My husband and 11 year old son are booked for the cruise leaving 1/9 and are spending about a week prior at Cape Canaveral and WDW. Would be happy to try to meet anyone here who cares to catch up with us, maybe over a drink of wine as I plan to drink wine every single day after reading some post about wine killing the Norwalk virus in 45 minutes or less. I wish I could find something online from the CDC confirming that all the people who were sick on the cruise never had wine with dinner and all those who did never got sick - anyone know of a site online where this is noted by the CDC?
I can share a few things, and hope Michele doesn't get upset with me for doing so (I really don't want to hurt her travel business, but do want to have people be informed). When I heard about the Disney Magic having so many illnesses likely due to a virus, my first thought was, "It will be at the WDW resorts and parks by the time we arrive in January, if it isn't there already, as many people add a WDW vacation after a
Disney Cruise and won't even feel sick while contagious the first few days." Having heard of others being sick at WDW in the past couple months who never took any cruise, I am guessing it's long since been there. So my suggestion for anyone who enjoys wine (or can tolerate drinking it and isn't going to become addicted drinking it during a vacation, as it is far better to be sick a couple days than have to shake an alcohol addiction later) is to not only drink wine when on a cruise, but while at the WDW resort and parks (though I suspect not all the restaurants at the resorts offer wine, and I need to learn which do and don't as I never took note of this in all my visits past - anyone know this information offhand?).
Think about where the CDC has said this virus most takes hold - hospitals, nursing homes, schools, cruises....yes, all areas with people sharing a similar space, BUT with the exception of the cruises, also all areas where wine is not on the menu! At first, I thought the wine as a cure concept an old (or new) wives' tale (not to insult any wives - might have started from an unmarried male for all I know). However, giving it more thought, and especially if the CDC survey information about who drink wine with dinner and who got sick being completely mutually exclusive sets, this could indeed be a cure and one that tastes better than Peptodismal, I mean Pepto Bismal.
I am puzzled as to why in the CDC interview Michele ever so kindly posted a link for (and thanks, Michele, for that!) had not a single person asking what the number of people sick on the Disney Wonder currently is, as since two ships at the same port have come down with an outbreak of the same thing, I don't think it would be much of a jump to think it will "jump ship" to another cruise ship sharing the same port (where employees of both cruise lines likely mingle from time to time), especially when it also might share some of the same crew (do the Disney crew ever switch cruise ships? I know a guy who used to be a lifeguard at one of WDW resorts and also was a crew member of one these Disney ships and should ask him, but if he can bounce from a resort to the cruise ship, I would think others could bounce from ship to ship). Similarly, nobody talks about how many people are sick in the WDW resorts and parks, though this can be harder to track as so few would report it and unlike with cruises, hotels and amusement parks aren't required (far as I know - feel free anyone to correct me if I am wrong) to report figures regarding illness to the CDC.
I know my brother sure never reported to anyone when his daughter got sick, and while it happened on a Disney bus (she vomited on the way to their hotel from one of the water parks, where she felt so sick that my brother - an MD who wouldn't likely bother to go to another doctor unless it was a life threatening emergency - decided it best to take her back to their room and scrap the rest of the day at the park ). I doubt bus drivers are reporting vomiting incidents, either. I don't recall the exact day this happened, but think it was around October 19th that they arrived as I know my nieces made it to our son's Halloween party on 10/26 and hadn't been back from Disney long, so my guess is the Norwalk virus has been at Disney awhile. On a cruise ship, it can also be onboard awhile with people having no clue it is a virus - just thinking it is sea sickness or food poisoning or the flu or whatever (of which there is likely all in some measure on any cruise). Also, some who catch the Norwalk virus won't know they caught it when they disembark and fill out the CDC forms as they will still be in the first hours of transmission where they are possibly spreading the virus but asymptomatic, so the figures of how many got sick from something picked up on each cruise are likely underestimates (though by how much, I am not sure, as more and more could get sick as the week progresses since if you know two friends, and they each spread your germs to two of their friends, etc....an illness can get more rampant as time goes by, especially with a mere 12 to 48 hour incubation period illness as this one I believe is - it is an exponential math problem I should leave to my math major son).
Anyway, the interesting thing is my brother and his wife, who were at Disney for some wine festival they have at Epcot or something once each year, drink wine every single day and the two of them never got sick, even being with a daughter who vomited. By the way, they said the wine festival was fabulous, which is a huge compliment coming from these two as they are connoisseurs with an incredible custom wine cellar and my sister-inlaw heads a $40+K wine tasting fundraiser for the American Cancer Society each year - they know wine...so if you enjoy wine, book through Michele if you want to be a part of a good wine festival next year! Oh, and my niece (who could have been exposed by contaminated water at the water park, for all we know, so maybe staying out of the water is also a good idea - my sister-inlaw never went into the water) was fine by dinner - ate a lot and never vomited or had the severe cramping again the rest of the day (or trip).
As with many, I will be celebrating a birthday on this trip, and have been looking forward to this celebration on the Disney cruise for four years and had some others book with us, so I'll be disappointed if any in our party get sick. However, as far as I can tell, this is a rather quick sickness and not deadly or related to anything deadly (like some sexually transmitted viruses have been linked to cervical cancer, so other viruses are likely linked to other deadly diseases), so I am keeping it in perspective. My question of the hour is "Can Disney stock up on non-alcoholic "wine" for the children on board and would it be legal to serve it to them and would it offer the same protection against Norwalk as alcoholic wine?" Our son has never had alcohol, other than cooked into sauces and desserts at restuarants, but I tell you, I almost wish he could legally drink some wine for this trip! :0
