How taking a cruise might ruin your vacation

If you’re planning a winter vacation right now, it might be a good idea to think twice about that cruise. Maybe even more than twice.

Because if you listen to what a doctor — one who specializes in infectious diseases — has to say, you’ll drop that cruise brochure and never pick one up again.

What he said was that the thought of getting on a cruise ship scares him more than TB, anthrax, the flu and Ebola!

It all has to do with something called Norovirus, a 24 hour stomach flu that “makes you so sick, you will wish you were dead.”

In fact, Dr. Kent Sepkowitz is such an anti-cruising crusader, that he says the vacation ships should be banned!

Dr. Sepkowitz does say that Norovirus is seldom a killer, but it’s such an unpleasant illness, causing a good 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhea that it’s not worth taking the chance.

Norovirus, also dubbed the “winter vomiting disease,” can also easily infect people in nursing homes, hospitals and daycare, so it’s not like you’re totally “safe” on dry land, either.

But Dr. Sepkowitz does feel that cruise ships and Norovirus have a “close association.” And he tells how cases seem to peak in certain years. Like 21 cruise outbreaks that occurred in 2007, one that included the super-fancy QE-II.

And an outbreak was recently reported on a ship called the “Crown Princess” that hit 158 people.

But if you’re a fan of cruising, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. Things like being sure to wash your hands a lot more often and ordering off the menu instead of doing the buffet if you can.

Because there’s nothing worse than spending your entire vacation in the bathroom!

Sources:
“A doctor explains why cruise ships should be banned” Kent Sepkowitz, November 19, 2014, The Daily Beast, thedailybeat.com