sick after Mariner swine flu cruise

[stanford's girl]

I believe that the flu-like symptom being discussed here are defined by the CDC as noroviruses.

 

For example: FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Carnival Cruise Lines says more than 700 people on its Liberty cruise ship have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms. The sickness is believed to be norovirus.

 

All cruise ships over 100 passangers on cruises of over 2 days are required to make formal reports to the CDC of all flu-like issues among passangers and crew.

No one has said that they had anything like Norovirus!! :mad:

 

Here is what the CDC describes as symptoms for Norovirus and this is NOT what the people coming off the Mariner sick have described.

 

Norovirus infection usually presents as acute-onset vomiting, watery non-bloody diarrhea with abdominal cramps, and nausea. Low-grade fever also occasionally occurs, and vomiting is more common in children. Dehydration is the most common complication, especially among the young and elderly, and may require medical attention. Symptoms usually last 24 to 60 hours.

[terri23]

DH was sick for a month with a terrible cough after our March Mariner cruise. He had to go to the doctor twice. The concierge was sick as a dog but still there every day. bleck!! we stopped going to the CL because of it!! (not soon enough, it seems)

 

as I posted on another thread, my "martini prevention method" worked for me ;)

[mohavemommy]

cant people just accept that it is flu season - and unless u can 100% trace your sickness back to the mariner - how dare everyone start a pandemic of their own and scare future mariner passengers - dont u all think the cruise lines and mexico have suffered enough - go to the doctor, get ur medication and i wish u all a speedy recovery.... - just because they are sick with the flu - - - is have nothing to do with the mariner - there have been no reported cases on norovirus on these sailing.

 

not to mention - that imo only 20% of passengers i see actually use the hand sanitizers which are all over the ship - we pass it along ourselves - - its not the ships fault----so please stop scaring passengers - if u got the flu, please accept this..

 

sorry for the abruptness, but dont u think the cruise lines and mexico in particual have suffered enough....

 

The people from the April 19th sailing have not said that they were sick with the flu. Most of them, myself included came down with this congestion, ears plugged, cough thing while on board or as in my case the day I disembarked. It has now been 2 weeks for me and I still have that thick barking cough. Since I spent the 7 days prior to my illness on the Mariner, then I feel that I can safely say that is where I got it.

 

There were a few people on that sailing with me who came down with this exact illness while on the "Around the Horn" sailing, were sick on the ship, went home and got better, and came down with it again on the April 19th sailing. The common factor there was the ship.

 

I for one am not wanting to trash talk the Mariner. Actually I hope to sail on her again soon. What I want to do is see that she is cleaned of this bug so people will be happy cruisers and want to return again and again.

 

I remember an old saying that if it walks like a cow, sounds like a cow and gives milk like a cow... then it must be a cow. So, let me apply it to this situation. If people came off the Mariner in February sick with this, in March sick with this, and in April sick with this... then it must be something on the ship.

[Islandbear]

I admit I do not understand what it is that you people say you were infected with. Cold? Flu? Seasickness? Norwalk virus? WHAT?

[rubrrick]

 

Many of us feel that the "virus" (not swine flu) that has hit so many is directly related to the cruise. This virus has hit many' date=' many passengers since it came around the horn 2 months ago and seems to be continuing on affecting many of us. Since most of us never went to the doctor onboard, RCCL would be unaware of so many be ill. Hope you will take a few minutes to let them know, and hopefully it will allow for a more thorough cleaning of the ship. [/color']

 

Thanks everyone :D

 

Janice........you cannot believe how many people were treated by the ships doctors on the 46 night ATH cruise. When I came aboard in Valparaiso, Chile.........the number of people coughing.......was somewhere between 70 and 90%. The officers and doctors were well aware of the situation.

 

Then for Captain Johnny to come down with it just 2 days before he was to get off (cruising with his lovely bride)........yes, RCCL knows about it.

 

My DW and I were invited to the one night pre inaugural, and she came down with it the day that everyone got off from the Horn trip. We moved to a new cabin......and she never came out till the next morning to hop in the car for our ride home.

 

Then she came down with it a second time on the 4/19 trip. The day after we got home.........she was sick again......and is just getting over that.

 

We are 4 weeks away from cruising again, and she is almost well. We shall see what this next cruise brings for both of us.:rolleyes:

 

Rick

[Kaboochi]

It's a flu virus, just like any other flu virus that visits us every winter. Be thankful it showed its ugly head now instead of this fall/winter as there should be vaccines for it. It is not to be taken lightly but don't panic. Just my opinion.

[stanford's girl]

I admit I do not understand what it is that you people say you were infected with. Cold? Flu? Seasickness? Norwalk virus? WHAT?

The symptoms that most people are reporting are a runny nose, plugged ears, hacking cough, chest congestion, pounding heachache, fever, body aches and a general lethargic feeling. Many have gone to their doctors and have been given antibiotics to treat this.

And the only thing these people have in common is that they all got sick on or a day after they got off the Mariner.

 

[Islandbear]

and none of these doctors have done a swab to find out what it is?

[zywnywld]

Maybe the airlines should be made to track how many travelers get sick from the lousy air circulated on the airplane. How well are airplanes cleaned between flights ? Has anyone been near someone coughing like their going to die on a flight ? I think cruise ships are cleaner, but they can be the cause of a lot of sickness.

[stanford's girl]

and none of these doctors have done a swab to find out what it is?

I don't know about anyone else but my doctor did take a swab on Tuesday. Since they let us off the ship in Cabo, she is also testing for swine flu, since the symptoms are very similar. The results were supposed to be back in 24 hours but I was told yesterday that they are doing more testing on it and I should get the results on Monday. And until the results are back, I cannot return to work.

[mohavemommy]

I admit I do not understand what it is that you people say you were infected with. Cold? Flu? Seasickness? Norwalk virus? WHAT?

I believe myself it is a virus of some type. Not a flu or noro type. Definitely not seasickness. Almost like a congestion based nasty cold.

 

The symptoms that most people are reporting are a runny nose' date=' plugged ears, hacking cough, chest congestion, pounding heachache, fever, body aches and a general lethargic feeling. Many have gone to their doctors and have been given antibiotics to treat this. [/color']

And the only thing these people have in common is that they all got sick on or a day after they got off the Mariner.

 

 

I did not go to a doctor. I have used mostly OTC stuff with the exception of prescription nasal spray (decongestant and antihistamine) I already had. I did have some body aches, a runny/stuffed nose, plugged ears, chest congestion and a lethargic feeling, but luckily no fever at all. My throat was a tad bit red, but never did get infected. I did not take any antibiotics and am getting over it... and some people who did take antibiotics took more than one round of them... which is why I feel it is virus based that just needs to run its course. I am still sitting here this evening clearing my throat.

 

and none of these doctors have done a swab to find out what it is?

Did not go to doctor... so no swab.

 

I don't know about anyone else but my doctor did take a swab on Tuesday. Since they let us off the ship in Cabo' date=' she is also testing for swine flu, since the symptoms are very similar. The results were supposed to be back in 24 hours but I was told yesterday that they are doing more testing on it and I should get the results on Monday. And until the results are back, I cannot return to work.[/color']

 

I hope you get back to work soon. Sorry to have missed you on that Sunday. We will meet up someday on some sailing!

[dirtgirl]

Yep, it was an extremely bad cold - not flu, not norovirus. Extremely sore throat with cough, bad congestion, and I had a bit of a fever for about 24 hours. I thought at one point I might have strep. My DH said he hasn't seen me that sick in years. I am now getting over it and am back at work. But yeah, I felt like I had been hit by a truck.:rolleyes: I did not go to the doctor, because I knew it was a virus, and antibiotics do nothing for viruses. If I had felt I had a bacterial infection, then I would have gone to the doctor's. I knew it wasn't the flu, either. There wasn't enough of a fever.

[critterchick]

cant people just accept that it is flu season - and unless u can 100% trace your sickness back to the mariner - how dare everyone start a pandemic of their own and scare future mariner passengers - dont u all think the cruise lines and mexico have suffered enough - go to the doctor, get ur medication and i wish u all a speedy recovery.... - just because they are sick with the flu - - - is have nothing to do with the mariner - there have been no reported cases on norovirus on these sailing.

 

not to mention - that imo only 20% of passengers i see actually use the hand sanitizers which are all over the ship - we pass it along ourselves - - its not the ships fault----so please stop scaring passengers - if u got the flu, please accept this..

 

sorry for the abruptness, but dont u think the cruise lines and mexico in particual have suffered enough....

 

The flu is a virus against which hand sanitizers are useless. Most of us didn't even have the symptoms of flu; I didn't. I can 100% trace my illness back to Mariner - I was healthy when I boarded and didn't become ill until the day I disembarked - it's a rare disease that has more than 7 days' incubation. Yes, I got off the ship in every port, but didn't come into close contact with anybody, certainly not as close as my ill cabin steward. She went out sick and came back sick.

 

It's a flu virus, just like any other flu virus that visits us every winter. Be thankful it showed its ugly head now instead of this fall/winter as there should be vaccines for it. It is not to be taken lightly but don't panic. Just my opinion.

 

Are you a doctor?:rolleyes:

[Islandbear]

yes let's hope it is just a cold virus and that you are better and back to work soon.hand washing and sanitizing are the best defense against cold, flu, and Noro viruses according to the CDC. That is why you see so many squirt bottles on cruise ships, at Disney, or any other place large crowds are in close prolonged contact.again it should be noted that RCL has one of the best recprds in the industy for controling viruses

[L&Mcruisin]

I got sick on Thursday right before we got to San Fran. The first night on board we went to the juggling show and some dude behind me was coughing and hacking...yuck!

 

I had general aches and pains, runny nose, swollen throat glands, etc. I just started feeling better this past Friday.

 

That whole trip just frustrates me....

[aqhacruiser]

I was on the 4/26 13 night Explorer cruise and we came home yesterday. We were all watching the news closely and wondering what would happen if anyone should get sick onboard. The crew had daily meetings that stressed the importance of cleaning public areas, passing out wipes at all dining areas, the ship had sanitizers set up outside to use in ports, the doctor was available to come to your cabin at no charge should you feel ill, they did have tamiflu onboard in case they needed it, they did everything possible to keep everyone healthy and we did not have any cases of flu like symptoms on the Ex. So far everyone I know is fine.

 

We were told it would only take one case of confirmed swine flu onboard to prevent us from coming back to Bayonne and that we would be quarantined at sea until a time period passed where the CDC would let us dock but everything was fine and we docked on schedule. It was a little nerve wracking watching the media reports back home and we had a great cruise but we washed our hands several times a day and used the wipes and Germ X in between as they are better then nothing and we did stay outside a lot more on this cruise avoiding inside crowded areas.

 

In Dec. on the Ex. many people including crew were sick with a bad cold and we caught it a couple of days after coming home and I had it about a month before it finally went away. Then it came back and I was very sick in Feb. for about 3 weeks with a flu like virus and ran a temp of over 103 for 3 days and very congested and felt sick to my stomach but I never did get sick, just had that feeling constantly. I never had such bad joint pain in my life before and the pain lasted over a week and I mean I really hurt to the point I was crying in pain and tylenol only took the edge off for a few hours at a time. The doctors had put me on 2 different antibiotics and an anti viral that did nothing and finally I was put on Cipro after a visit to the ER that worked within 12 hours. It began as a virus and ended up a bacterial infection and I've never been that sick and I could not break that fever no matter what I did and it was the Cipro that finally did it. I have no idea what it was and neither did the doctors and I wasn't tested for anything but I do know I never want to get anything like that again! After all that I was determined I was not catching anything on this last cruise!

I hope everyone here that is ill now gets better quick!

[octagonmike]

If anyone had full blown Flu (Swine or A.N.Other), they would not be posting on here.

 

Most of the symptoms mentioned on here sound like a cold/chest infection to me.

[octagonmike]

Maybe the airlines should be made to track how many travelers get sick from the lousy air circulated on the airplane. How well are airplanes cleaned between flights ? Has anyone been near someone coughing like their going to die on a flight ? I think cruise ships are cleaner, but they can be the cause of a lot of sickness.

 

 

Exactly.

 

You are more likely to catch a bug from travelling on a plane.

 

I often come down with a cold within 24 hours of flying. Unfortunately more often than not it's on the outward bound journy.

 

This whole Swine Flu thing has been blown out of proportion just like Avian Flu was 5 years ago.

 

Flu is horrible and if you have Flu you KNOW it. You certainly wouldn't be on the internet.