Protect yourself from sickness on a cruise

It has been a rough couple of months for the cruise industry.

In January, the Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Tuscany, Italy, leaving 17 dead and 16 missing. Early this month, two Princess Cruises ships cut short their journeys and returned to Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades because outbreaks of the flulike norovirus.

While the Costa Concordia is seen as a rare accident, the outbreaks of sickness on cruise ships give pause to many potential passengers.

"It's definitely something that is on my mind," says Oak Brook's Sarah Jardine, who is preparing to take a Disney Cruise Line to the Bahamas in March. "What's scary about it is that you're captive. You can't get away like you could leave a resort."

Passengers can take steps to protect their health while cruising. Just ask Erica Silverstein, who said that when she tells people that she writes about cruises for smartertravel.com, they often ask her how frequently she falls ill. Her answer is never.

To avoid catching the norovirus, which has symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and cramping, Silverstein advises passengers to regularly wash their hands with soap and hot water, particularly before and after meals, after using the restroom, even after touching their faces.

Ships are stocked with anti-bacterial lotion dispensers, which guests should use, Silverstein said.

Silverstein also tells passengers to avoid person-to-person contact whenever possible. She adds that some people bring their own soap on board, along with cans of Lysol.

Princess Cruises spokeswoman Julie Benson said that "norovirus is the most common illness in circulation, second to the common cold."

"We have people getting on board from all over the world, all around the country. Some may be carrying the virus," Benson said.

When norovirus cases are reported on board, Princess Cruises staff members immediately activate extra cleaning protocols, she said.

Crews disinfect all frequently touched surfaces, including elevator buttons, handrails and gym equipment. They halt self-service at buffets. They remove salt and pepper shakers from tables.

"We make announcements to the passengers, and we give written advisories to each cabin," said Benson, adding that passengers are advised to use the bathrooms in their cabins rather than public facilities. "Lastly, we encourage passengers experiencing symptoms to please report to the medical center."

Reporting outbreaks is much of the reason that cruises can be stigmatized as floating norovirus centers. Because outbreaks on cruise ships must be officially reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and in some cases the outbreaks force the ships to return to port — media coverage shines a bright light on cases like the recent Princess outbreaks.

Last year, there were 14 norovirus outbreaks on cruises departing from the United States, CDC spokesman Jay Dempsey said.

Outbreaks are defined as situations when 3 percent of passengers and crew on a vessel display symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. Three outbreaks have been reported this year.

The CDC conducts scheduled and surprise inspections of cruise ships. When outbreaks occur, specialists from the agency work in tandem with ship crews to mitigate the problem and, as with the case of the two recent Princess Cruises, possibly return to port.

Silverstein said the public's awareness of norovirus cases on cruises is increasing, thanks to media coverage and the prevalence of social media, where one sick passenger's horror story can scare many potential passengers away.

But she cautioned against overreacting to the problem. Getting sick is "pretty easy to avoid just by using general hygiene," Silverstein said.

You can't get away from other passengers determined to vacation regardless of their state of health.

"Whenever you board a cruise, they ask if you've been sick recently," says Mary Lynne Artese, of Burr Ridge, a veteran of dozens of cruises. "I always wonder if people really tell the truth on those things."

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Shallow waters of Florida's Blueway give you the place nearly all to yourself

PINE ISLAND, Fla. — On pretty much any trip worth taking, there comes a time when my mind or my body or sometimes both scream:

"What were you thinking?

"You thought this would be fun?"

For me, that time came at about 2:45 the afternoon of Day 3 of kayaking the Great Calusa Blueway along Florida's Gulf Coast.

I was alone and slogging through a very modest chop against a 10 mph northeast breeze.

My back was killing me.

My arms were beginning to feel like Jell-O.

My thighs were aching from bracing them in the narrow cockpit of my kayak.

"Jug Creek has to be just around that point," I kept telling myself as I willed myself to keep paddling toward my destination.

Two hours later, I've had a shower, I'm sitting on the second-floor deck of the lovely Bokeelia Tarpon Inn, drinking a beer, watching pelicans crash into the sea while hunting, and I'm smiling.

I'm thinking about the time earlier today when I sat in the kayak in water barely deep enough to float the boat. I looked to my left, then scanned 180 degrees to my right and saw an arc of 25 pure-white great egrets wading in the flat.

"Wow! What a great day! And what a great trip!"

The Blueway is a roughly 190-mile kayak trail that meanders along the coast between Bonita Springs and Fort Myers, explores a few rivers, heads north along Pine Island, the largest island on the Gulf Coast, then loops around to the outer islands of Cayo Costa, North Captiva, Captiva and Sanibel, right across the pass from Fort Myers Beach.

But you don't come down here to kayak the whole 190 miles. And you don't have to be a kayak stud to do it. Sure, there are parts of the trail, like along the outer islands, that are best left to those who were born with a kayak paddle in their hands. But there are plenty of areas that can be tackled by a novice. And you can do it by yourself.

After all, in most places where I kayaked, the water's so shallow that if you fall out of your boat, you can stand up.

Another attraction here is that it's possible to kayak from hotel to hotel. During three days of kayaking, I sampled a bed-and-breakfast and two motels in Matlacha (Mat-la-SHAY) and a B&B in Bokeelia — all on Pine Island and all with docks you can kayak right up to. But there's enough kayakable water around here that I could have stayed put in one lodging and still covered different areas.

Pine Islanders proudly declare their space as a taste of "Old Florida." This is a place where restaurants remind you of a Wisconsin supper club, every meal is served with a side of smiles and all the waitresses call you honey or sweetie.

It's also an area that invites exploration. Paddle south out of one of the many canals that carve up Matlacha and you can parallel the more exposed eastern edge of the island that faces out onto Matlacha Pass. But cut inside to the sheltered flats and you find still waters where great egrets, white ibises, little blue herons and, if you're lucky, an occasional roseate spoonbill are reflected in the water as they wade on spindly legs, their beaks continually bobbing up and down as they feed.

The Blueway in most places periodically has markers to guide you, but with all of the little channels that invite you in to dally among the mangroves, it's good to carry a GPS or, in my case, an iPhone so you can see exactly where you are.

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