300 People Fall Ill on Carnival Cruise

[nodehopper]

300 People Fall Ill on Carnival Cruise

- A Carnival Cruise Lines ship returned from a five-day cruise to Mexico on Saturday with more than 300 people sick with a gastrointestinal illness.

Carnival officials said preliminary tests show the outbreak might have been caused by a norovirus. The virus is spread through contaminated food, contact with infected people or poor hygiene. It can be prevented by regular hand-washing.
"They did try to handle it very well, from a cleaning perspective and disinfecting and sanitizing things,'' passenger Christal Davis said after leaving the ship. "I wouldn't go back on this ship, but we'll definitely cruise again.''

more here:
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040214200309990004&_mpc=news%2e10%2e1

[Mari333]

1. Maybe they got sick from all the sewage they saw

being thrown overboard from that cruise ship line..

[Benhurst]

2. Doesn't surprise me. I get sick whenever

I see one of their commercials. :puke:

[PragMantisT]

3. Saw news last night

touting new Homeland inSecurity blanket.

The example they used was a series of incidents preceding poisoning on-board cruise ship at 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida.

Could this be a dress rehearsal?
Will Carnival blame terrorists?
Will Homeland inSecurity say they could have prevented this when they ask for more money or they'll shoot this dog?

[Just Me]

4. These cruise lines need to end contracts with their food suppliers,...

,...because it seems like there have been umpteen reports similar to this over the last year or so :eyes:

[mountainvue]

7. I don't

necessarily think it's the food. It think it's in their water supply.

[Toots]

11. I think you may be on to something

This has been an on-going problem for them for over a year now. I know they have scoured the ships from stem to stern but not sure that they have tried to de-contaminate their water holding tanks and distributions systems. Or it may be some form of sabitage.

[TNDemo]

5. Does it say which ship?

I couldn't get the article to come up.

[Ernesto]

6. It was the Celebration on a 5 dayer out of Galveston.

I know cause I'm going on the Elation out of Galveston later this year. I've cruised with Carnival & always had a great time.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. I cruised on the Celebration twice and had a great time.

People get sick on all the cruise lines. Cruise ships are well known for an abundance of food available. And I believe, the buffet line is where the problem lies. People need to wash their hands more often.

[MIMStigator]

9. maybe they saw Kathy Lee

gifford

[CO Liberal]

12. That Would Have Made EVERYBODY Sick!!!

Top Deck

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

Fantail

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

Lido Deck

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[NMLobo]

10. Another link?

I don't have AOL. I've cruised Elation twice. Bummer if it's true.

[Ernesto]

13. Welcome NMLobo

I couldn't make the link work so go to CNN.com's travel section. It's there now.

[freeforall]

14. You know...

it makes me wonder what is going on with these ships. I have read about these cruise ship illnesses for about the past three or four years now. Before that, I can't remember hearing about large numbers of people getting sick on cruises. So - what is going on? If they are sanitizing the ships, what else could be causing this problem?

[htuttle]

15. It's the ocean lanes

All of the sickenesses have occurred in sea lanes heavily frequented by cruise ships. These ships dump their raw sewage (from over thousand humans) right into the water.

Later, I believe that some ocean water is taken up onto the ship for various non-potable uses (like washing, laundry, etc..). Ergo, the sewage left by the last ship makes it onto the one following, etc... The open ocean doesn't always dilute and disperse surface pollution as quickly as one might think.

Classic case of shitting where you eat. Humans have yet to grasp that one, essential lesson for all lifeforms.

[Snow]

18. You may not remember, but the DU epidemiologist does.....

I can recall cruise line outbreaks back into the mid-70's. This is nothing new. And I think the poster who wrote about it being the water sanitation has most of it explained.

[Bridget Burke]

16. Maybe they should treat their employees better.

From a recent "Houston Press" article on cruise ships:

'Like most servants on the ship, he works almost entirely for tips, and he offers his own explanation for why everyone is so friendly. "They have to be," he says. "They're working."

'Martin serves drinks that evening until the casino closes at 2:30 a.m., then reports back to work at 8:30 the same morning. While passengers aboard the ship might feel they are still deep in the heart of Texas -- a happier Texas than they ever knew in Houston -- the reality for cruise workers is quite different, one of ten-hour workdays seven days a week, where U.S. labor laws don't apply.

'Martin hasn't had a single day off in more than 120 days.'

Lots more:

www.houstonpress.com/issues/2003-12-25/feature.html/1/index.html

[alarimer]

17. Sounds like a lousy job

And a good reason not to go on a cruise. I don't like the idea of being trapped on a ship with thousands of people. When I go on vacation I prefer to be away from people, especially other Americans who are the most obnoxious tourists in the world.

[Ernesto]

19. I can only speak for myself

But as a comfortably retired UNION man married to a UNION nurse, I must reply thus: I often inquire about working conditions of people I randomly meet. The majority of cruise ships employees are non US citizens from all over the world. Some are youngsters enjoying a 1 or 2 year adventure while seeing the world. Others are dedicated bread winners that are experienced sea farers. The career folk are quite happy to leave their familys for 8 months @ a time, making much more money than they could @ home....... A few are young American entertainment types paying their dues to enhance their careers or simply taking a "working vacation". I never heard a complaint from anybody that I questioned and I questioned many. One young US colledge grad who took his job as a lark did tell my that he would not be returning, but that it had been a positive experience.......
Historically, the idea of the "8 hour day" has never existed for sea going workers. As an USMC grunt aboard ship, I was always impressed by what the "swabbies" had to do every day just to keep the ship safely functioning...... Obviously, working on the open sea is not the life for everybody....PS, I've thrown up in Mexico atleast 100 times. I still go back though, every winter if possible.