![]() (That’s just asking for trouble.) Watch for food-borne illnesses. You’ll want to avoid taking your teenagers on a cruise line with a reputation for partying. Free-flowing booze is at the top of the list. There are many other health perils at sea. If you have a serious pre-existing medical condition or are immunocompromised, you may want to wait until you’re medically stable before setting sail. You’ll need to consider all of these dangers before you plan your cruise. If you have a severe health problem, avoid cruising. And in many ports of call, the medical facilities are not up to Western standards, and the patient must pay in cash. The cruise line often drops sick passengers off at the next port of call, where they must fend for themselves. Onboard doctors don’t have the equipment or facilities to handle a serious illness. Health emergenciesīy far the most common problem my advocates and I hear about is an onboard health emergency. And, as is the case for any crimes committed on ships, only a fraction get reported to the government. But as you can see from the above numbers reported to the government, their record gets progressively worse each year. Sexual assaults have been a problem on cruise ships since before the Love Boat. Ships appear to get less safe with each passing year. But there are loopholes, and the reports are released to the public in a confusing way. The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act requires cruise lines to report criminal activity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And when they do, they are often underreported. Robbery, assault and homicide happen on cruise ships. The high seas can be dangerous, and not just in the movies. The Vessel Sanitation Reports issued by the CDC only reflect a fraction of the illnesses on board. ![]() That means cruise lines appear to be less dangerous than they are. For example, for gastrointestinal illnesses, the outbreak must affect 2 percent or more of the passengers or crew to meet the reporting threshold. Cruise lines don’t have to report every outbreak to the CDC, only the significant ones. Infectious diseaseĬOVID and norovirus outbreaks are common on cruise ships.
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