Sanitize Your Hands! Feature Article Discussion Forum

If you watch our cruise talk video from the Celebrity Mercury, you'll hear the words "Sanitize your hands!" from the ship's chief bartenders during their round of "Liars Club". Liars Club is a funny game they play sometimes on cruise ships, but his point should be taken very seriously. A recent study published in the November 1st issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases by Boston University School (BUSM), Carney Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts University School of Medicine, finds that poorly sanitized restrooms contributed to the outbreak of infectious diseases like Norovirus on cruise ships. The study found that though most restrooms were cleaned daily, certain areas like toilet seat, flush handle or button, toilet stall inner handhold, stall inner door handle, restroom inner door handle, and baby changing table surfaces were still likely to become contaminated between cleanings.

It all seems like a "no brainer" to me. Even if the restroom is cleaned every hour it is impossible for restroom sanitation to completely prevent the spread of the virus. If one person uses the restroom after another who is suffering from norovirus, then the second person is likely to pick up the virus on their hands from virus left behind by the first user. Unless your cruise line has an attendant who wipes every surface with bleach after each person uses the restroom, the virus will be transferred from person to surface to person.

So what is the …