . . . knock on wood!)

[ducklite]

Insurance will cover the majority of the loss, including change fees and such. I would cancel.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Hlitner]

Insurance will cover the majority of the loss, including change fees and such. I would cancel.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

 

You think? In most cases this is not true. Much depends on your specific insurance policy, but the insurance company will seldom take the word of a cruiser that they were "sick." If you happen to be well enough to go to the port and get denied boarding from the ship's medical personnel (and you get this in writing) then your insurance should pay-off. But if you are sick in your hotel room, or sick at home (without absolute medical proof that you are too sick to travel) then you will probably be out of luck.

 

So here is a typical insurance question. You tell your insurance company you did not bother going to the port because you had a "GI problem." How can you prove that this was "norovirus" or something much less serious such as a simple case of travelers diarrhea? The only way to prove it is noro is with a lab test (normally done on a stool sample). Or lets say you just have a lousy cold (no problem getting on a ship) but try to convince your insurance company that you had the "flu." How do you prove this?

 

Bottom line is that most cruisers simply "suck it up" and try to look healthy at check-in. This happened to DW a few years ago when she suddenly got sick in the airport (on our way to a cruise in FL) and within a few hours (before we got to FL) had a high fever. She spent the day in bed (in our FL hotel) and the following morning, before we left for the port, she took a good dose of Tylenol which lowered her fever. She managed to evade dectection at the port, got on the ship, and immediately went to our cabin where she slept all day (she improved by the first dinner). Now the punch line to this story is that cruise was 62 days long and the first week was all sea days. There was no way she was going to miss that cruise....even if she had to crawl aboard :)

 

Hank

[momoftwinteens]

I would have a very hard time with this. I currently take a prescription medication that, well, sometimes an unpleasant side effect of it is that I get to spend a little time sitting on the throne. However, it is usually short lived and goes away all by itself. Still, I never know when it will rear it's ugly head. Since I really would have no way of being 100% sure whether it is the med causing the problem or a stomach virus, I just don't know what I would do. Probably, it would depend on other things, like how I was feeling, if I had eaten anything suspicious, if anyone else around me had been sick and so on.

[ducklite]

I would of course see a doctor to get proof that I was unfit to travel. I have seen doctors for ailments while in vacation in the past--Minute Clinic in New England someplace for a sinus infection, and a private practice doctor that the hotel sent when I developed pneumonia in San Francisco. I had a doctor come to the hotel once to treat my nephew when he had a V&D thing.

 

By seeing a doctor, if it's something not contagious, you can get verification of that to present to the ship so you won't be denied boarding, and if it is, you've got what you need for your insurance.

 

I would cruise with a head cold. Take some DayQuil and crawl into bed for the rest of the day once my cabin was ready if need be. The worst if a head cold usually passes in a day. My husband came down with one on our Med cruise, and soldiered on.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[ducklite]

I would have a very hard time with this. I currently take a prescription medication that, well, sometimes an unpleasant side effect of it is that I get to spend a little time sitting on the throne. However, it is usually short lived and goes away all by itself. Still, I never know when it will rear it's ugly head. Since I really would have no way of being 100% sure whether it is the med causing the problem or a stomach virus, I just don't know what I would do. Probably, it would depend on other things, like how I was feeling, if I had eaten anything suspicious, if anyone else around me had been sick and so on.

 

 

Generally speaking, if you don't have a fever it would not be considered an illness. Many things can cause temporary GI distress, coughing, congestion, etc. that are not even remotely related to illness.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[agabbymama]

Quite a dilemma indeed!

 

We had paid $2200 for our Med Cruise + $800 for airfare to Rome. The morning after our flight to Rome, I awoke with a terrible sore throat & fever. I wasn't sure if it was a sinus infection or something contracted on the airplane. I did not have gastro symptoms (thank goodness), but I still felt like crap.

 

Fortunately we had 3 days in Rome before boarding the ship so I pumped in orange juice, tylenol and cough drops and the health questionaire only asked about a doctor visit in the last week or gastro symptoms, so I did not have to lie, as I hadn't had been to a doctor nor did I have gastro symptoms.

 

I think after flying all the way to Europe and the money involved (even though I did have insurance) I think I would have still boarded and just stayed in my cabin, even if I had gastro symptoms.

[ducklite]

FYI, in Europe you can go to any pharmacy (look for the green cross outside) and they can fix you up with antibiotics and symptom relief for the cost of the drugs. Technically you are not seeing a doctor, so not lying when you answer no. My husband got some sinus spray and a general cold symptom relief syrup for what worked out to about $15 US--about what he would have paid for similar medications here, minus the doctor bill.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[sail7seas]

:cool:

 

 

<swnip>

 

Bottom line is that most cruisers simply "suck it up" and try to look healthy at check-in. This happened to DW a few years ago when she suddenly got sick in the airport (on our way to a cruise in FL) and within a few hours (before we got to FL) had a high fever. She spent the day in bed (in our FL hotel) and the following morning, before we left for the port, she took a good dose of Tylenol which lowered her fever. She managed to evade dectection at the port, got on the ship, and immediately went to our cabin where she slept all day (she improved by the first dinner). Now the punch line to this story is that cruise was 62 days long and the first week was all sea days. There was no way she was going to miss that cruise....even if she had to crawl aboard :)

 

Hank

 

 

 

So...... did she attend life boat drill? Was she squeezed into the assembly area with lots of other cruisers in close proximity? :eek: Sure hope she was able to stiffle sneezes and coughs. :rolleyes:

 

Happy she was able to feel better with all the sea days before any ports. :cool:

 

Edited January 28, 2014 by sail7seas

[YubaSutter]

I've been sick twice when I boarded the ship. Loaded myself up with DayQuil and let my wife handle the business at check in. A cold will not stop us from cruising. Got better by relaxing on our balcony.

[4x4bob]

Three years ago while standing in line at the Port of San Pedro the lady in front of us was red in the face, her face was wet, her hands were shaking, and she had a nasty cough. She then boarded the ship.

 

24 hours later my wife was sick and in her cabin for three days. We don't know for sure if the lady in front of us was responsible or not, but we sure did not think kind thoughts about her.

 

Also, the 600 sick people on the Explorer of the Seas probably would have some input for this question.

 

Bob

[spunkyhungry]

I would lie and say I was healthy. There's no way I'm wasting thousands of dollars and precious vacation time. I'm very conscientious about washing my hands and covering my coughs, so it's unlikely I would spread my illness to a lot of people.

[MrsPete]

I lied once.

 

We'd driven in the night before the cruise, and I ate something that did not agree with me. As you said, I was on the toilet half the night. However, I've been living in this body for more than 40 years, and I know when it's a passing thing. So when asked if anyone in our party had been sick in the last week, I said no. To tell the truth, I was over it by the time we boarded, and I didn't want to take advantage of the "free check up" offered by the cruise line. Sure enough, I suffered no ill effects whatsoever. I knew it was just something I'd eaten.

[papcx]

I've only done 4 cruises (3 lines) and only been asked / filled in a health questionnaire once. It would seem some cruise lines understand people will lie anyway, so don't bother asking.

[ducklite]

I've only done 4 cruises (3 lines) and only been asked / filled in a health questionnaire once. It would seem some cruise lines understand people will lie anyway, so don't bother asking.

 

 

The whole health questionnaire is a fairly recent thing.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[cb at sea]

If I was that ill, no way would I consider a vacation!

[ldubs]

Funny that, I am sure some people will complain about chair hogs, people who don't follow the dress code, smoking, alcohol smugglers, elevator abusers, walky-talkies, and trivia cheaters, but don't give a second thought to being dishonest on the questionnaire and possibly causing others to get sick.

[Hlitner]

:cool:

 

 

 

So...... did she attend life boat drill? Was she squeezed into the assembly area with lots of other cruisers in close proximity? :eek: Sure hope she was able to stiffle sneezes and coughs. :rolleyes:

 

Happy she was able to feel better with all the sea days before any ports. :cool:

 

 

Fair questions and I had to ask DW exactly what she remembered from that day. She reminded me that she was not as sick the day we got on the ship as the previous travel day, took a nap before the boat drill, made it to the drill and then took another nap before going to dinner. Fortunately, she did not have a bad cough so managed to tough it out without making those around her totally uncomfortable. Not sure what she had that trip (but it was certainly not Noro) but she gradually recovered during all those lazy sea days. One irony I had not thought about until today, was that it was a cruise where we became pretty good friends with the ships physician (had dinner with him and his partner a few times). But by the time we met him we had been at sea a few days and DW's illness never was mentioned.

 

It all goes back to the topic about what does one do if they are sick the day of a cruise. Were we going to easily sacrifice more then $20.000 because one of us felt lousy? Nope. We do have the utmost respect for anyone willing to make that kind of gesture but guess we are just not that good.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[sail7seas]

Fair questions and I had to ask DW exactly what she remembered from that day. She reminded me that she was not as sick the day we got on the ship as the previous travel day, took a nap before the boat drill, made it to the drill and then took another nap before going to dinner. Fortunately, she did not have a bad cough so managed to tough it out without making those around her totally uncomfortable. Not sure what she had that trip (but it was certainly not Noro) but she gradually recovered during all those lazy sea days. One irony I had not thought about until today, was that it was a cruise where we became pretty good friends with the ships physician (had dinner with him and his partner a few times). But by the time we met him we had been at sea a few days and DW's illness never was mentioned.

 

It all goes back to the topic about what does one do if they are sick the day of a cruise. Were we going to easily sacrifice more then $20.000 because one of us felt lousy? Nope. We do have the utmost respect for anyone willing to make that kind of gesture but guess we are just not that good.

 

Hank

 

Hank

 

 

Of course, the other question is: What about all those other people on the ship that paid their money for their 60+ day cruise and were exposed and possible infected?

 

Conundrum...... what does one do?

Who does one think about?

 

[Hlitner]

 

Of course, the other question is: What about all those other people on the ship that paid their money for their 60+ day cruise and were exposed and possible infected?

 

Conundrum...... what does one do?

Who does one think about?

 

 

Your comment made me think of a favorite line from the old "Cheers" TV show when Norm said, "It's a dog eat dog world and I am wearing milkbone underwear."

 

Last evening we had some friends over for dinner and they actually brought up this thread (this couple are long time cruisers). We all agreed that it would be a rare person who was honest when filling out the short illness form given out at embarkation (most would not admit they are sick). But it is probably unfair to single out cruisers. Folks leave their homes when they are sick on a routine basis to go to work, school, fly on a plane, shop, etc. In a perfect world everyone would quarantine themselves (to protect everyone else) whenever they were ill or even felt something "coming on." But we are not a perfect world :)

 

Hank

[ducklite]

I think there are different types of illness as well. The common cold shouldn't keep people from cruising, nor should most bacterial infections once you've been on antibiotics for a couple of days. Highly contagious and potentially serious disease such as Noro, chickenpox, and influenza should be denied boarding.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[deedeetoo]

I think there are different types of illness as well. The common cold shouldn't keep people from cruising, nor should most bacterial infections once you've been on antibiotics for a couple of days. Highly contagious and potentially serious disease such as Noro, chickenpox, and influenza should be denied boarding.

 

So you wake up in the morning with a sore throat. How do you know what it is? Is it a cold coming on? Is it the flu? Is it something that needs antibiotics like strep throat? Or was the air in the hotel room just too dry?

 

Same thing with a stomach problem. Did your food from the night before disagree with you, or is it something more serious?

 

I think most people who are capable of walking and faking it are just going go to the ship and lie on the form.

[ducklite]

I can usually tell the cause of my sore throat, and can tell bad food from Noro (fever is a giveaway).

 

Last summer I woke up with a slightly sore throat, runny nose, and--the key--itchy eyes. Allegra stopped the allergy issues in their tracks--the sore throat was caused by post nasal drip. The difference between my symptoms and a cold were lack of fever and general malaise.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

Edited January 30, 2014 by ducklite

[spunkyhungry]

Your comment made me think of a favorite line from the old "Cheers" TV show when Norm said, "It's a dog eat dog world and I am wearing milkbone underwear."

 

Last evening we had some friends over for dinner and they actually brought up this thread (this couple are long time cruisers). We all agreed that it would be a rare person who was honest when filling out the short illness form given out at embarkation (most would not admit they are sick). But it is probably unfair to single out cruisers. Folks leave their homes when they are sick on a routine basis to go to work, school, fly on a plane, shop, etc. In a perfect world everyone would quarantine themselves (to protect everyone else) whenever they were ill or even felt something "coming on." But we are not a perfect world :)

 

Hank

Exactly. When I'm sick I still have to go to work. I work at a preschool, and I'm exposed to lots of germs on a daily basis. Right now there are cases of the stomach bug and conjunctivitis going around. Once someone's fever has been down for 24 hours they're allowed to come back to school. I just had the flu. It's part of life to be sick, and you shouldn't have to cancel your vacation because of it. Of course I would feel bad about getting other people sick, but it's part of life for them, too.

[mexico8]

:)

Your comment made me think of a favorite line from the old "Cheers" TV show when Norm said, "It's a dog eat dog world and I am wearing milkbone underwear."

 

Last evening we had some friends over for dinner and they actually brought up this thread (this couple are long time cruisers). We all agreed that it would be a rare person who was honest when filling out the short illness form given out at embarkation (most would not admit they are sick). But it is probably unfair to single out cruisers. Folks leave their homes when they are sick on a routine basis to go to work, school, fly on a plane, shop, etc. In a perfect world everyone would quarantine themselves (to protect everyone else) whenever they were ill or even felt something "coming on." But we are not a perfect world :)

 

Hank

 

Amen!! Could not agree more. My dh and myself have both gotten sick while on the ship and both of us had to pay for the doctor and the meds and we were both confined to our cabins for three days. We respected the rules but if we had to fill out the questionnaire while in line to check in for the cruise it would be very difficult to answer yes to the questions that would prevent us from boarding the ship and miss the cruise.

 

Wendy