[per loin]

Another cruise ship with Norwalk virus?

[FoxPro]

The Norwalk Virus

[Bogey78O]

Freeps ahoy!

[JRandomFreeper]

Foods must be kept at less than 41 degrees or more than 141 degrees. Employees must wash thier hands and observe all sanitation procedures. Ready to eat foods must be handled with gloves. Sheesh, it's not rocket science.

/john

[Ditter]

This story makes me want to puke!

[MonroeDNA]

How many jobs will be lost from this?

[Mark]

Was there a large enough parking lot at the docks for the fleets of attorneys?

[JOE6PAK]

The wife and I were aboard the last CARIBBEAN CRUISE for the MS WESTERDAM with Holland America. Without a doubt the best vacation we ever had. Everything TOP NOTCH. It only takes one guy to not wash after wee-wee. This could happen on any cruise line or restaurant. However,Ill bet if we book our next trip with Holland America this week they would give us half off and double upgrade.

[Jalapeno]

So if you ask those onboard what the food tasted like, what should they say......

[mtg]

Actually, it was a boatload of Democrats just learning of the election results.

[xrp]

I bet that was a bunch of crap!

[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.

[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.