12/7 Magic: Anyone concerned?

[eyesetc]

Hi. We're signed up for the 12/7 Magic along with DD 4 and DS 2 and DMIL 80. Both my wife and mother-in-law have some serious concerns about us being the first folks back on the ship. I called the Disney hot-line handling such cases and found that a refund was NOT an option; if we cancel at this point in time we lose everything. The fact that there were still nearly 200 people sick this past week IN SPITE of all the precautions and extra people they brought aboard is not particularly encouraging. I think they were wise to pull the ship off-line this week, though I know it's devastating to the people scheduled. Just curious if anyone else on the 12/7 has similar concerns or not. Thanks.

 

[Michelle]

Hi Mark! I'm on the same cruise and I'm honestly not concerned in the least. I think the ship will be as clean as it can possibly be and you know what, I can pick up a stomach virus anywhere.

I plan to have an excellent vacation.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I will go even farther. Not only am I not concerned I am looking forward to it even more. They are replacing the pillows and mattresses, it will be the cleanest ship to ever set sail. The crew will have had something that they NEVER have, a vacation. Disney will be watching this cruise with an eagle eye, they absolutely need it to be a success.
We are going to have a blast!

 

[MelissaE1]

The CDC teleconference that WebmasterMichelle posted is really interesting. They were talking about another line that had several successive cruises with hundreds of people getting sick that took the ship offline for a week and they had no additional problems. This was several years ago. There is a ton of great info in the transcript. Well worth a read IMHO!

 

[Juli]

Yes, Mark, I'm very concerned!

My DH does not want to go. My DS's (were to turn 7 on the cruise) do not want to go. If DCL would offer a no charge cancellation, we would cancel and go to WDW instead. As of now, we most likely will reschedule and pay a lot of additional cash to cruise at the end of March. We are DVC members so it gets complicated and expensive to reschedule this cruise.

The source of my concerns are the CDC info I've been able to gather as well as my MIL who is a nurse/epidemioligist. She was repsonsible for infection control in a large Michigan city for years.

The CDC info is not as reasurring as some would hope. 1) The virus can live for an undetermined time on hard services. 2) Bleach, heat, and cold are not very effective on the virus, but there are no alternatives as this time. 3) They have no way of testing to see if they cleaning measures actually get rid of the virus. 4) The virus is shed for up to 2 weeks in the stools of infected persons whether they show symptoms or not. (i.e. crew members).

And finally, my MIL, who knows what this virus is, knows what it takes to get rid of it, and whom I consider a very reasoned and calm person when it comes to this sort of thing, has said that she would not go on the Magic right now. In fact, she cringed when I told her the numbers of ill passengers and crew. It is a significant number to an infection control person.

If the HAL cruise that goes out on 12/1 has no problems after their clean-up, I would feel better. If I could get more concrete info about ships that took a week off and were ok, I'd feel better. But right now, I don't feel good about going at all. Call it what you will, but I have a very bad feeling about going.

Thanks for starting this thread. If I find anything new from the CDC or DCL, Ill post it here!

Juli

 

[magiroux]

New pillows and mattresses YAHOO!!!
I am cruising Magic X-mas Week and have come to the conclusion it is out of my hands. If they cancel I figure I can get quite a room in WDW in exchange for a cat 4. If they don't cancel I have already explained to my DD (7 Yrs old) about singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" three times while washing her hands and DO NOT put your hands near your mouth. Then I take into account the odds of you getting sick if the virus does break out (since I never get picked for anything I figure they are in my favor) and I think we will be all set.

I also read the CDC Interview and they seem to know very little about this virus so I think people are justified in being nervous about the first run out. I'll be keeping an eye on the Holland Ship that is leaving today.

 

[magyar2]

Well, I had my Mom crying to me on the phone last night to please not go, MIL (who was supposed to go on the 12/7 with us) trying to convince us not to go, and other people telling us not to go due to either Norwalk or terrorists. I just can't win!

However, my DH and I are not concerned. The ship will be the cleanest vacation we have ever been on, and if nothing else, maybe this will make more people pay attention to personal hygiene. I am not worried in the least.

If anything, I am more worried about my children catching a cold in the next few days from the kids at school! I wish the schools would let them wash their hands before lunch, I would feel better about that. At least on the cruise, I will have control over their hand-washing!

 

[lsmac]

Even though 200 people is A LOT of people to those 200 people, in the grand scheme of things it is a SMALL percentage of the passengers and crew on board!!! I agree with Michelle and Alex, we will be on the cleanest ship afloat, all the CM's will have had a break (I hope they are being compensated somehow), and the odds are IN OUR FAVOR for NOT getting sick. (sorry about the all caps, I don't know how to do the italics thing to show emphasis.)
Needless, to say, I am not worried and I would hate for any of you to spend your vacation worried the whole time that you will get sick! Let's all go and have a great time and know that odds are we are more likely to get sick from our kids bringing something home from school!

Lisa

(a week from today we will be at Key west!!!)

 

[AnnMorin]

My only concern is getting rid of this cold before Friday when we fly out.
New mattresses and pillows, a rested crew, it will be like a maiden voyage!

Keep in mind too that less people got sick on this past voyage as the first one, the numbers would go down on there own anyhow.
But with all the super cleaning I am sure we will be fine.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

Juli,
I can agree with some of the things your mother said but it doesn't change my opinion about going on the cruise. I think there is a huge fact that eveyone is overlooking. I have followed the news coverage pretty closely and I haven't heard of a single case where anyone has had any long term problems. I am sure if anyone needed to be hospitalized we surely would have heard about it. Basically even if it is as bad as the previous cruises we have a .06% chance of catching a disease that will make us sick for 24-48 hours. Even on the HAL ship which had far more cases and statistically a much older and less healthy population, I didn't hear of anyone having long term issues.
If I had a child who was severly immunocomprimised I might think twice. Under the present circumstances, and knowing what we do know about the disease? I really don't think this is any kind of a huge risk at all. I still let my DD play soccer and do gymnastics and the odds of her getting hurt there are far greater.
I still let my DD go to school even when there is a flu outbreak going on.
There are plenty of articles about this on the internet and they all agree on one thing. Even if you get it the only care required is to stay hydrated. As long as you do that it is self limiting and while certainly not a lot of fun to have on your vacation, it really isn't dangerous.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

At least on the cruise, I will have control over their hand-washing!

If you see any kids running around the decks with bright pink well scrubbed hands please return them to Magyar