How We Cruise All The Time And Never Get Sick (And No, We’re Not Germaphobes)

If you cruise long enough, you start hearing the same thing over and over: “Every time I cruise, I get sick,” “Cruise ships are just floating petri dishes,” or “I always come home with a cold.” It’s become so common that many travelers almost expect to lose a few days of their vacation to a sore throat, congestion, or worse.

Here’s the thing. We cruise a lot. Between personal trips, group cruises, scouting sailings, and hosting events at sea, we are on airplanes and cruise ships constantly. And yet, we almost never get sick. Not during the cruise, not after the cruise, and not when we get home.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, no, we are not germaphobes. We aren’t afraid of public spaces, we aren’t wiping down every chair we pass, and we aren’t skipping crowded shows or the buffet. We fully enjoy cruising. But we are intentional. Over the years, we’ve developed simple, realistic habits that quietly protect our health without taking away from the fun.

We Don’t Think Most People Get Sick on the Ship

One of the biggest mindset shifts we made years ago was realizing that most people probably don’t get sick on the cruise ship itself. We strongly believe most people get sick on the plane.

Think about it. You’re packed into a metal tube with hundreds of people, recycled air, tiny tray tables, armrests, seatback pockets, overhead bins, and bathrooms that are constantly used. People cough, sneeze, and travel even when they’re already sick. By the time you board the ship, your body is already stressed, dehydrated, and exposed. When symptoms show up a day or two later, the cruise gets blamed.

Once we accepted that, we started treating travel days as seriously as cruise days.

Our Philosophy: Normal Cruising, Just Smarter Habits

We don’t try to eliminate germs. That’s impossible. We don’t avoid people, and we don’t let fear control our trips. Instead, we reduce unnecessary exposure, support our immune system, and stay consistent.

Staying healthy while traveling isn’t about one miracle product. It’s about stacking small habits that work together. None of them are extreme on their own, but combined, they make a big difference.

We Start Supporting Our Immune System Before We Leave Home

We don’t wait until we feel run down. Before every cruise and throughout the entire trip, we take a daily multivitamin and Emergen-C. Nothing fancy, nothing extreme, just consistent support.

Travel puts stress on your body. You sleep less, eat differently, change time zones, walk more, drink more alcohol, and spend long days in busy environments. Supporting your immune system before it’s challenged has been one of the simplest and most effective habits we’ve built.

Why We Carry Around Ten Hand Sanitizers

Before every trip, we stop at Bath & Body Works and buy a stack of travel-size hand sanitizers. Usually around ten. They go everywhere, in our backpacks, carry-ons, lanyards, excursion bags, nightstands, and pockets.

The reason is simple. If sanitizer isn’t within reach, most people won’t use it. We don’t want to go find it. We want it there when we need it.

We don’t sanitize obsessively. We sanitize intentionally. After elevator buttons, after stair rails, after touching public touchscreens, after casino machines, after buffet utensils, after excursions, and always before eating. And if we walk past a hand sanitation station on the ship, we use it. Every time.

It takes two seconds. Two seconds is better than losing two days of your cruise.

The Airplane Wipe-Down That Changed Everything

The habit we believe protects us the most happens before the cruise ever begins. Every time we fly, we bring travel-size Clorox wipes from Walmart and wipe down our entire seating area before we sit back.

Tray table, armrests, seatbelt buckle, touchscreen, air vent, and window shade handle. Not aggressively and not dramatically, just thoroughly.

Planes turn fast. They are not deep-cleaned between every flight. The number of hands, phones, mouths, sneezes, kids, and food items touching those surfaces every day is unreal. We don’t wipe the whole plane. We wipe our space.

Since making this a non-negotiable habit, the “I always get sick after flying” problem has almost completely disappeared for us.

We Treat Our Hands Like the Real Risk

Most people assume sickness comes from the air. In reality, a lot of it is hand-to-face. Elevator buttons to face, rails to drinks, phones to snacks, door handles to eye rubs.

So instead of stressing about breathing near people, we focus on what our hands touch and what they touch next. We touch whatever we want. We just clean our hands before they touch our face or our food.

This single mindset shift quietly eliminates a huge amount of risk.

Hydration Is One of the Most Overlooked Defenses

Most people board planes already dehydrated. Then they drink coffee, soda, or alcohol. Dehydration weakens your immune system fast.

We make water a priority before flights, on flights, after boarding, between cocktails, and between excursions. Cruises make it easy to forget because there’s unlimited everything, but hydration plays a major role in energy levels, recovery, and immune response.

We Never Wait Until We “Feel Something”

Most travelers don’t change their habits until their throat feels scratchy or their energy drops. By then, you’re already behind.

We treat travel like an immune marathon. We support first and expose second. We don’t stop Emergen-C because we feel fine. We don’t skip water because we’re on vacation. We don’t skip sanitizing because it’s just one button.

Consistency always beats reaction.

Cruise Ships Are More Controlled Than People Think

Cruise ships are actually some of the most sanitation-focused environments most people will ever visit. There are constant cleaning crews, handwashing stations everywhere, medical centers onboard, and daily sanitation procedures. Cruise lines are obsessive about outbreak prevention because their entire business depends on it.

That doesn’t mean germs don’t exist. It means they’re actively managed. Most problems don’t start on the ship. They start before people ever board.

The Real Goal Is Protecting the Experience

We don’t do any of this because we’re afraid of getting sick. We do it because we love cruising too much to lose days of a trip.

We want sailaway parties, late nights, excursions, shows, dancing, theme nights, group events, beach days, sunrise coffee, and midnight pizza. Being sick steals that. So we protect the experience with habits, not fear.

Our Simple “We Never Get Sick” Travel Mindset

Support your body before you travel. Be smart about high-touch surfaces. Treat your hands like the real risk. Wipe down your airplane space. Use sanitation stations. Take your vitamins. Drink your water. Don’t abandon your routine just because you’re on vacation.

We’re not immune superheroes. We’re normal people who love to travel, love cruises, and love being around people. We just decided a long time ago that getting sick every trip wasn’t normal or unavoidable.

Once we changed our habits, everything changed. We stopped expecting to get sick, stopped planning for it, and stopped losing days of our vacations.

Cruise after cruise, flight after flight, event after event, we stay healthy.

Because the real luxury of travel isn’t the ship, the suite, or the destination.

It’s being healthy enough to actually enjoy it.

*This post is not meant to be medical advice. It is just our opinion on how we personally try to stay healthy when we cruise. If you're sick, seek medical attention.