CARIBBEAN CRUISE NIGHTMARE: HUNDREDS FALL ILL

South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | November 11 2002 | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[cmsgop]

No Memo, but I did get this........

[Pharmboy]

That ship must've smelled like the monkey house at the Bronx Zoo.

[cmsgop]

PACKED WITH NUTS !!!!!

[Pharmboy]

Yummm...peanuts too!

[SamAdams76]

My only cruise was a trip to Bermuda (from New York) in 1987. One night, my new wife and I (it was our honeymoon) had midnight buffet which had mostly raw fish. I was sick for a week afterwards. On the bright side, I got sick the day before we returned so the trip wasn't a total wash.

[cmsgop]

Sushi I gather....

[Semper911]

Okay, here's my food handlers gripe: You go to the donut shop, pick out some tasty gut bombs. The clerk first gets a nice clean tissue, uses it to pick up your donuts, and places the donuts in the bag. But he/she also puts the tissue in the bag, WITH YOUR DONUTS!

If the purpose of the tissue is to protect the donuts from whatever nasties that might be on the clerk's hands, shouldn't the tissue then go in the trash, instead of snuggling up next to my donuts?

[PLK]

Infection with diseases spread by poor handwashing, especially by fecal-borne illness, is extremely common on cruise ships. After my first cruise, when I spent my vacation chilling with high fever and suffering from severe diarrhea, a pharmacist in Miami explained that the crew on foreign-registered ships are mostly from 3rd world countries where concepts like asepsis and handwashing are mostly unheard of. They are cheap labor and willing to spend weeks cooped up on board before a break.

When these 3rd-worlders get together for months on a cruise line, they spread this stuff like wild fire. The unusual part of this story is that it actually reached the press; most do not.

After that first cruise, I have heard this story repeated over and over. I would NEVER go on another cruise with a line that is not subject to U.S. sanitation regulations, as the foreign lines are NOT. If you have gone on a cruise with a foreign-registered boat and not gotten ill, it's because you are very lucky or because you have an exceptional immune system.

[anymouse]

Hopefully Carnival Cruise Lines has higher standards for employee health practices.

One wonders if this might have been sabatoge by a disgruntal Haitian employee?