Sick room steward. What would you do?

[Golfin55]

Not much you can do. But, I'm more worried about the person who goes to the bathroom drops a Duce, and does not wash. Then goes to the buffet and touches everything. That's the real danger.[emoji40]

[cruisequeen4ever]

It would be awkward, but I would complain to Pax Services. It's not cool for a corporation to knowingly infect their customers by forcing their crew to work while sick!

 

 

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[ISLABONITA]

Wow.. I guess I am in the minority.. I would certainly have asked him directly to NOT wipe or clean without gloves and would have my own sanitizing wipes to go over the areas in question.

I am one that really doesn't need all that pampering and going by a few days without his services until he felt better and stopped coughing and sneezing or sniffling. Put the do not disturb sign and go on without his services for a few days.

[rbrugler]

My wife got sick on one of our cruises. I put out the do not disturb sign, and asked the steward to leave clean towels by the door, which he did. I did not mention that she was sick. I brought her some juice, soup, etc. Two days later, she was fine.

 

In the above case, I would have put out that sign and asked that towels be left outside the door. I would rather enjoy the cruise than get sick.

[CutestLittleEvil]

 

What we want to know is how can you protect yourself from illness if your own room steward is coughing as he wipes down the desk, brings in glasses and turns down your bed?

 

Wash your hands frequently, don't touch your face, and say a prayer.

[sprint180]

What would I have done? Nothing. There were sick people all over the boat. You can't get away from it. I usually come home with a cold.

Besides, I worked in a preschool. I literally had kids coughing in my face, sneezing on me. Wiping snot on me daily. I guess I am just used to it. I do feel bad for him though. It's tough to work when you don't feel good.

[Golfin55]

Wow.. I guess I am in the minority.. I would certainly have asked him directly to NOT wipe or clean without gloves and would have my own sanitizing wipes to go over the areas in question.

 

I am one that really doesn't need all that pampering and going by a few days without his services until he felt better and stopped coughing and sneezing or sniffling. Put the do not disturb sign and go on without his services for a few days.

 

 

To add to your excellent point about the gloves, a simple mask would prevent germs from spreading when he sneezes or coughs [emoji40].

[hernando52]

On our first day, we met our room steward. He seemed very nice and hard working. The next day we came back to our room to find someone very different in our room. He explained that our room steward was very ill and he was filling in. He was normally a busboy and this was new to him. The following day our regular room steward was back. He said he felt better but was still stifling and coughing. 14 days later he was still coughing and wiping his nose. He was congested and was never better the whole cruise. We know he filled our ice bucket while he coughed, cleaned our glasses after his wiped sniffles, and turned down our beds while he coughed. By the end of the cruise DH was ill, coughing, sinus running and congested. The couple in the cabin next to us was the same. We found out that at least five couples near us had one person ill with the coughing.

 

What we want to know is how can you protect yourself from illness if your own room steward is coughing as he wipes down the desk, brings in glasses and turns down your bed? We understand that it is not feasible to have him not work for more than a day but maybe he should have worn a mask or plastic gloves or something to help us stay healthy.

 

We know that our steward was hard working, and good at what he does so we didn't want to get him in trouble but by the time we were done with the cruise we were both suffering from the same symptom as our steward. What would you do? What could we have done to stay healthy? He basically touched everything in our room. Can bedding carry germs? Does the railing in the bathroom? The sink faucet? Drinking glasses, ice buckets and door handles? What would you have done?

 

 

This answers some questions I have had. Husband & I embarked on the EPIC 5/22/2016 healthy. We noticed people coughing, especially in the elevators. Washy Washy Happy Happy! On 5/31 we embarked on the Spirit..I felt fine but had minor hoarseness, By Day 4 on the Spirit, husband was in Medical because of a sinus infection...I followed him on about day 7 (& when I showed at Medical, there were 6 of us waiting with the same crud).....symptoms of a bad sinus infection but the ship doctor said I had fluid in my lungs & prescribed antibiotics. We spent one day resting and listening to people really coughing badly everywhere. Got home 6/16....still with messed up sinuses, saw my doctor even before getting to my house....no pneumonia but lung fluid & sinus infection...Long story made short...it is 7/1/2016...haven't had a voice in 2 wks, am seeing Dr again on Tues & a specialist on the 19th.....This cruise ship crud just keeps hanging on and on...... One day I wouldn't let our steward in the room & had chicken soup delivered! I just want to feel better, and figure out what I need to do before my Nov cruise to stay healthy! LYSOL! Oh yah....Husband = $314 for ship med. & me $275 ship med!! We had the UBP and barely took advantage of it!

 

Thanks for shedding light on where my cruise crud may have come from!!!!

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

I am a nurse and always carry a can of Lysol and a pack of Clorox wipes in my suitcases. Also, a few travel size bottles of hand sanitizer. Proper hand hygiene is the best defense. As a matter of fact, in March noro hit our ship and we never had any issues.

[Debala715]

We sailed last November on Spirit and I brought along Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer with us. I even went as far as wiping down the seat tray and arm rests on the airplane for both of us. Washed my hands often and used sanitizer anytime I couldn't wash my hands. Still, on our last full day on the ship I started to feel bad. Throat hurt, sniffles and cough started. I got little sleep because of it that night and by the time we got off the ship I was beyond miserable, but still had to sit and wait for over 6 hours before our flight left for home. That crud stayed with me for weeks. In fact, since this trip I've been diagnosed with two auto-immune conditions where it is thought they began because of an infection, most likely that infection as I was put on 3 different antibiotics after I got home. All I know is I haven't felt good since that cruise. I do know that my next cruise in November I will be upping my vitamin intake, will be wiping things down often, and will be washing my hands frequently to avoid this again. But I also believe that no matter what we may try to do to avoid getting sick, now and again something is going to get us.

[Momofcandk]

I would have bought him cold medicine and kept spraying my Lysol and constantly wiping things down.

 

 

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