Paul,<BR><BR>The cruise that left 11/11 and is docking 11/21 had 234 people reported sick as of Tuesday.

ABC News reported the total sick passengers was &quot;over 500&quot;.

I read a lot of articles that had the total count, for all 4 cruises, over 600 which included crew. <BR>This number is still low. There were many people who got it the day they disembarked on 11/11 and it was not reported.

Starfish this is for you.<BR>You say you called HAL. Are you sailing on the Amsterdam in<BR>December? Do you have the insurance?<BR>

Yes, but not Hal's. Their cost is too high. They base it on that inflated brochure price. <BR><BR>I feel much better about the 10 day sanitizing. At least I know I will be getting on the cleanest ship afloat. <BR>I sail Dec 1, the first sailing after the cleaning. <BR><BR>

Hi Starfish,<BR><BR>Better that you have 3rd party insurance. At least you will not get stuck with HAL credits rather than cash back if anything does go wrong.<BR><BR>I hope everthing goes OK.<BR><BR>Paul

Does this whole thing worry anyone else but me? You have these huge ships crewed mainly by foreign workers and here is this mysterious illness that is supposedly &quot;only in Alaska&quot;. Now it is in ships sailing the Caribbean and Europe too. If this isn't terrorist related, I bet it could be.

Cynic,<BR>Info on the virus can be found on multiple web sites including the CDC. <BR>The name Norwalk comes from a town in Ohio where there was an outbreak. <BR>It is not confined to Alaska. There was a nasty outbreak of it this past summer in the Northwest, but you can get it anywhere. <BR>An NCL ship had an outbreak of this Norwalk like virus returning from Europe recently. Celebrity's Constellation also had an outbreak a couple of weeks ago. Terrorist related?<BR>I seriously doubt it.<BR><BR>Paul,<BR><BR>Thanks, I hope all goes well too.

The idea of seeing terrorist behind the Norwalk virus because &quot;you have these huge ships crewed mainly by foreign workers&quot; is far fetched.<BR><BR>In most cases, the Norwalk virus is a major annoyance and not a life threatening event. [Yes, I know it is claimed by some that a death did result from the imune system being weakened by the virus] Terrorists have access to much more lethal pathogens. A confined space such as a cruise ship would not be a terrorist's primary target. <BR><BR>None of this should mean we should lower our guard....for there are terrorists afoot. All it means is we should think through our fears.<BR><BR>

And now you can add the Disney Magic to the list of ships with the Norwalk virus.

Can someone explain to me how this<BR>virus is jumping from ship to ship.<BR>Are passengers getting off one <BR>cruise and immediatly hopping on<BR>another ship?

Can't you just see it....two of HAL's octagenarian passangers saying &quot;You touch the right railing, Harvey, and I'll get the left. We'll move this thing from ship to ship.&quot;

The Amsterdam sails from Ft. Lauderdale along with a few other cruise lines. Why is the virus not carried to the other cruise lines by the cabs and buses or maybe in the airport?<BR><BR>Why has the Disney Magic contracted the virus? It sails form Port Canaveral. Is the virus carried like pixie dust that flies through the air? You can't see it. You can't feel it. It is not lke Anthrax.<BR><BR>Every ship that has the virus should be put up for a week such as what they did with the Ryndam for a thorough cleaning.<BR><BR>I'm sure this is what will occur in the future with so many passengers infected.<BR><BR>Paul<BR>

HAL cruisers tend to be older. Disney cruises have a lot of children. Older people and children are always the most susceptible to a virus or bacteria so it is not surrising that cruise lines with more older people and more children will have more cases of a contagious illness -- an illness that can be on any ship. Cruises throw a lot of people together in close quaerters for a period of time ading to the liklihood that just one person infected can start spreading the illness.

ashuma,<BR><BR>Can't totally agree with your theory.<BR><BR>Paul has some good questions. I have had some of the same thoughts. <BR><BR>I don't think anyone can figure this out including the CDC. All they said was they felt it was being passed around by person to person contact.