Odds of illness on a cruise?

[aspencreek]

For those of you who have cruised a fair bit, what do you think the actual odds of getting sick on board would be?  That is assuming reasonable precautions are met -- ie washing hands frequently, distancing where possible, refraining from lip kissing strangers, etc.  

 

I've only done two cruises ever (7 nights each) and the last one was about 10 years ago and I got what was likely norovirus or food poisoning.  So I'm running at a 50% sick rate on my cruises.  Is it actually quite rare as the cruise lines or government agencies would say, or have you seen / experienced much more incidents of illness?  Really want to give cruising another go soon but the sick-on-vacation experience was extremely miserable.  Thanks in advance!

[1025cruise]

50/50

[Donald]

The bigger the ship, the greater the odds of catching something.

[d9704011]

I'd say it is unlikely that YOU will get sick.  For sure, it's likely somebody will get sick but there are usually thousands of people on these ships and the individual chances are pretty low.

[Aquahound]

I'd say the same as any other travels or any other circumstances where you're around other people for prolonged periods.  

[Shmoo here]

32 minutes ago, aspencreek said:

For those of you who have cruised a fair bit, what do you think the actual odds of getting sick on board would be?  That is assuming reasonable precautions are met -- ie washing hands frequently, distancing where possible, refraining from lip kissing strangers, etc.  

 

I've only done two cruises ever (7 nights each) and the last one was about 10 years ago and I got what was likely norovirus or food poisoning.  So I'm running at a 50% sick rate on my cruises.  Is it actually quite rare as the cruise lines or government agencies would say, or have you seen / experienced much more incidents of illness?  Really want to give cruising another go soon but the sick-on-vacation experience was extremely miserable.  Thanks in advance!

I don't know how to figure odds, but I've generally gotten sick on almost every cruise we've taken.  Now, we tend to take long cruises (upwards of 10 nights and more) so the odds are probably high that I'll get something.

 

The most annoying one was when the couple we were seated with for dinner showed up at dinner 2 days before the end of the cruise coughing, sneezing, and blowing.  Yes, by the time I got home I also had their "just a cold".

 

 

 

 

[shipgeeks]

For us, 49 cruises so far, and no sickness during or after.  Over the years, a couple of days of "I'm just tired, I'm going to sleep all day", and one case of a slightly sprained ankle.  And we are in the high-risk over-70 category.

 

 

 

[GTO-Girl]

Sailed 51 times and out of all of those I caught something maybe 3 times.  And yes one of those times was covid…..

[Joebucks]

The odds are just like anything else. Just because the news loves to cling on "big scary boat," doesn't mean it's anymore likely. 

[mom says]

I've no idea of the odds that YOU will come down with something. Maybe you will. Maybe you won't. All I do know is that all I've contracted in 20 years of cruising is a couple of colds. But I've no idea if I'll stay healthy on our next cruise. Just like I have no idea if I'll be healthy next month at home.

[ColeThornton]

Silly question, how is anyone supposed to know the odds that you're going to get sick?

 

Go on a cruise, live life, have some fun.   You can't live in a bubble.

Edited March 4, 2023 by ColeThornton

[aspencreek]

31 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

Silly question, how is anyone supposed to know the odds that you're going to get sick?

 

Go on a cruise, live life, have some fun.   You can't live in a bubble.

 

First, I didn't ask the odds that "I" would get sick - I asked what people thought the general chances of catching something might be.  Second, why is asking people who cruise a lot about their experience of getting sick silly?  Isn't the whole point of this forum to help each other out with firsthand knowledge? If you read through the answers you can see that some people have had very few to near zero times of catching something - others have had upwards of 50% to nearly 100% illness experience.  As a cruise novice I'm just trying to gauge risks, but I guess I can keep future silly questions to myself.

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, aspencreek said:

First, I didn't ask the odds that "I" would get sick - I asked what people thought the general chances of catching something might be. 

OK.  The second paragraph of your original post clearly inferred that the answer to your question would be part of the overall calculation of whether YOU want to take a cruise.

[dolittle]

Between 25 or 30 cruises I caught one cold, wife nothing. 

[aspencreek]

2 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

I don't know how to figure odds, but I've generally gotten sick on almost every cruise we've taken.  Now, we tend to take long cruises (upwards of 10 nights and more) so the odds are probably high that I'll get something.

 

The most annoying one was when the couple we were seated with for dinner showed up at dinner 2 days before the end of the cruise coughing, sneezing, and blowing.  Yes, by the time I got home I also had their "just a cold".

 

 

 

 

 

That IS annoying.  Not fun being excluded from activities, but people really shouldn't be knowingly exposing others like that.  

[aspencreek]

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

For us, 49 cruises so far, and no sickness during or after.  Over the years, a couple of days of "I'm just tired, I'm going to sleep all day", and one case of a slightly sprained ankle.  And we are in the high-risk over-70 category.

 

 

 

 

That's great to hear.  Glad you've avoided everything over a ton of cruises.  Gives me some hope!

[aspencreek]

2 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

Sailed 51 times and out of all of those I caught something maybe 3 times.  And yes one of those times was covid…..

 

Ugh, hope it wasn't too bad a case!  Did you get quarantined for a long stretch onboard or did it show up after you got home?

[Hlitner]

Based on over 50 years of extensive cruising we would conclude that the odds of getting sick on a cruise are greater than if you were not on the cruise.  It is just the nature of putting a lot of folks in a confined space where the spread of bugs is inevitable.  Want to improve the odds in your favor?  Cruise on luxury lines where the space ratios are far better, crowding is not as likely, queues are almost non-existent.

 

Hank

[aspencreek]

11 minutes ago, dolittle said:

Between 25 or 30 cruises I caught one cold, wife nothing. 

 

That's not bad at all!  Thanks for the reply.

[aspencreek]

 

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Based on over 50 years of extensive cruising we would conclude that the odds of getting sick on a cruise are greater than if you were not on the cruise.  It is just the nature of putting a lot of folks in a confined space where the spread of bugs is inevitable.  Want to improve the odds in your favor?  Cruise on luxury lines where the space ratios are far better, crowding is not as likely, queues are almost non-existent.

 

Hank

 

That's a great point I hadn't considered.  Will definitely give the luxury lines a more in-depth look now.  Thanks Hank!

[evandbob]

I've developed an irritating cough towards the last few days of a cruise, and had 1 stomach issue from eating some garlic shrimp in Mexico (Costa Maya maybe, 15 yrs ago.)

 

Others I've cruised with have come home with mild COVID, or suffered from noro during the sailing.

 

JMO, but elevators seem to be the worse possible transmission areas.  YMMV.

[aspencreek]

43 minutes ago, evandbob said:

I've developed an irritating cough towards the last few days of a cruise, and had 1 stomach issue from eating some garlic shrimp in Mexico (Costa Maya maybe, 15 yrs ago.)

 

Others I've cruised with have come home with mild COVID, or suffered from noro during the sailing.

 

JMO, but elevators seem to be the worse possible transmission areas.  YMMV.

 

Good point, another reason besides exercise to hit the stairs and avoid the elevators as much as possible!

[Shmoo here]

5 minutes ago, aspencreek said:

 

Good point, another reason besides exercise to hit the stairs and avoid the elevators as much as possible!

Sadly some of us can't do stairs, elevators are necessary.  But I agree.

[klfrodo]

1200 to 1

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

1200 to 1

That you will get ill, or that you wont?