Millions of people travel on cruise ships each and every year. With so many people traveling on one vessel, its extremely easy for viruses, illnesses, and sickness to be passed from person to person. Traveling on a cruise ship, visiting new places via cruise ports, and just meeting a number of new people at once, exposes you to hundreds of thousands of germs and bacteria. According to the Center for Disease control this exposure creates the risk for passengers to get ill from contaminated food and water through person to person contact.
When you are traveling on your next cruise vacation, consider following some of these tips to prevent yourself, your family, and your loved ones from getting ill or spreading illness:
-
Pack Hand Sanitizer with you and Wash Your Hands VERY often with anti-bacterial soap. This includes before you eat breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks because your hands transfer the most germs and bacteria. This is a given, but make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly after any trip to the restroom. If you smoke, wash your hands before smoking. You should also wash your hands after touching your face or touching something with your hands that you think may be dirty (railings, tables, areas where someone has been coughing etc.). Also bringing along some anti-bacterial hand wipes is a good idea as well.
- Leave any area immediately where someone is sick or vomiting. Vomit and diarrhea spread germs very quickly. Please be sure and report any open sicknesses or illnesses that you see to cruise staff so that they can ensure that the person receives the proper care and that they can protect other passengers against spreadable illnesses. You can easily get sick through germs that travel through the air.
- Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Yes, you are on a cruise ship having the time of your life, but be SAFE and PROTECT yourself. Make sure that you make time to get plenty of rest and drink plenty of water while you are cruising. Rest helps to build up your immune system, and water prevents dehydration.
- Make sure that you are considerate of other peoples health. If you feel sick before your cruise, DON’T cruise and put other peoples health at risk. If you are scared that you will lose your money, consider purchasing a travel insurance plan before your sailing to ensure that you are covered (and get your money back) in the event that your health is not at its best. If you get sick while you are on the cruise, report this to the cruise staff immediately in order to get the care and resources that you need to get better.
The cruise ship industry does everything in it’s power to prevent and eliminate the spread of illness on ships because who wants to cruise if its a risk to their health? Even the most sanitized cruise ships have had problems with germs and bacteria spreading, but just being a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to what YOU can do to protect YOURSELF and your FAMILY will keep you safer when taking your cruise.
