Cruise guests share nightmare experience onboard – ‘all hell broke loose’

World's Most Expensive Cruise: Guests show off their suite

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Mega cruise ships usually have a huge range of restaurants for guests to enjoy. From buffets to fast food or sushi, passengers are spoilt for choice.

Once on land, guests can opt to eat at any of the restaurants by the port or in the destination.

While most experiences are positive, a few guests have shared nightmare stories of getting ill onboard.

Reddit user ‘EmersonLucero’ said: “Got the good old fashioned Noro on my first cruise. Was at dinner when I felt unwell and in a wise move I excused myself from the table and made a dash for the room.

“Good thing too as I just made it to the cabin when all hell broke loose. Both ends, not good.

“Four days later I emerged from the cabin after getting the okay from medical staff.”

Norovirus or the ‘vomiting bug’ isn’t caused by food but it is easily spread by eating food touched by someone with the virus.

Cruise cabin bathrooms can be very small so it definitely wouldn’t be ideal to get sick onboard.

Some passengers shared advice for how to avoid norovirus and food poisoning on a cruise holiday.

One said: “Don’t eat anything with mayonnaise like potato salad, macaroni salad, shrimp salad or premade sandwiches. Especially if it’s on a buffet.”

‘Vegas_gal’ said: “Don’t touch your food with your hands unless you wash them. Use silverware.

“You’ll learn quickly by watching people at the buffet.”

Another agreed saying: “Eating out of the main dining room would be one idea to avoid food issues.

“Food is presented untampered and presented at the right time.”

However, some guests thought that passengers were unlikely to catch norovirus or get food poisoning on board.

One said: “I’ve never gotten Noro and I’ve been on 40 cruises. I got food poisoning a few times but it was always due to me being reckless and eating at places in the port I shouldn’t have.”

Another said: “The vast majority of norovirus occurs on land. If you’ve ever had food poisoning after eating somewhere, chances are it was norovirus.”

One added: “The reason cruise ships get a bad reputation from norovirus isn’t that it’s common, but that if it does happen, it spreads like wildfire throughout the ship.

“Wash your hands. Tell your travelling companions to wash their hands. Be careful about who you share food with.”

The cruise buffet is the place where guests are most likely to catch norovirus if they’re unlikely enough to catch it onboard.

One regular passenger said: “We don’t do the buffet. There are plenty of dining options and we don’t need it.”

Major cruise lines will have procedures in place in case of an outbreak and many have stepped up sanitation practice due to Covid.

One former cruise worker said: “I used to work closely with cruise lines and I’ve seen and learned first hand how careful they are.

“An outbreak is disastrous for the ship, brand and industry. So they have some very strict rules to avoid it.”

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