My wife and I just returned from the September 10, 2013 sailing of Cunard's Queen Mary 2 to New England and Canada and, although we liked the cruise, we learned that preventing the Norovirus is easier than getting over it.

Upon sailing from NYC on Tuesday afternoon, the only advice we received from Cunard staff and literature was to wash hands frequently and use the hand sanitizers frequently. To Cunard's credit, the hand sanitizers were amply available throughout all public areas of the ship. My wife is sort of a "Clean Freak" and always washes her hands frequently plus utilizing the hand sanitizers. I would place her in the top 5% of passengers with respect to hand washing and sanitizing. I, on the other hand, would place myself in the top 40% of this category.

On Saturday afternoon around 3 pm and four full days into the cruise, my wife displayed the first obvious symptoms of the Norovirus and I followed suit about 5 hours later. From that point on, my wife and I were extremely ill. When I called the Medical Center onboard, pain and dehydration medicine was prescribed and delivered shortly thereafter. Although my wife's symptoms ended after 12 hours, my illness was more severe and lasted more than 24 hours. I was advised to confine myself to my cabin for 48 hours _after_ the last symptom ended. Due to the number of passengers exhibiting symptoms of the Norovirus, Cunard offered complimentary laundry and room service which I had to utilize since I was confined to my cabin for a total of 3.5 days. During the last 36 hours of confinement, I finally had somewhat of an appetite but the complimentary room service only consisted of clear broth and other liquids - and room service would not accommodate my request for more solid food. Read more