Excuse me. Did you forget to wash your hands?

[cruzeluver]

On our most recent cruise I stepped out of a public men's room (where I had just thoroughly washed my hands, thank you very much) when an older male (certainly no gentleman) who happened to be in the hallway asked me if I had washed my hands before leaving the bathroom. I couldn't believe it! I informed him that I had been so busy in there minding my own business that I couldn't recall if I had washed or not, and to please excuse me as I was late for the buffet! Unbelievable! People just kill me!:rolleyes:

[Sailaway John]

I think you are very wrong Doug R. It has a way of turning into the Norovirus and that can stop a ship from proceeding to ports and can turn your cruise into a nightmare. Also when you get back to port you have the Health Authorities to contend with.

[happy cruzer]

You can't eat a sandwich with a knife and fork. Or an apple. Or a packet of crisps. Or a breadstick. Or a hamburger, or fish and chips from a paper, or most fast food, or most sweets, and unless all your drinks come with a straw still in its hermetically sealed packet, one sip will ruin your good work anyway. There's no way round it, if you don't have an inbuilt immunity to norovirus, you're gonna catch it.

 

You can eat everything using silverware. Good manners used to be to always use silverware. Sandwiches and hamburgers are very easy to eat with a knife and fork. If there is no silverware available, you can use a paper napkin to hold an item rather than touch with your hand.

 

And yes the first time I ever heard of noro was many years ago when I caught it. All you can do is lessen your chances of getting it. Now I know the precautions to take and do so rather than worry what others are doing.

[happy cruzer]

It does involve others' habits to the extent that you have to touch the same elevator buttons, hand rails, etc. And, by the way, have you never seen people in front of you touch food items, such as cookies, and then put them back - and handle the same food serving implements, salt and pepper shakers, etc. thatbyounwill have to use?

 

I find it unbelievable how so many people keep trying to insist that other people's sanitary habits are no business of mine.

 

What you say is true, but if you wash your hands before eating and don't touch your face, what others have touched does not matter.

 

Also use a napkin to touch items like salt and pepper shakers. Don't eat in the buffet.

 

It is true that if your silverware or flatware are contaminated then you are sunk but that does not happen from other passengers. The crew is well trained to contain noro, it's alot more work for them when noro gets at high levels.

 

All the precautions one can take themselves are way more useful than trying to control others habits, you probably will never control 100 pre cent of the population. If you choose to make them your business go for it, I am going to do what is under my control and not worry about monitoring and controlling others.

[happy cruzer]

It does involve others' habits to the extent that you have to touch the same elevator buttons, hand rails, etc. And, by the way, have you never seen people in front of you touch food items, such as cookies, and then put them back - and handle the same food serving implements, salt and pepper shakers, etc. thatbyounwill have to use?

 

I find it unbelievable how so many people keep trying to insist that other people's sanitary habits are no business of mine.

 

Wash your hands before you eat or touch your face then it does not matter what others touch. Even then don't touch your food with your hands, use silverware or a napkin to touch food.

 

Don't go to the buffet, many avoid buffets at all times. Use a napkin to touch common items like serving spoons, salt and pepper, etc.

 

It's not my business to monitor and control others, which will not be effective for 100 per cent anyway. It is my business to develop good habits to protect myself, which will be more effective than trying to control others.

[ducklite]

Bugger off I might catch something.

 

Ps how do those people(note pc non gender specific) with those wicked looking long false talons manage their ablutions.

 

There is a well documented problem at a hospital with babies in the NICU coming down with staph infections. It was eventually traced back to a nurse with long false nails. My local hospital doesn't allow false nails of fingernails to be longer than the finger tip. My friends that work there keep them closer clipped than that, as it allows them to do a better job cleaning the nail bed while washing their hands.

[Doug R.]

I think you are very wrong Doug R. It has a way of turning into the Norovirus and that can stop a ship from proceeding to ports and can turn your cruise into a nightmare. Also when you get back to port you have the Health Authorities to contend with.

 

When did I say that I didn't follow proper washing and sanitation protocol while aboard a ship? :eek::rolleyes:

 

I am simply against self-appointed vigilantes who think it is their God-given right to correct and chastise those lowly peasants who do not conform to their absolutely correct standards. :rolleyes:

 

I have had less sick days than most of the office germaphobes who lysol and clorox every imaginable surface. :p

[navybankerteacher]

When did I say that I didn't follow proper washing and sanitation protocol while aboard a ship? :eek::rolleyes:

 

I am simply against self-appointed vigilantes who think it is their God-given right to correct and chastise those lowly peasants who do not conform to their absolutely correct standards. :rolleyes:

 

I have had less sick days than most of the office germaphobes who lysol and clorox every imaginable surface. :p

 

I don't believe anyone on this thread ever stated you personally failed to comply with the reasonable requests of the ships to practice common sense cleanliness.

 

A number did, however, take exception to your statements that other people's lack of common sense hygiene was no one else's business.

 

Your personal health record was not an issue, nor was the apparent paranoia of your co-workers.

[SnowDiamonds]

Thanks for posting... I was just going to do the same!

 

BTW... Water temp does not matter. We had this discussion at work (a hospital) a few months back...

 

Wash please! I don't want your cold, flu, roti, noro viruses!

 

 

thanks for this! I was just wondering how we manage when cold water is all that is available at public parks, etc. I was guessing this must be the case. Unless the water was boiling hot why would it make much of a difference.

[momofmeg]

Lol! I remember many years ago my mom told on an employee at Burger King. Mom walked out without ordering too. Seh had gone to the bathroom BEFORE ordering. Stupid girl.

 

It is hard to know what to do in a situation like that. I am not sure confronting the person(unless it is a child) is the best thing to do-but if you see what stateroom they are in perhaps report them? I can see cruiselines banning such people nowadays. As a nouro outbreak costs them a ton of money.

[SnowDiamonds]

You can't eat a sandwich with a knife and fork. Or an apple. Or a packet of crisps. Or a breadstick. Or a hamburger, or fish and chips from a paper, or most fast food, or most sweets, and unless all your drinks come with a straw still in its hermetically sealed packet, one sip will ruin your good work anyway. There's no way round it, if you don't have an inbuilt immunity to norovirus, you're gonna catch it.

 

there is inbuilt immunity to norovirus?

[momofmeg]

I do the same thing and provide for those traveling in other rooms with me. I also go back over everyday after the steward clean the rooms.

 

Doug, call it what you want but I have not had a cold not even a running nose in over 15yrs and I work with the public daily.

 

I used to get stomach virses 2 or 3 times a year. I used to be bad about getting into the groceries before I got home or buying a candy bar at Walmart, Target,etc. I stopped doing that over 10 years ago and I only had the stomach virus once,back in 2008, we had just got off a cruise the day before. Of course we had been on theTurnpike the day before coming home. It was the Sunday after Thanksgivng and traffic was horrible so we took bathroom breaks several times there. Those bathrooms are none too clean when 50 zillian people (it seemed) are going through them (lines to them were terrible too) but I still washed my hands and used santiwipes when I got back in the car. I guess I will never know where I picked that up from.

[Husky61]

The theme of this discussion was people who failed to practice basic hygiene and, in so failing, put at risk the ability of their fellow passengers to enjoy those top 100 things; which failure is a matter of valid concern.

 

If you and I were on the same ship and you confronted me when I exited a restroom, and asked me if I had washed my hands, I would tell you in no uncertain terms to pound sand. I don't answer to you on a ship.

[navybankerteacher]

If you and I were on the same ship and you confronted me when I exited a restroom, and asked me if I had washed my hands, I would tell you in no uncertain terms to pound sand. I don't answer to you on a ship.

 

I wouldn't ASK you, because I would not want to assume that any fellow passenger failed to observe the request of the line that they wash. I would however be inclined to mention it to you if I saw you exiting the restroom without washing. --- and that, sir, is what this thread is about.

 

It is not about playing policeman -- it is about pointing out to careless and/or lazy people that they do have some obligations. Frankly, I find your antipathy towards such responsibility to be curious.

[jwm51]

I wouldn't ASK you, because I would not want to assume that any fellow passenger failed to observe the request of the line that they wash. I would however be inclined to mention it to you if I saw you exiting the restroom without washing. --- and that, sir, is what this thread is about.

 

It is not about playing policeman -- it is about pointing out to careless and/or lazy people that they do have some obligations. Frankly, I find your antipathy towards such responsibility to be curious.

 

-APPLAUSE!!!-

 

You tell 'em Teach!:D

[CruiseMan1970]

Okay so yes I sat and read all the post on this thread and not to totally get off the subject but I would think 99.9% of people do not wash their hands after "HANDLING CASH".

 

"CASH" almost has far more germs on it as anything you will get from leaving the restroom without washing your hands.

 

On a ship this will be far less a problem as the ship is mainly a cashless affair. But remember there are still tips, casino and shore excursions.

 

I work in a grocery store where "washing your hands when using the restroom is a must all the time". There are two or three signs to remind you. It also clearly states "Employees leaving the restroom not washing there hands can be immediately terminated" We always joke on if we have to wash before or after using the facilities. But I always ponder about the checkers that handle cash all day.

 

In the wee hours of the morning we have many workers from the local casinos that come in to shop after there shifts and many are of the Asian decent. They come in with there hospital mask on, some with gloves on but the majority not do there shopping and then pay bare handed with cash from there tips from the night.

 

Just another thing to thing about.

[alreadypacked]

There was a sign in a port restroom: Do NOT Drink Water!

I didn't want to wash my hand in it either! :eek:

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

Everyone, please wash your hands.

 

Just because water is non-potable, doesn't mean it is unsuitable to wash hands.

 

I worked as a flight attendant and the basin water in aircraft lavatories is non-potable, meaning okay for hand washing, but not okay for drinking, tooth brushing etc.

 

Do you not wash your hands after using an airplane lavatory?

 

We recently went through a boil-water order here in Broward County, FL due to a contaminated well, and Broward County Water and Wastewater Services informed residents that:

 

Generally, a boil water order applies to water used for drinking and food preparation. Residents are safe showering under a boil water order, but should keep water out of the eyes and mouth.

[alreadypacked]

Which is one of the many reasons that washing your hands regularly is a good idea, especially before eating.

 

I don't understand the aversion to soap and water.

 

I believe it is either poor training or sheer laziness.

[carolmacey]

well said!:p:cool:

 

ditto!

[marco]

On a ship, it's really not more than a couple of minutes away....we always go back to our cabin and use the loo there.

[dsrdsrdsr]

there is inbuilt immunity to norovirus?

Definitely. I, my brother, my mother, and my late father have travelled on numerous cruises (and stayed in one or two hotels) where norovirus has been present. Either we're all fantastically lucky, as in put our money on 32 on the roulette wheel and win three times in a row, or else we are more or less immune to norovirus.

 

It may be genetic. Who knows. But I put it down to failing to lead the antiseptic lives some people want us to. Not only do we occasionally leave a toilet without washing our hands, but we also pick up food that has been on the floor and eat it anyway (if you can't see the germs they don't exist), we eat fruit without washing it, we even eat lettuce without washing it, and we are all willing to drink from a bottle that has had someone else's lips round it. Even a stranger's if need be.

 

And apart from my father, who ailed nothing until he had an aneurysm at age 79, we're all still alive.

 

But this thing I am certain of. If you lead an antiseptic life, if you wash your hands fifteen times a day, if you refuse to pick up salt and pepper pots in case someone else has touched them, if you even (as someone earlier on the thread suggested) eat a chocolate bar with a knife and fork, then by the time you're 80 you will need a lot of pills and potions for all your ills. You may need the pills and potions anyway, that's luck of the draw, but if your body hasn't had the training to cope with germs when you're young, it won't be able to cope when you're old.

[CptSticky]

Definitely. I, my brother, my mother, and my late father have travelled on numerous cruises (and stayed in one or two hotels) where norovirus has been present. Either we're all fantastically lucky, as in put our money on 32 on the roulette wheel and win three times in a row, or else we are more or less immune to norovirus.

 

It may be genetic. Who knows. But I put it down to failing to lead the antiseptic lives some people want us to. Not only do we occasionally leave a toilet without washing our hands, but we also pick up food that has been on the floor and eat it anyway (if you can't see the germs they don't exist), we eat fruit without washing it, we even eat lettuce without washing it, and we are all willing to drink from a bottle that has had someone else's lips round it. Even a stranger's if need be.

 

And apart from my father, who ailed nothing until he had an aneurysm at age 79, we're all still alive.

 

But this thing I am certain of. If you lead an antiseptic life, if you wash your hands fifteen times a day, if you refuse to pick up salt and pepper pots in case someone else has touched them, if you even (as someone earlier on the thread suggested) eat a chocolate bar with a knife and fork, then by the time you're 80 you will need a lot of pills and potions for all your ills. You may need the pills and potions anyway, that's luck of the draw, but if your body hasn't had the training to cope with germs when you're young, it won't be able to cope when you're old.

Wow. To add to your post. Studies show that when there is a dog in the house that is allowed to come go outside and inside that toddlers present tend to be healthier. When we were kids, I think I can remember eating dirt, drinking out of the garden hose and many other things that would make people cringe today.

[navybankerteacher]

Wow. To add to your post. Studies show that when there is a dog in the house that is allowed to come go outside and inside that toddlers present tend to be healthier. When we were kids, I think I can remember eating dirt, drinking out of the garden hose and many other things that would make people cringe today.

 

I think it is fairly well documented that people's immunities tend to be developed over time. Normal exposure to mild infections tend to let the body develop immunities. Certainly, an individual raised for twenty years in a sterile environment would likely have impaired immunity if suddenly exposed to the average contaminated atmosphere. I do wonder, however, if it is possible to have an inborn immunity to a recently evolved virus, which is what noro appears to be. The new "bugs", such as avian flu, are so new to us that they have a very high infection (and fatality) rate.

[Elaine5715]

Definitely. I, my brother, my mother, and my late father have travelled on numerous cruises (and stayed in one or two hotels) where norovirus has been present. Either we're all fantastically lucky, as in put our money on 32 on the roulette wheel and win three times in a row, or else we are more or less immune to norovirus.

 

It may be genetic. Who knows. But I put it down to failing to lead the antiseptic lives some people want us to. Not only do we occasionally leave a toilet without washing our hands, but we also pick up food that has been on the floor and eat it anyway (if you can't see the germs they don't exist), we eat fruit without washing it, we even eat lettuce without washing it, and we are all willing to drink from a bottle that has had someone else's lips round it. Even a stranger's if need be.

 

And apart from my father, who ailed nothing until he had an aneurysm at age 79, we're all still alive.

 

But this thing I am certain of. If you lead an antiseptic life, if you wash your hands fifteen times a day, if you refuse to pick up salt and pepper pots in case someone else has touched them, if you even (as someone earlier on the thread suggested) eat a chocolate bar with a knife and fork, then by the time you're 80 you will need a lot of pills and potions for all your ills. You may need the pills and potions anyway, that's luck of the draw, but if your body hasn't had the training to cope with germs when you're young, it won't be able to cope when you're old.

 

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3327755

You were just lucky to avoid Norovirus. Itdoes require a virus to surface to body enter point but your other thoughts have validity.

[CptSticky]

So does anyone know if having had norovirus gives one any immunity to getting it again? I'm pretty sure that I've had it before. Maybe more than once. Is it like the cold with many forms? I hear that they are working on a vaccine for it. In human trials right now.