Pools Ok?

[alohatigger]

We will be going on our first Disney cruise. Recently I was reading through some of the older trip reports, and several posts wrote about their children getting sick with stomach issues and the ship's medical team saying that it happens usually around the 3rd day and it being possibly from the pools. My kids absolutely love paddling around the pools on cruise lines and we haven't had issues in the past. Does anyone have experience with the pools onboard the Disney ships? Have you found there to be issues with getting sick on the ship from the water activities (splash pad, mickey pool, aqua coaster? I am hoping this is not the case, but I would also minimize pool time if enough people mention it's been an issue.

 

[OKW Lover]

I've never heard that issue before. Not on Disney. Not on any other cruise line.

I would think that by the 3rd day of any cruise there would be so many potential culprits that it would be impossible to identify the cause of any illness. Usually its the buffet and lack of hand washing that gets blamed.

 

[o&smom]

Never heard anything like that or experienced it.

 

[Mags2002]

The pools are fine. If you’re going to get AGE it will be from other things rather than the pool

 

[auntlynne]

Handrails, serving spoons in buffet, soft serve machines…Never heard the pools mentioned. Would also consider time in kids clubs with close interaction.

 

[Calantha]

8 sailings in (and minus Alaska where no one swam), DS has never had an issue. Also, in the old days, he probably swallowed a lot of pool water.

 

[alohatigger]

Great, thanks all! I feel better about it and I think they'll love the Disney pools

 

[Mango7100]

I would doubt it’s the pools. They are very strict about testing pool water, they are drained every night, if someone has an accident in the pool they close it down for a sanitation process. Honestly they are probably much cleaner than any subdivision pool or public pool on land. Now I can see more of an issue in the splash pads with the toddlers in swim diapers. Splash pads are notoriously known for breeding grounds of illness. Kids in swim diapers standing over spraying water just aersolizes everything. And splash pads have a difficult time maintaining chlorination levels due to the constant reuse and circulation of the water. I have a pediatric PA friend who never let her kids use splash pads due to seeing so many patients becoming ill after visiting splash pads.

But yea, kids on cruise ships are more likely to be getting sick from the buffet, not washing hands properly, touching every handrail and then sticking their fingers in the mouth, the ice cream self serve machine (I have seen a lot of gross behavior with that one especially), etc.

 

[lanejudy]

Great, thanks all! I feel better about it and I think they'll love the Disney pools

I agree with others that I don't think the pool is a particular health concern, definitely higher risk at many other common places onboard the ship where germs are easily spread.

However, just to temper expectations of the pools... they are small and so very very crowded. You may want to have alternative plans onboard other than just spending the day poolside.

 

[Mango7100]

I agree with others that I don't think the pool is a particular health concern, definitely higher risk at many other common places onboard the ship where germs are easily spread.

However, just to temper expectations of the pools... they are small and so very very crowded. You may want to have alternative plans onboard other than just spending the day poolside.

Agree about the crowded pools. Every cruise we have been on DCL DD is done after an hour at the pool. They are just too crowded and can’t really do anything except stand in it and watch the Funnel Vision. We will do 1-2 times on the Aqua Duck but when the line for one ride is 45-60 minute wait, that gets old fast too.

 

[Jsoenning]

Depending on when they close, it can be fun to skip a night at dinner strategically to where you don't miss a key dinner show or animation magic and have the pools mostly to yourself.

Plus on Fantasy (and assuming Dream), the Aqua Duck ride has lights on the inside that really show well at night. We used to do this when the kids were little but back then the pools stayed open later. I want to say they closed at 8 pm on recent Disney Magic trip?

 

[Cfabar1]

Depending on when they close, it can be fun to skip a night at dinner strategically to where you don't miss a key dinner show or animation magic and have the pools mostly to yourself.

Plus on Fantasy (and assuming Dream), the Aqua Duck ride has lights on the inside that really show well at night. We used to do this when the kids were little but back then the pools stayed open later. I want to say they closed at 8 pm on recent Disney Magic trip?

All the pools close too early on DCL... I don't know why they do that... especially adult pools should be open later.

 

[MamaMermaid]

We've never had issues with the pools.

 

[MomOTwins]

I definitely saw a gross situation at the pool. A couple had (against the rules) taken an obviously non-potty trained baby about a year old into the pool and as they were carrying out the baby it was obvious she had a major "blowout" situation. I alerted the lifeguard and they tested the water and sure enough the pool got closed the rest of the afternoon, but I was definitely icked out a bit. After that I keep a little bit closer eye on the ages of the kids in the pool and if there are kids that look much too young I tell my kids to go out and play on the water slides for a bit.

 

[Agent 86]

Our daughter (3 years old) got sick on the fourth day of our cruise, but it could have been from so very many different causes! Her symptoms were more indicative of a cold / flu rather than gastro. The times we did use the pools and spas, they closed them (presumably for cleaning) ... it seemed like once every hour or so.

Disney do a great job of keeping the ships clean, but there's only so much they can do when it comes to preschoolers who want to touch everything!

There were LOTS of people who were sick by the end of our cruise. The amount of coughing and sneezing I heard during the theatre show on the final night was extreme. It's just one of those things with cruising.

 

[cwis]

How can pools be the source of this, when literally nobody washes hands after getting food at the buffet and before eating their plate?