I have returned from my cruise, undrowned :D

     Summer....what places did you visit?  We've been on seven cruises, mostly to Caribbean Islands but one to New England ports (we left from NY Harbor exactly 48 hrs from the 9/11 terror attack and had to disembark in Philly when we came home). 

     The last cruise we were on there were 300 people who contracted the Norovirus.  That was a few years back when I had UP but before my surgery.  One guy at our dinner table came down with the virus and I was scared it was going to strike me.  Thank God neither hubby nor I got sick.  I did suffer a bad flare two days after returning though.

     I would love to go on a cruise up to Nova Scotia.  We had reservations for one in September but I was still recuperating and we cancelled.  Since then, I have heard a lot of reports about stomach viruses on cruise ships and they can be life threatening for us ostomates.  What is your take on that? 

     We have an RV and plan to use it a LOT come spring, summer and fall, but I am leery of those cruises yet.

That is so wonderful. With all this snow I could certainly use a cruise. Isn't it awful that you have to cook your own food, clean up after yourself and no one is offering you the drink of the day?! Aaahh, reality stinks.

So, is that really true that stomach viruses are really bad for ostomates? What about j-pouchers?

I had the noro virus once (luckily before uc and after I got off the ship). Truly I laid in the bathroom for over a day wanting to die. Now when I go on cruises I wash my hands and use hand sanitizer about 20 times a day.

we went to freeport and nassau in the bahamas, we left out of charleston, sc. It was so pretty in nassau, we went to the atlantis resort, that is the cleanest most beautiful place i have ever seen. There was someone in each bathroom mopping constantly! i didn't see a speck of dirt anywhere, and we were outside!
freeport however, was disgusting and dont want to ever go there again.
i took some alochol wipes and when i go to hotels or something, i clean all the stuff, light switches, remotes, doorhandles, those type things, to get the germs off, and we wash our hands a lot.
Stomach viruses are bad because we dehydrate so much quicker and once we get dehydrated we can't catch up. But i'm not going to let the fear of that stop me from going again. I got a kid in kindergarten, i get plenty of germs that way!
i did take some phenogren and lots of immodium with me, just in case.
DH wants to go on a disney cruise next, but i don't want all those kids running around!
esor-i didn't see any ballroom dancing, although my kid led everyone in teh YMCA on the stage in the showroom! it was so cute

Sounds like you all had a BLAST, especially Michael!! "It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!" That boy is too cute!!

Glad you had a good time.

My sister left yesterday with quite a delay. She was to board the ship that had the Bomb Scare! What a nice way to start a vacation she so desperately needed since she had her unexpected ileostomy (emergency surgery) 9 weeks ago. She called me and left a message which I was happy about so I didn't hear it on the news and get all nervous about.

I hope she has a good vacation too.