Anytime you put thousands of people in close quarters, you run the risk of viruses, illnesses, and other problems being passed among people.
That's not a problem unique to cruise lines since you can catch a cold, the flu or even pinkeye at a hotel, in a theme park, at a casino or even at the grocery store.
Cruise lines, however, know they face special challenges, so they try to take every possible step to stop any potential health issue from spreading. Some of those steps are simple. They clean and disinfect public areas regularly and enforce/encourage handwashing and the use of hand sanitizer.
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During the Covid pandemic, all the major cruise lines took steps to improve their cleaning procedures and air filtration. The system isn't perfect, but the reality is that widespread, Covid, flu, or norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships have been rare.
Cruise ships also move to different destinations, where passengers can pick up a virus or, in the case of a recent Carnival Cruise Line passenger, something that can spread very quickly if it's not kept in check.
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald shared the passenger's story as a warning to others.
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Image source: Dan Kline/Come Cruise With Me
Cruise passenger calls for a warning
Heald often uses his popular Facebook page to share information with Carnival passengers as a sort of backup to anything the cruise line communicates. It's impossible for any cruise line to cover every scenario, so he often shares problems or issues that people might avoid if they know about them.
"John my daughter was on the ----. Her daughter who is my granddaughter, had her hair braided in Nassau. When she got back to the boat she discovered she had insects in her hair. They were head lice. She is upset that nobody warned her that this could happen. The shop on the boat didn’t have any lice-killing shampoo," she wrote.
The aggrieved grandmother also felt the cruise line should have warned her family (and others about this potential scenario).
"There should be warnings from you and Carnival not to have hair braided," she added.
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Carnival's Heald responds and shares good news
While Heald was sympathetic to the affected girl, he also shared good news for other passengers that speaks well to how the cruise line handled the situation.
"Let me start by saying that this post was made two weeks ago. I immediately spoke to the housekeeping manager and let him know so that they do a full special clean in the cabin. He reported there were no concerns after that clean and no reports since," Heald wrote.
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So, while lice did get on board the unnamed ship, they did not appear to spread. Heald also shared some common-sense advice about not just hair braiding but any service provided beachside or in an environment that's not likely to have a lot of regulation.
"Having your hair braided used to be the law while on a cruise and these days it still is very popular except it is a little more regulated than the free for all of a few years ago," he wrote. "The ladies in some ports will use the same brush and comb to decorate hundreds of heads and clean them by giving them a quick wash in the sea. I will then suggest that if you have this done ashore in any port to think of bringing your own brush and comb."
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Heald did point out that there are major differences between the workers in the port area and people on the street and at the beaches.
"These days in Nassau and other ports there are nice regulated places to get your hair braided and my advice would be let them do it, as I said with your own brush and comb and ignore the street braiders," he added.
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