US Government health warnings for cruisers…Are hot tubs at travel venues dangerous?…

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Cruising Hot Tube Cruise Ship Passengers Enjoy Hot Tub Travel — Stock Photo, Image
A cruise ship hot tub. Not our photo.

Over the past many months, we’ve been posting “news-type” stories of information that may (or may not) interest some of our readers, especially those who travel, whether seldom or frequently. For those of our readers who don’t travel often, don’t cruise, or travel internationally, much of this information may be dull and unappealing.

For those readers, we apologize for continuing to post stories that may only impact traveling readers. However, as we spend this quiet time in Cleveland without recent photos and stories to tell, we are using these morsels of information to fulfill our goal of preparing a post every day.

As you’ve noticed, we’ve been taking off about one day a week, most recently. This is not due to my lack of interest in writing to you but rather the lack of fodder that can be sufficient for a new post. Most of you have figured this out. Of course, we can’t wait to be on the move again and to be able to share exciting and engaging real-life stories with photos.

Thus, we continue in hopes of holding onto our readers, both new and long-term, for the next 120 days until we can leave Cleveland, Ohio, and recommence our travels to more exciting venues with less focus on my health, medical tests, and procedures.

We thank all of you for staying with us during this lengthy stay in the US. By leaving in early March 2025, we’ll have been in the US for 15 months, which is way too long for world travelers like us.

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In the past 12 years of world travel, we have sailed on 34+ cruises, all of which had hot tubs, except for river cruise ships. We’ve also rented several holiday/vacation homes with hot tubs. In either of those situations, we have not used the hot tubs. The only times we’ve used a hot tub are part of a swimming pool at a private residence we’ve rented.

We have not used hot tubs at community pools, condos, townhouses, apartments, or hotels we’ve rented along the way. Not once.

Here’s a new story we received by email last night from this publication:

“Come Cruise With Me

US government issues serious warning for cruise passengers

Veronika Bondarenko

While many turn to cruise ships for a relaxing and luxurious experience, having that many people in an isolated and, except the deck areas, the primarily confined environment creates a heightened risk of disease outbreak.

That is why outbreaks of norovirus, measles, and different types of gastrointestinal illness are more common on cruise ships. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regularly warns about contagions that may be a small and calculated risk for healthy travelers but pose severe dangers for more vulnerable populations.

Related: This cruise line officially has the most unsanitary ships

Certain parts of the cruise ship can also carry higher risks. The latest report from the CDC found approximately a dozen outbreaks of Legionnaire’s Disease tied to private hot tubs aboard ships between November 2022 and June 2024.

Legionnaire disease is a term for a specific type of severe pneumonia that causes severe coughing, high fevers, and risk of lung damage.

Hot tubs offer favorable conditions for growth and transmission.

While not naming specific cruise ship companies, the CDC said that various “sampling results identified private hot tubs on selected cabin balconies as the most likely exposure source” on the outbreaks it studied.

Private hot tubs are those within the cabin or on a suite’s balcony. While viewed as extremely luxurious and a major upgrade of one’s cruising experience, the CDC warns that they may not always be cleaned as thoroughly as public hot tubs in the deck and pool areas, which many fear are disease carriers.

“Hot tubs offer favorable conditions for Legionella growth and transmission when maintained and operated inadequately, regardless of location,” the national health agency writes in the report. “Private hot tubs on cruise ships are not subject to the same maintenance requirements as are public hot tubs in common areas.”

One analysis found six of the ten samples from private balcony hot tubs on a given cruise ship contained Legionella bacteria. On a different cruise ship, 10 of the 12 passengers who fell ill from the Legionella bacteria experienced symptoms so bad they had to be hospitalized.

You need to know this about cruise ship cleanliness and hot tubs…

The study authors who examined the outbreak numbers warned that it is “important” for cruise ship staff to “assess and adapt public hot tub maintenance and operations protocols for use on private outdoor hot tubs.”

A running list from the CDC also identifies cruise ships based on cleanliness examined over the last two years; last month, Carnival was identified as having the most cruise ships at the bottom of its cleanliness rating.

The cruise line’s Elation, Miracle, and Breeze ships scored a respective 89, 88, and 86 points, while anything below 85 is considered non-satisfactory by the agency. That said, the ratings are still relatively high considering that Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Hanseatic Inspiration ship received the bottom score of 62 — Carnival’s Panorama and Spirit ships also scored a perfect 100.

In response to these scores, Carnival issued a statement saying that it “continually strives [s] for the highest sanitation standards and implements [s] immediate corrective action [from] the outcomes of these inspections.”

We hope this hot tub warning to our travelers, especially those who have used hot tubs on cruise ships, will heed this potentially life saving information.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, November 1, 2014:

Plumeria flowers are often used to make leis. For more photos, please click here.

Day 4, transatlantic cruise…My food aboard the ship…Weird food photos…

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Chef Gordon Ramsay would have been horrified if he was served such a dish.

We have no delusions about me being served suitable, tasty, and appealing meals on a cruise. All I expect is a nice-looking plate of protein prepared with seasonings, a few non-starchy green vegetables lightly seasoned and buttered, and perhaps a side or starter made with protein and dairy of some sort.

I am not picky. I will eat any of the above-mentioned foods prepared appropriately but also enjoy the visual aspect of a pleasingly prepared meal. In the past three nights, I have been shocked by the unappetizing appearance and taste of the dishes I ordered, hoping the chefs would appealingly prepare them. But, it has not been the case.

On the first night, I received a bland small boneless chicken breast with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Yes, this was what I ordered on the first night, but it could have looked and tasted much better. On the second night, they offered a seafood pasta dish on the menu.

I asked if they could make me a plate of shredded, sauteed green cabbage topped with the same seafood used in the pasta dish. Instead, I received what is shown below in the photo…a plate of greasy cabbage with no meat.

This was the cabbage dinner I received minus the seafood I’d expected.

This was all that was served as my entree. Gently, I reminded the waiter that I’d ordered the dish with seafood on top of the cabbage. Ten minutes later, he brought me a little plate with two tiny scallops, two prawns, and two minuscule mussels in the shell. I placed the dry unseasoned seafood atop the cabbage and ate it.

When the waiter returned asking how my dinner was, I explained there wasn’t enough protein to fill me up. Another 15 minutes passed when he brought a second tiny plate of seafood. By then, Tom and our two dinner companions were enjoying their dessert.

After my plate was removed, I was brought a lemony dessert. It looked wonderful but was filled with banana slices, topped with sweetened whipped cream, and was made with rice flour. The dessert may have worked for a gluten-free passenger. But, I can’t eat fruit, sugar, or rice flour. I offered it to Tom, who tasted it and made a face, pushing it away. I explained to the waiter that I couldn’t eat that…politely, of course. I suggested they don’t bring me any dessert since nothing they’d have would work for me.

I was confused by this tiny appetizer plate. The items were so small it wasn’t more than two bites combined.

Then, the next night, after I’d ordered the branzini fish, a favorite fish of TV Chef Gordon Ramsay, but asked for a sufficient portion to get me full, I received the plate of fish as shown in today’s main photo. It looked like it had just come out of the ocean and was thrown onto the plate atop a few overcooked asparagus. Chef Ramsay would have been horrified and committed to some serious swearing over the appearance of that plate of fish.

In desperation, I ate the three tasteless pieces of unseasoned fish. It filled me up sufficiently to allay my hunger, and I didn’t think of food for the night’s remainder.

This morning I awoke, determined to get better meals, and while we were situated at Cafe al Bacio, I headed to the customer service desk to ask to speak to the dining room manager, who appeared promptly. He was appalled and embarrassed by the photos. I showed him the photos, and he immediately called the main chef to join us in conversation.

The lettuce wedge salad was nice. I ordered this again for tonight.

Together I shared my concerns, simply asking for seasoned food with palatable appearances and befitting my eating method. He assured me that today, everything would change and that my future meals would be entirely different, delicious, and appealing.

I will post photos so our readers can see the anticipated improvement, which I feel confident will transpire.

I am looking forward to posting photos from tonight’s dinner to share with you in tomorrow’s post. We always say, “We are the customers and pay for good food and service. It’s OK to ask for it to be better instead of writing endless bad reviews.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, April 12, 2021:

Female kudu resting in our garden. For more photos, please click here.

Day #260 in lockdown in Mumbai, India hotel…The time can’t come soon enough…

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We were with friends Lisa and Barry, enjoying one last night together on the ship in a private sitting in the wine room.

Today’s photos are from a South American cruise in 2017, again with friends Lisa and Barry, as we shared an exquisite evening dining in the “wine room” as their guests. The food and wine were “over the top.” For more on the post, please click here.

No doubt, we have a little apprehension about traveling for almost two days when we depart India on January 12th. At this point, we have no idea how comprehensive the precautions will be at the Mumbai airport in the middle of the night, the four-hour layover in Dubai, the airport, hotel, and taxi in Johannesburg, and the fight on the smaller plane for the arrival in Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger airport, eventually picking up the rental car, for the hour-long drive to Marloth Park.

The wine room was filled with rows and rows of exceptional wines.

We can only hope and pray we arrive in Marloth Park on the 13th without having contracted Covid-19. It’s a little scary. We’ve read they have been taking extra precautions with the first two flights on Emirates Airlines, but we still have to deal with everything in between.

On our own, we’ll be taking several precautions, wearing masks, face shields, rubber gloves, and using hand sanitizer. We’ll change our gloves frequently. We may decide we won’t eat on the flights to avoid touching the trays. Also, we don’t plan to drink many liquids during the flight to avoid using the bathroom. I’m sure over the next few weeks. We’ll come up with more precautions as we continue to research.

That night, Tom was having a great time, dining in the private “wine room” in the Tuscan Grill with Lisa and Barry.

As for the time between now and January 12th? Hum… challenging. This morning, a note slipped under our door notifying us of a big party at the hotel tonight and to be prepared for noise until midnight. Also, with the party imminent, our entire floor appears to be booked.

While walking this morning, we encountered no less than a dozen guests, half wearing face masks and the others not. In each case, as soon as I could see a guest without a mask, I stopped dead in my tracks to stare at them. If they don’t put on a mask or return to their room to do so, I shout out, every single time, “Please put on a face mask!” Most comply. If they don’t, I turn around and head the other way.

An antipasto board was served to each couple.

At times, I’ve returned to our room when a dozen guests or more are waiting for the lifts, half or more of whom aren’t wearing masks and are yelling and talking loudly. No way will either of us get close to such individuals or groups. Often, guests leave their rooms to visit a guest in another room. Even in those cases, I tell them to put on a mask.

At this point, I don’t care what people “think” of this crazy woman walking the corridors all day, telling people to wear masks. The hotel has described to every guest that masks must be worn when outside their rooms. When we report a lack of compliance to the managers, they also are frustrated and don’t know what more they can do when they’ve explained the mandatory mask policy to every guest at check-in, including providing them with a printed notice of COVID-19 precautions and requirements.

It is one of the great wines we enjoyed last night.

After a party like tonight, we wonder if the staff will become infected when guests refuse to wear masks at parties, weddings, and celebrations. At this point, we no longer go downstairs to pay the bill. We ask them to bring the bill and portable credit card machine to us.

When processing the bill outside our room door, we wear a mask and gloves, don’t touch anything but the printed copy and our credit card, along with two new plastic room keys, which we sanitize after we’re done. When food is brought to our room twice a day, we don’t allow the server to enter the room. Tom handles the one tray and stainless steel-covered plates of food. We rewash our hands after touching the steel covers and tray.

Tom’s minestrone.

This morning, somehow, the kitchen forgot to bring our breakfast order. An hour and a half later, they called and asked why we hadn’t ordered. We had. Finally, 90 minutes after our breakfast arrived. We don’t know how this happened, other than the fact that so many guests are here and dining in the dining room and the staff was busy.

The room next door to us has a phone’s notification vibration occurring every 10 to 15 minutes. It wakes us up each time it goes off. Hopefully, by tonight the guest(s) will be considerate enough to turn off the notifications on their phones. At least 25 times after 11:00 pm, we’ve had to call the front desk asking them to tell the guest to turn off the notifications. The walls are paper-thin. Right now, after 1:00 pm, we can hear people yelling in the corridors. I hesitate to go out for my next scheduled walk. Oh, dear.

My filet mignon, cooked rare, was exceptional.

Thanks for listening to me whine again. The time can’t come soon enough. I keep reminding myself, day after day, how much time is left, which is 36 days. I can’t wait for a big steak, a glass of dry red wine, a big bag of pellets, and the blissful companionship of our human and animal friends.

Tom’s ribeye steak was also cooked to perfection.
Tom’s dessert of homemade doughnuts, cherries, and vanilla ice cream.

We hope all of you are holding up well amid the ongoing madness of COVID-19. When will it all end?

Photo from one year ago today, December 8, 2019:

In Marloth Park on this day in 2013, this male zebra stood under the carport for quite some time, watching over the other males. For more photos from one year ago, please click here.

Leaving Suva, Fiji today for the vast open sea… A peek at early cruise ship history…

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Despite their increasing success, these early cruises, called “excursions,” were challenging to plan with existing ships. Constructed as ocean liners, they did not meet the requirements of the pleasure-seeking market. In addition, they offered few amenities aboard. 

Note:  Due to the poor signal, formatting has been challenging for today’s post, especially when copying information from another site. We apologize for the spacing and font differential throughout the post.

With the ship refueled and provisions in the final stages of the loading process, Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas will be departing Fiji around 5 pm. However, as mentioned in yesterday’s post, we have thousands of sea miles ahead of us.

We can only imagine what it must have been like generations ago for travelers to make their way a much longer and more hazardous journey across the season.

In perusing online, I stumbled across this site with the fascinating story of the world’s first cruise line. For those who prefer not to click on links, here are a few morsels directly from that article with photos.
“SS Albert Ballin was an ocean liner of the Hamburg-America Line launched in 1923 and named after Albert Ballin, visionary director of the line who had killed himself in despair several years earlier after the Kaiser’s abdication and Germany’s defeat in WW 2.  In 1935 the new Nazi government ordered the ship renamed Hansa (Ballin having been Jewish).

The German shipping magnate Albert Ballin was responsible for turning Germany into a world leader in ocean travel before World War I. It was Ballin who also invented the pleasure cruise in 1891.

Born in Hamburg on 15 August 1857, Albert Ballin was destined to become a pioneer in making ocean travel a more pleasant, even luxurious experience. 

As a Jew, for most of his life, he would walk a fine line between social acceptance and scorn. But the “Kaiser’s Jew” long enjoyed financial and political prominence before falling out of favor and being branded a traitor to Germany as the First World War and his own life drew to their bitter end in 1918. Born in a poor section of Hamburg, Ballin (pronounced BALL-EEN) had achieved greatness and strongly influenced the passenger ship industry by taking his own life at age 61. A decade before Albert Ballin’s birth, the company he would later head, the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag), had been founded on 27 May 1847, to operate a faster, more reliable liner service between Hamburg and North America, using the finest sailing ships. At that time, a “fast” east-to-west Atlantic crossing took about 40 sailing days. The return voyage, with favorable west winds, required “only” 28 days.
Nevertheless, there was stiff competition for passengers on the North Atlantic route. Internationally, shipping lines in Britain and Prussia (after 1871) fought to attract passengers, but there was also competition within Germany between the port cities of Bremen (Bremerhaven) and Hamburg. In 1856 Hapag, under its first director, Adolph Godeffroy, put its first steamship, the Borussia, into service, becoming the first German shipping firm. As time went by, coal-powered steamships would cut the travel time between Hamburg and New York down to just six or seven days.”
 
For our “history buff” readers and the remainder of the story, please click here.  We found the story interesting causes us to appreciate further the quality of the experiences we’ve had during this period in our lives with advanced design, amenities, convenience, and technology.
 
During many conversations with passengers on this cruise and others, a common topic of discussion has been how modern conveniences and technology have greatly enhanced travelers’ desire to see the world in part by cruise ship.
For us, it’s added considerably to our ability to visit more countries in shorter periods.  Although ports of call stops are often for only one day, it allows the traveler to sample the flavor and persona of the city and a country.
 
However, our opportunities to stay in many countries for more extended periods have provided us with a perspective that often proves to be very different than one might experience in a single day or two (such as these two days in port in Fiji).  
If anything, our longer stays while immersing ourselves in the culture and lifestyle of the locals leave us appreciating and feeling more inspired than when we may spend a mere day in any location while on a cruise. 
 
Over these past two days, we’ve had an opportunity to share some of our Fiji lifestyle stories after spending four months on two islands, Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, both very different while having similar friendly Fijian nature of its fine people.
Photos of the ship and her public rooms – as seen in Scientific American.
Fiji consist of 332 islands (of which 106 are inhabited) and 522 smaller islets. The two most important islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, which account for about three-quarters of the country’s total land area.”

So off we go, to the Pacific Ocean, finally after almost two years departing the South Pacific. We’ve had quite an adventure and yet look forward to the next leg of our journey.

Tomorrow, when we return here to post, we’ll be on our way, hoping to share the excitement as we head toward Hawaii for three days visiting three ports of call. But, funnily, it will feel like going home after spending eight months in the islands.

Back at you soon.

Photo from one year ago today, April 30, 2016:
One year ago, no photos were posted when the Wi-Fi signal on the ship, Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas.