I came down with the flu while on board a cruise ship as a teenager and was quarantined for 24 hours - here's what my experience was like

After vomiting following the ship's safety-instruction training for passengers, my mom walked me to the ship's infirmary.

The first thing they checked was whether we'd indicated a recent illness on our forms, which we had — food poisoning. They then asked where on the ship I'd been that day, and decided I might have a stomach virus. That's when they handed me medicine and a bag of Gatorade powder, and told me to stay in my room for the next 24 hours.

I spent the day, much to any teenager's delight, watching free movies courtesy of the cruise line while my parents alternated between checking in on me, bringing me food, and entertaining my siblings.

I was released that evening, after showing no further symptoms and being vomit-free for a full 24 hours. Since we'd taken our trip in December, we celebrated my release by having a Christmas dinner.

I have no doubt stories like mine happen all the time — someone gets sick while vacationing on a cruise ship, they're put under quarantine until they get better out of concern for the rest of the ship's passengers — and I'm lucky my situation was nowhere close to what's happening as the coronavirus spreads across the globe.

But what I'm reminded of, looking back, are the implications of not taking precautions. Had I not gotten checked out or brushed off my illness due to fear of being kicked off of the ship before it even left, I could have put others at risk.

I'm also reminded that while it might not have been ideal to spend part of my vacation locked up and away from all of the activities, the precaution was essential for the health of the people on the ship. As we've seen with the coronavirus, illnesses do spread more quickly than we can imagine in such close environments — meaning that as fun as cruise ships might be, things can take a rapid downturn if illnesses aren't properly managed.

And as someone who's been through the stomach flu several times since this incident, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy — let alone some innocent fellow cruise goers.