I can tell you Disney’s practices as I have been employeed on a Disney Cruise Ship as an RN. This is ludicrous!! Grow up and quit complaining! You signed the disclaimer, you knew the risks, I am sorry you got sick, but face it- it happens!

To say that a Disney Employee came out of the doctor’s office sick….well we all get sick. And Disney Employees and Disney Guest both use the same medical clinic, just use different doors. So what were they sick with? If they were vomiting, I assure you they were not walking down the hall vomiting- they would have been doing so INSIDE the medical center. So unless you have some psychic powers, how do you know what they were sick with??

Also, if you are vomiting or have diarrhea, you get quarantined to your room. This helps to prevent the virus from being spread. This is not Disney policy- this is the CDC’s policy- one that ALL ships docking in the US must follow. Also, to say that over 200 people on board got sick is just stupidity. If 200 people or 10% of the ship was sick with vomiting and diarrhea, then we would all know. When this amount of people aboard a ship get sick, it is plastered all over the news. If greater than 8% is sick, then the CDC requires it be reported to them immediately BEFORE your ship is allowed to dock. Special stool samples are required from the patients as well as other tests. These are required to be sent to the CDC for testing. So I find it HIGHLY unlikely this amount of people were sick- in fact it sounds like drama added to a story in an attempt to inflate your case.

Those of you that state it had to be a Disney employee that caused it. Why is this?? Passengers touch things, and then other passengers touch those same things. This is how the virus is spread. So one passenger lies at check in and does not report their vomiting, touches the railing while in line to get their hamburger by the pool. You walk up, grab the railing, get your burger and Guess what- you are sick. This is hardly any fault of Disney, or Carnival, or Celebrity, or Holland America….. you get my point.

Also, she had insurance- USE IT! What she did not state is that while she was quarantined to her room, guest services checks on her. Pretty much anything she wants is brought to her room at her request. All medical treatment is given to her free- which trust me, on board a ship is not cheap.

So in my opinion, be thankful for a 15% discount. That is generous at Disney prices. And grow up, quit your whining!

I think it’s ironic that all the personal responsibility advocates (aka corporate apologists) seem to be lacking in their own reading and comprehension skills.

No offense meant, but I think it’s ironic also that some commenters seem to lump all the personal responsibility advocates to corporate apologists. Some are, but how can one reaonsably determine ALL to be such?

But…I do agree one ought to get out more often, and it can change one’s perspective on life and the world in (sometimes) a positive way. :)

Couldn’t you better defend Disney (or whatever corporation) if you first read carefully and understood the complaint? Instead you skim through paragraphs with lightning speed and then post a knee-jerk reaction comment calling the complainant an idiot.

I see it time and time again in the comment areas of Chris’s site. Usually there is evidence in your comment that you didn’t completely read the complaint. You get key facts wrong, then wonder why nobody buys into your conclusion.

I think this kind of attitude is indicative that one has limited experience going outside of their little life bubble….meeting new people, seeing new places, trying new things. Try getting out more. It can change your perspective on life and the world in a positive way!

Well, we really don’t know what Disney did or didn’t do. We have absolutely no information one way or the other.

The article doesn’t tell us Disney’s health practices, medical procedures, staff testing, or anything else.

Therefore, based on the little information we have, we cannot determine the extent, if any, of Disney’s liability.

Norovirus and the possibility of it are everywhere. They’ve got sanitizing wipes at the grocery store so you can disinfect the carts now. I got a Norovirus a few years back on a bus tour, more than half the bus became sick. One passenger later mentioned that she hadn’t been feeling well when she got on the bus but didn’t want to miss the trip so she didn’t say anything. No doubt other people at the destination became sick because she spread it as she went along. So for those people who happened to be at the destination but weren’t on the bus, does that mean they can get a full refund because someone brought the virus there?

I’m not making excuses for Disney at all. I’m wondering what happened to personal responsibility. I’m sorry their Disney cruise didn’t turn out the way they wanted it to. 90% of the passengers continued to enjoy the food and entertainment and other ship offerings. No one is going to get a guarantee that their vacation is going to be perfect. We’d all love it to be, but sometimes things happen. Illness happens. And chances are if the passengers in the article had been vigilent about washing or sanitizing their hands before putting ANYTHING in or near their mouths they wouldn’t have gotten sick. So why should the cruise line be held financially liable when although THEY did everything reasonable they could to prevent the spread of the virus it’s clear that the passengers, including these ones, did not.

I’m telling you, all it takes is having it once and you will never, ever look at another candy dish or surface the same again. All it takes is one brief touch to get the virus on your hands and then using them to put something in your mouth or wipe your mouth without washing them and you can be in for some serious downtime. Or if someone else with the virus was in that candy dish before you and you happen to pick up one that they touched. The virus spreads so easily, it’s shocking.

Life sucks sometimes, that doesn’t mean that you get to sue or get a refund for it not being perfect.

Do yourself a favor – never eat at a buffet on a ship. If you eat in the dining room every meal you are many times less likely to get sick. Eating in the dining room allows control of both calories consumed and contact with sick people and contaminated food.

Or – STOP TAKING CRUISES. They are expensive, subject to being nickel and dimed for everything, its getting worse, and they have zero tolerance for any problems, since, according to their own contracts, they never have problems on their cruises – its all the passengers fault.

Tangentially, a car driver me rear-ended my three-year-old car. She claimed her foot slipped. I think she was talking on her cell phone and wasn’t paying attention. In any case, her insurance paid the claim to repair my car. However, I lost over 20 hours of my time jumping through Allstate’s hoops, dropping off and picking up my car, and getting and returning a rental car. My time was not compensated, and it should have been. I didn’t cause the accident. I shouldn’t have been inconvenienced. Thus, I believe it is important to consider everything that is lost when negative events over which you have no control occur.

On cruise ships my friend said that “patient zero” usually catches noro on land and brings it aboard. The cruise ship environment and people refusing to confine themselves to their cabin really promotes the spread. She’s amazed that cruise ships manage to control the spread of Noro as well as they do. It’s apparently very virulent.

Considering the millions of people in large cities and offices and the 300 million + people in the US plus all the visitors coming and going on a regular basis, 10% happening on a cruise ship is a HUGE number.

With regard to monetary claims, in the amount is small enough and can be filed in small claims, you don’t need to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that an employee was the cause. Bringing in documents that show a large number of outbreaks happen on cruise ships and the fact that most often it happens with dining problems (wiki source) one could probably show a reasonable cause that the ship was the problem, especially if you have been at sea for more than a day or two because of the incubation period.

Anyway, I got better and was cleared the next day. As we talked to people and told them what had happened, nearly all of the people I spoke to said “Oh, if you’d seen me, I could have given you some Immodium…I brought it just in case, just so I wouldn’t be stuck in my cabin if I got sick.”

I spoke with my husband about this and told him that, while it stunk that I didn’t get to go ashore that day, I am glad that we were honest about it all. If there IS a problem, how is the ship/CDC going to be able to check it out and investigate if people aren’t reporting it? And, after watching people’s disregard for others, my thinking is that this comes from guests – ALL of the food workers I saw wore gloves…The other guests were the ones leaning over sneeze guards and having general disregard for others around them…

Just my two cents because I really think the cruise lines are doing the best they can – it’s just that, when you get that many people in a small, enclosed space, things happen. I mostly see these stories in relation to Carnival/Disney cruises – think about it – these are cruises geared more towards families…And kids, as cute as they are, are little germ factories that are really good at spreading things around…