People touch the bottles and the dispensers. If they’re not attached the can do anything with them put anything in them. What I’ve seen at the resorts they are locked down. This doesn’t seem much different then if they passed the the little tubes on from passenger to passenger. I don’t normally use bottles of lotion toothpaste soap etc from strangers.How is it not sanitary? It’s soap.
People touch the bottles and the dispensers. If they’re not attached the can do anything with them put anything in them. What I’ve seen at the resorts they are locked down. This doesn’t seem much different then if they passed the the little tubes on from passenger to passenger. I don’t normally use bottles of lotion toothpaste soap etc from strangers.
I've never stayed in a hotel where shampoo bottles were passed on from one guest to the other. I would assume it's more of a money saving change then anything to do with the environment. It's interesting people spend thousands of dollars on a Disney vacation, but can't afford shampoo.? They have to take it out of dispensers. The H2O products are nice, but seriously that's a little extreme.It has been reported in another threat that the "locks" in the dispensers at the resorts are apparently very easy to defeat, no special tools required.
SW
So all the DCL shampoo, body wash, etc that I have accumulated over the years are collector items now?
I feel like the cruise ships should be held to higher standard of cleanliness considering the risk of spreading illness. Why make you clean your hands before entering the restaurants if then you have to touch the same soap pump as a previous guest? That doesn't seem to help stop the spread of Noro.
I do not get that circular argument - I have never understood it. You are using the soap you get out of there to WASH! Who is touching the soap dispenser AFTER you've washed??
Is Noro killed by body wash? As someone who has gotten Noro from a DCL cruise ship taking chances is not worth it. The bottles could be contaminated by previous guests and not cleaned properly.
I feel like the cruise ships should be held to higher standard of cleanliness considering the risk of spreading illness.
Is Noro killed by body wash? As someone who has gotten Noro from a DCL cruise ship taking chances is not worth it. The bottles could be contaminated by previous guests and not cleaned properly.
Excellent post and information. Common sense and a little humor make the world a better place.They are. The Centers for Disease Control actually has an entire program (called the VSP or Vessel Sanitation Program) dedicated to reducing illness on cruise ships because it is so easy for a major outbreak to occur in such tight quarters. If you're curious, I highly recommend you check out their website; it's very interesting. They have an operations manual for cruise ships that is close to 300 pages long, and out of curiosity, I looked to see if they say anything about soap. I found out that the paper towels at the bathroom doors are a requirement (who knew?!) but there are no requirements on soap formulations or dispensers, aside from the hand antiseptic used by food service workers. To be honest, antibacterial soap is not a great product. Bacteria can quickly become resistant to the antibiotics that are used, and then your soap is no longer antibacterial. It is much more important (and effective!) to mechanically remove bacteria from your hands by thoroughly scrubbing them, paying close attention to nooks and crannies like the areas around your fingernails. Most people do not spend nearly enough time washing their hands!
Alcohol based hand sanitizers do not cause resistant bacteria in the way that antibacterial soaps do, but they also don't remove and rinse away dirt and bacteria like actual hand-washing does.
The CDC has an entire page dedicated to cruise ship travelers: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/public/public.htm (I hope that sharing this link is allowed, but if not, mods, please feel free to remove the link). It includes hand washing info and tips for staying healthy while cruising.
No, it is not. Noro is actually quite hard to kill (hence all the precautions on a cruise ship), and since it's a virus, antibacterial products (and even hand sanitizer!) are not effective. The CDC advises bleach for cleaning up norovirus, but there are other commercially available disinfectants that can do the job; just be sure that the label says right on it that it kills norovirus. This is NOT the time to bust out the ol' essential oils and hope for the best
They are. The Centers for Disease Control actually has an entire program (called the VSP or Vessel Sanitation Program) dedicated to reducing illness on cruise ships because it is so easy for a major outbreak to occur in such tight quarters. If you're curious, I highly recommend you check out their website; it's very interesting. They have an operations manual for cruise ships that is close to 300 pages long, and out of curiosity, I looked to see if they say anything about soap. I found out that the paper towels at the bathroom doors are a requirement (who knew?!) but there are no requirements on soap formulations or dispensers, aside from the hand antiseptic used by food service workers. To be honest, antibacterial soap is not a great product. Bacteria can quickly become resistant to the antibiotics that are used, and then your soap is no longer antibacterial. It is much more important (and effective!) to mechanically remove bacteria from your hands by thoroughly scrubbing them, paying close attention to nooks and crannies like the areas around your fingernails. Most people do not spend nearly enough time washing their hands!
Alcohol based hand sanitizers do not cause resistant bacteria in the way that antibacterial soaps do, but they also don't remove and rinse away dirt and bacteria like actual hand-washing does.
The CDC has an entire page dedicated to cruise ship travelers: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/public/public.htm (I hope that sharing this link is allowed, but if not, mods, please feel free to remove the link).
The cdc recommendation for not topping off soap actually comes from the recommendations for health care. It specifically says topping off soap leads to contamination. I find it interesting it is not also listed as a recommendation on cruise ships when topping off soap would be the same issue every where.
Sorry guys, I science in real life and get way too invested in things like this