Does cruise ship air-con make you sick?

[Hlitner]

Carolyn, Both DW and I have suffered our share of "cabin cough" when on long cruises and our family physician attributed some of the blame to the lower humidity on ships. Of course the simple solution is to spend as much time as possible on deck :). Not sure a humidifier would be of much use on a ship with a closed air circulation system. The low humidity problem is also an issue with those who spend a lot of time flying.

 

Hank

Edited December 27, 2016 by Hlitner

[editor@cruisecritic]

Oh, yikes, Maxine! Sorry to hear about that. And thanks, Hlitner, interesting explanation. Hadn't heard that....

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn, Both DW and I have suffered our share of "cabin cough" when on long cruises and our family physician attributed some of the blame to the lower humidity on ships. Of course the simple solution is to spend as much time as possible on deck :). Not sure a humidifier would be of much use on a ship with a closed air circulation system. The low humidity problem is also an issue with those who spend a lot of time flying.

 

Hank

[chengkp75]

Yes, as Hank and others have said, both airliners and cruise ships tend to have very low humidity. The airplane because they take the extremely cold air at high altitude (very low humidity) and heat it with the engines to cabin temperature. The ship cools the fresh air incoming to below the temperature required for delivery to the cabins to drop the dew point, and then reheat it slightly to raise the dew point again.

 

Both cases of low humidity noted above, can cause your mucus membranes to dry out, and you are then far more susceptible to bacterial and viral infection through these tissues.

[marco]

Cliffs notes answer to your question: Yep!

[Hlitner]

Just to add a further note that "cabin cough" has been a bigger problem for DW then me. In her case, after a couple of long (over 30 day) cruises she would develop a very persistent and annoying cough. When she went to the ship physician on a HAL cruise he simply told her that she "was not sick enough" and did not have any treatment other then to give her some OTC Cough Medicine (and charge us $105). Upon returning home the cough did not go away...even after 2 more weeks so we visited our physician. He treated DW with steroids (Prednisone) which finally ended the nasty cough after another week. As Chengkp says, the cause was attributed to the dryer air allowing some kind of bacteria to get into her lungs which would normally be prevented by moist mucous membranes. The only advice we got was to spend more time outdoors and perhaps try using a simple saline nose spray (we have never tried the latter).

 

Hank

[SPacificbound]

I have seen similar threads as this previously, and I always wonder if at least some of the issue is a lot of passengers are just not accustomed to living in air conditioning due to living in cold climates, so the AC totally messes with their sinuses.

 

DH and I have been on some extended cruises, several of them way over 30 days, but neither of us have ever had this problem, but we do notice an increased amount of coughing around us.

 

Where we live AC is the norm, home, cars, stores for at least 10 months a year. In 2016 our heat has been on a total of 10-12 days. Heat bothers me a lot, both my sinuses and my skin.

 

It would be good to come prepared with medication and saline nasal spray if you know this is a problem for you. Also hydrate your skin with something like Lubriderm.

Edited December 28, 2016 by SPacificbound

[Kmangel]

On my last cruise I developed an annoying cough. I did have a cold when I began my cruise (thanks to my husband who was already recovered by the time the cruise began). My cold subsided but the cough persisted. I did not feel bad. I mentioned it to another passenger and she commented that it was from the carpeting. There certainly is a lot of carpeting on board a ship. I always have runny sinuses from the place where I work and I have attributed it to the carpeting. So, I am leaning towards the carpeting contributing to my allergies. I think I will take antihistamines next time I cruise and see if that helps.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Kmangel

[KBS1607]

I now carry some with me and use it every day, a few year's ago the ship doctor's told me to do that because I had developed an upper respiratory bug. I don't generally live 24/7 in air conditioning so it is not a problem at home.

 

You can make your own very easily! It's just salt, baking soda and purified water.

Edited January 1, 2017 by KBS1607