Oh my goodness…have you heard? I’m going on a cruise…more specifically, I will be on the Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas ship. As excited as I am, I all hear from people is, “OMG, haven’t you heard about the hoopla on cruise ships and people getting sick?”, or “are you sure you still want to go?”, or my personal favorite, “cruise ships cause norovirus outbreaks”.
What is Norovirus?
First of all, the other name by which “norovirus” is referred to as is “the winter vomiting bug”. More specifically, it’s simply the stomach flu. You know, the terrible virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. You can get this bug anywhere. People go to the grocery store all the time in the winter. If they are concerned with the various stomach bugs going around, they have antibacterial wipes they can use to clean the carts. Likewise, I am sure cruise ships have hand sanitizer everywhere for people to use.
Should I still go?
Um…let me think about this for one second. YES! Why wouldn’t I want to go? I just finished reading a post over on the BlogHer site called Vacations Shouldn’t Make you Vomit: Why I won’t Go on a Cruise and I have to say, I find it kind of silly. I mean we all know we can get sick ANYWHERE. Shoot, I sat on an airplane, another place where I CAN’T GET OUT and the person in behind me threw up in his puke bag, while coughing and blowing his nose. Did I immediately demand a parachute to leave that germ infested plane? Of course not. Did I get off the plane and march over to the desk and demand a refund or a voucher for a new flight because this one was ruined for me? Nope.
I didn’t do anything because I see this as one of those things where anything can happen. I could be walking down the street and someone could accidentally (at least I hope it would be an accident) sneeze in my face. Could I get sick after that? Sure. But I could also just go about my day like it didn’t even happen and not get sick.
The same holds true about cruise ships. First of all, this is cold and flu season, so hearing that people are getting the Norovirus, which…by the way…is just a fancy word for the stomach flu, is really not all that abnormal. If you are paying all that money for a trip, YOU are the one choosing when to go. You could go to Disney World and end up with the Norovirus because someone who had it was sitting in the ride before you got on. You can get it anywhere.
I am very proud and happy to be taking my very first cruise ever this April on the Royal Caribbeans Liberty of the Seas ship. If we wrote off everything just because something had happened previously or something could happen, we might as well all stay home.
Stay tuned for my lovely cruising adventure and my first time to Mexico!!
Image courtesy of Royal Caribbean
Amen! My poor mom scrimped and saved for our first trip to Disney World by cleaning houses for other people. As a 5 year old I had the best time ever! Unfortunately, Mom spent a couple of days of that trip on the bathroom floor of the Contemporary Resort with the stomach bug. Did she demand Disney refund her money? No! We still talk about that trip and she can laugh about it now. 😉
Love it! You are absolutely right. Can’t wait to see you on the seas!