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How can you stay well on a cruise and cruise ship, and make sure (or at least give yourself the best chance) of avoiding any cruise ship illness outbreaks? Although unusual, and with lower overall chance than on land, when a virus illness like norovirus, influenza or more recently coronavirus breaks out it gets a lot of publicity and attention. Virus illness are spread in a. few key ways, and inI discuss what to look out for, the ways virus illnesses like flu, norovirus and coronavirus can be spread and the steps and things you should take on every cruise to stay fit and well. These are tips and things that I have learnt and use myself.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.
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how can you stay well on a cruise and
0:02
avoid outbreaks of things like the
0:03
norovirus the flu and the corona virus
0:07
I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
0:09
cruising tips for travelers I want to
0:11
talk about how you can make sure that
0:12
you stay fit and well on a cruise and
0:14
avoid any of the outbreaks of those
0:17
viral things like norovirus flu or even
0:21
the corona virus first of all let's take
0:23
a look at the actual potential risks
0:25
overall it's important to understand
0:27
although gets lots of publicity your
0:29
risk of contracting any of these kind of
0:32
viral things is the same or even lower
0:35
than it is on land however when these
0:37
things break out on a ship partly
0:39
because the reporting process partly
0:41
because of media partly because you do
0:42
have a concentration in one space it
0:44
does get a lot of publicity however
0:46
you're not putting yourself necessarily
0:47
at more risk by going on a cruise but it
0:49
is very important that you understand
0:51
what the risks are and even more
0:53
importantly that you know what to do the
0:55
risk that you're facing is three
0:57
potentially highly contagious viral
1:00
infections which is the norovirus which
1:02
is the stomach and vomiting bug
1:04
influenza which of course most of you
1:06
are familiar with which can be pretty
1:08
serious and then particularly more
1:10
topically and certainly a much more
1:11
publicity is the corona virus what's
1:14
very important about these is they are
1:15
very contagious and they do spread
1:17
really fast and also there is no
1:19
specific cure for them so if you get
1:21
them it's really about your body
1:23
fighting them off so people who are at
1:24
greater risk are the very young so young
1:27
children people with compromised immune
1:29
systems and of course people who
1:31
slightly more elderly so it's really
1:32
understanding that these are very
1:33
contagious and they can spread very very
1:36
easily so it's really important that
1:38
you're prepared and you know what to do
1:40
viruses are spread in four key ways and
1:43
this again is very important to
1:45
understand first of all coughing and
1:46
sneezing so you people who've got the
1:48
viral infection when their cough or sees
1:51
little droplets of water head out into
1:54
the atmosphere around them and can
1:57
contain the virus so particularly if
1:58
you're close to people within about 6
2:00
feet or so you could be at risk if they
2:01
do have it secondly is shaking hands so
2:05
that's a really common way for people to
2:07
spread it so they have the virus on
2:09
their hands for their sneeze in their
2:10
hands or whatever they start shaking
2:11
hands it passed
2:12
to the person they touch them out their
2:14
eyes and it spreads that way
2:16
linked that is if you are touching
2:18
surfaces which has the virus on and
2:20
again touching your mouth your eyes so
2:22
you're actually ingesting it's the
2:24
fourth way which is common for some of
2:26
the viruses is some way coming into
2:28
contact with some kind of fecal matter
2:29
that's often with people who perhaps
2:31
haven't really wash their hands after
2:32
going to the bathroom and other touching
2:35
surfaces or serving utensils or whatever
2:38
so those are the four key ways so really
2:40
what's important understand as those are
2:41
the four ways the virus spreads so being
2:43
ready and prepared to take actions
2:45
against those four is critical and I'm
2:47
going to talk about that shortly in this
2:49
video also what's really important
2:51
understand is one person who has the
2:54
virus can spread it so we've seen lots
2:56
of examples for example there was the
2:57
issue on Diamond Princess where there
3:00
was many cases of the corona virus that
3:02
appears to be brought on by one person
3:04
who had it and then spread it on also on
3:06
land based for example there was one
3:09
person who had gone to a conference in
3:11
Singapore they had brought it back
3:12
they'd said in a chalet with a group of
3:14
people they then spread it to those
3:15
people so it's very key that it's an
3:18
individual who can cause the infection
3:21
to kick off and start and that's very
3:23
important as we look at how to prepare
3:25
and protect yourself so what are you as
3:28
a cruiser need to know and be aware of
3:30
well first of all it's very important
3:31
that prevention is best the best way of
3:33
avoiding these outbreaks with either on
3:35
land or at sea is prevent prevent
3:37
prevent and secondly the key thing is to
3:39
be prepared so if you do get affected
3:42
know exactly what you're going to do
3:43
those are the most critical things
3:45
prevention and being prepared so what
3:48
should every cruiser do and be aware of
3:50
now these are my tips for avoiding and
3:53
staying safe and if you do get it what
3:55
to do the first and most important thing
3:58
of all is don't bring it on board and
4:00
there's two people who have
4:02
responsibility for that first of all the
4:03
cruise lines it's starting about cruise
4:05
lines have done is made you fill out a
4:06
form when you check in which asks things
4:08
like have you been vomiting everybody's
4:10
suffering from diarrhea have you visited
4:12
certain countries in recent time and
4:14
that's particularly linked to if there's
4:15
any diseases around so they have a
4:18
screen process which is really a
4:19
self-regulation process they're relying
4:21
on the passengers to really be honest
4:24
about that the second thing the cruise
4:25
lines
4:26
are doing increasingly is being even
4:29
stricter so in 2020 with the outbreak of
4:31
coronavirus some cruise lines brought
4:33
into really strict rules where they said
4:35
that any crew or passenger that had a
4:37
Chinese a Hong Kong or Macau passport
4:40
for example weren't even allowed to
4:41
board the ship anyone that had traveled
4:43
to any of those places wasn't allowed to
4:45
board the ship or anyone have been in
4:46
contact with people from those places
4:49
weren't allowed on the ship and of
4:50
course these evolved and changed so the
4:52
cruise lines were basically looking at
4:54
stopping people that were risk of
4:55
bringing on board the other thing that's
4:58
happened is certain ports have stopped
5:00
cruise lines embarking and disembarking
5:02
passengers there to stop people bring it
5:04
on or taking it off the ship and the
5:07
same has been true of people flying in
5:09
and out of various places the other
5:11
thing that cruise lines have started to
5:12
do is have actual screening processes so
5:15
anyone that they thinks at risk they
5:17
will do things like check the
5:18
temperature see if they have signs of
5:20
fever and so they are trying to stop
5:22
people bringing on board then of course
5:24
what is the cruisers responsibility well
5:27
a lot of people as we know when they
5:29
fill out those forms they go yeah I've
5:30
been a bit sick they don't really fill
5:32
out the form honestly because they don't
5:34
want to stop coming on board as a
5:35
cruiser you have a huge responsibility
5:37
that if you aren't feeling well or you
5:40
think you're at risk to any of that
5:41
whether it's influenza norovirus
5:44
or any of the corona viruses you
5:46
absolutely have to be honest what I
5:48
recommend you do if you are feeling ill
5:50
is contact the cruise line and let them
5:53
know that you think you're at risk and
5:54
discuss with them what your options are
5:56
as we've seen recently cruise lines are
5:58
becoming much more flexible as they
5:59
understand they need to stop these
6:01
things coming on board historically what
6:03
they're due for example today might just
6:04
isolate you onboard but they are
6:06
becoming much more flexible if you think
6:08
you're at risk do not bring it on board
6:09
because as we've seen one person can
6:12
cause a whole ship to go down with a
6:13
norovirus or it can cause people to go
6:16
on coronavirus and cause enormous
6:18
problems the second area of things you
6:20
really need to think about is how can
6:22
you make sure that you avoid catching it
6:24
once you're on board so I always assume
6:27
that someone has brought one of these
6:28
viruses on board and it's my job to stop
6:31
getting it and there's a number of
6:33
really critical things that you should
6:34
do the first of those and the most
6:36
important of those is wash your hands
6:38
all the time just
6:40
constantly throughout the day wash your
6:42
hands and one of the tips that has once
6:43
given by a captain on board is as you
6:46
wash your hands sing happy birthday once
6:48
or twice because that's enough time to
6:50
wash your hands properly yes there those
6:53
gels etc but washing hands is the
6:55
fundamental thing to do is keep washing
6:57
hands because if you have got the virus
6:58
on your hand and you're not then
7:00
touching your mouth or whatever then
7:01
you're not going to catch it the second
7:03
thing that I always do is I try and
7:04
avoid using any of the public toilets if
7:07
I need to use the bathroom I'll go to my
7:09
cabin yes it's a little bit less
7:10
convenient however you just don't know
7:12
what people are doing within those
7:14
bathrooms if you do use one of the
7:16
public toilets and wash your hands and
7:18
then use a tissue or something to open
7:20
the door because of course there's all
7:22
well and good washing your hands but you
7:23
touching the door someone has hasn't
7:25
washed their hands and the virus is
7:27
there the next thing to do is avoid
7:28
touching as much as you can
7:30
surfaces which could have the virus on
7:32
so handrails and that kind of stuff so
7:34
just try and avoid that or if you have
7:36
been touching lots of those wash your
7:38
hands the other thing to do is don't
7:40
shake people's hands a lot of cruise
7:42
ships have that as an ongoing thing with
7:43
of norovirus don't shake people's hands
7:46
give them a nod or whatever but just
7:49
don't do high-five shake hands just
7:52
don't do it if you do sneeze real
7:54
important carry around with you tissues
7:56
or what some people recommend sneeze
7:58
into your elbow for example so you're
8:01
not getting it onto your hands but the
8:03
best thing to do is to try and catch it
8:04
in a tissue
8:05
also think about services in your cabin
8:07
that could be an issue that want to
8:09
really watch out for actually which is
8:10
also true in hotel rooms is the remote
8:12
control there's generally aren't cleaned
8:13
as often and they have lots of nooks and
8:15
crannies what some people do is actually
8:17
take a little plastic bag and they clear
8:19
over the remote so that they're never
8:21
coming in contact with us so basically
8:23
think about anything that's going to
8:24
bring you and make you touch the virus
8:26
avoid the other thing that I actually do
8:29
which I strongly recommend you consider
8:30
is avoid the buffet eat in the dining
8:33
room and get room service the buffet is
8:36
where people are touching lots of
8:38
equipment they're touching plates that
8:40
touching the very serving things that is
8:43
where I think is a huge issue when I've
8:45
been on ships that are paedon or a virus
8:47
outbreak I think is connected to the
8:48
buffet like I have been on ships where
8:50
it's broken out I have anything the
8:52
buffet and
8:53
to avoid it of course I've used the
8:54
other things so I strongly recommend if
8:56
you are or possibly can avoid using the
8:59
buffet or when you go to the back of a
9:01
be really disciplined about it so I tend
9:03
to use buffets we're actually on ships
9:06
where the crew serves the food rather
9:07
than passengers do it a lot of people
9:09
ask me about masks there's very mixed
9:11
views around with a mask too or don't
9:13
work one of the key things is
9:16
particularly if you have the virus or
9:17
you have a cold or cough is actually
9:19
wearing a mask helps protect other
9:20
people but of course a mask is a
9:22
possibility particularly in crowded
9:24
spaces the next point is what to do if
9:27
you think you've got it now what you
9:28
should absolute do is go to your cabin
9:30
and call the medical center don't go and
9:33
visit the medical said again at your
9:34
cabin so if we think about norovirus
9:36
you've got upset stomach vomiting or you
9:38
feel that you might have a corona virus
9:39
you've got those temperature's etc go to
9:42
your cabin and call the medical services
9:44
the medical center normally will provide
9:46
services for free if they think you've
9:49
got any of these viral infections
9:51
they'll also normally provide
9:52
medications for free so it's best to
9:54
phone up say look I think I've got this
9:56
what should I do
9:58
and you'll normally find that last use
9:59
10 your cabin and they will can't see
10:00
you but as soon as you think you've got
10:02
to go to your cabin and alert the
10:03
medical center what happens if there is
10:06
an outbreak or perhaps you've contracted
10:08
it a couple of really critical things
10:10
that you should be aware of if it's
10:11
norovirus you're normally going to be
10:12
quarantined in your cabin until you've
10:15
had at least 24 hours after your last
10:16
upset stomach or vomiting so that could
10:19
be a couple of days or longer if it's
10:22
something as we've seen with the corona
10:24
virus they are actually quarantine
10:26
people for up to two weeks in their
10:28
cabin very important you must follow the
10:30
quarantine I have been on ships where
10:32
they have thrown people off at the next
10:34
port because they didn't follow the
10:35
quarantine and they had norovirus they
10:37
are really really strict about it
10:38
because it that's a way of stopping it
10:40
spreading so except that you're gonna
10:42
have to have that so what should you
10:43
then do one things I recommend you do is
10:46
go prepared now through my many many
10:48
years of traveling for business I've
10:50
used to being stranded because of
10:52
flights or storms or whatever so I
10:53
always travel really prepared so I
10:55
always take with me for example a couple
10:58
of weeks of prescription medications so
11:00
I know that actually even if I'm
11:01
stranded drop to two weeks I have enough
11:03
to cover myself and always have a little
11:06
take it where i have you know headache
11:08
pills and anted our real reboost to
11:10
things and editorial medicines so
11:13
they're also tides me over if i have any
11:15
of those things i also always travel
11:17
with lots of entertainment early serve
11:18
my ipad loaded up with shows i have
11:21
ebooks there so actually if i am
11:23
stranded i have stuff that's just from
11:25
years of hanging around at airports or
11:27
being kind of stuck for a couple of days
11:29
so always have enough stuff that's gonna
11:31
keep me busy i also make sure that my
11:33
mobile phone has a roaming plan actually
11:35
for example i've sign up to one which is
11:38
actually giving me free roaming in most
11:40
of the countries in the world within my
11:41
minutes but make sure you've got a good
11:42
rolling plans at least you can be
11:44
calling people or using your data
11:46
because often if you can find you might
11:48
be important during the day for example
11:50
another thing that you may want to go so
11:52
now this is pretty extreme is very much
11:54
if you confined to your cabin think
11:55
about the kind of cabin you may want to
11:57
be confined in so if you think about
11:58
people who are on Diamond princess for
12:00
example for two weeks those people made
12:02
an inside cabin we're stuck in an inside
12:04
cabin those people who had a balcony
12:05
cabin or a suite had much more space now
12:07
this could be quite an extreme way of
12:09
justifying going with a balcony but
12:10
certainly it would make a massive
12:12
difference if you do have that kind of
12:14
cabin so that's one thing you may want
12:15
to think about moving forwards is
12:16
whether that's something you want to
12:17
almost build in or do as a sort of
12:20
insurance policy if you are ever
12:21
confined to your cabin the other thing
12:23
of course is make sure you have good
12:25
travel insurance now if you do have a
12:28
big outbreak such as a corona virus the
12:29
cruise line will normally make lots of
12:31
plans to help but if you have other
12:34
illnesses influenza or you perhaps have
12:37
the norovirus and you actually end up
12:39
having to disembark the ship or whatever
12:42
because you're feeling that it'll and
12:44
Paul you need to go to a land-based
12:46
hospital make sure you've got really
12:48
strong travel insurance because you're
12:49
probably not going to be covered by the
12:50
cruise line in those situations and it
12:52
gives you much more flexibility another
12:54
great advantage or thing to be think
12:56
about is if you've actually booked
12:57
through the cruise line or you've booked
12:59
with a travel agent you have arranged
13:00
all of your arrangements it's probably
13:02
going to be much easier if these things
13:03
happen because it's going to be one call
13:05
or one email and someone else can sort
13:07
out all of the hassles of redoing
13:09
flights transfers that kind of stuff so
13:11
that's something to also think about
13:12
these are my tips and advice in how to
13:14
prepare for it deal with it and make
13:17
sure that you have the greatest chance
13:18
of staying fit and healthy
13:20
on a cruise I have many more videos
13:21
packed full of cruising tips and advice
13:24
so why don't you watch another one of
13:25
those right now
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