After a day of intestinal distress, the cramps started slowly just after 1 AM, then escalated, feeling like a knife stabbing me in the stomach. Finally at 2 AM, the pain was too intense to bear and I called the number given for medical emergences.
I was instructed to meet the cruise ship’s medical staff in 10 minutes in the ship infirmary and I staggered down the hallway and down the steps to the clinic.
They take food poisoning very seriously on a cruise ship and after getting some medication, the pain subsided and we felt as if the cramps were under control. For the next 24 hours I was to be quarantined - not allowed to leave my cabin – and my meals of oatmeal and chicken broth were delivered to my room.