Gastro-cruise! Who is responsible for onboard sickness on cruises?

Since the dawn of mass market cruising and maybe even before there have been regular stories about onboard sickness.
It has become something that cruisers and cruiseline staff alike have to live with.
Last year, 2017 was a bit of a nadir for cruiseline hygiene and a 10 year high for cruise ships failing hygiene assessments.
Depending on who you listen to though that’s perhaps not the whole story, if you talk to people who have worked on cruise ships sickness outbreaks are usually blamed on passenger hygiene but the above statistics would suggest that cruiselines do at least have some of the responsibility for hygiene standards.

The things that ship fail on can range from an improperly stored mop to a member of staff working when ill with a gastroenteritis type problem so that stats may not directly correlate with any outbreak onboard.

The risks however are not necessarily that high, just because a cruise ship failed a hygiene test doesn’t necessarily mean that novovirus is going to break out. That said the rise in outbreaks of these type of illnesses directly correlates with  number of guests onboard the new big cruise ships in the last 20 years so in that sense alone cruise lines are to blame a little bit as less people to manage should in theory mean less chance of a widespread outbreak and an easier to manage situation. So are cruiselines just pushing the limits and expectations of human hygiene too far, perhaps?

That said the onus is on cruise passengers to fulfill hygiene obligations (as well as moral obligations) to themselves and others, things like questioning whether its right to normally go about your business if you have had a stomach bug in the last 24 hours for example rather that reporting it to staff pre-boarding. As going out amongst so many people is in all likelihood going to spread it and cause inconvenience to others in the long run as well as potentially ruining your own holiday through illness.

Cruiselines clearly have an obligation as well and like any business where food is being served and at sometimes extravagant costs for a cruise, you wouldn’t expect organisations like Carnival or Royal Caribbean group to slip up on this but they do and more frequently lately as well.

So what is my advice on this, well really look after number one. I’ve come across a few ex cruiseline staff and experienced passengers in my time and most have said that they have never been ill onboard and that is because they follow hygiene guidelines, wash  their hands regularly and do a number of things.

Some of these are

• wash their hands always before eating or putting hands anywhere near your mouth/face
• use the hand sanitizer provided by cruiselines
• be cautious with what they eat onboard and off the ship
• too much booze and food consumption could make you ill (and therefore others) so pace yourself!
• drink bottled water in some key destinations (India/Egypt type places for example)
• finally dont go onboard and around other people whilst already ill

So cruise well, in all senses of the word everyone!