Washy Washy, Happy Happy, Smiley Smiley

When you’re on a cruise ship with a couple thousand other people, personal hygiene is very important. All it takes is one “doesn’t wash hands after going to the bathroom” individual to spread sickness to half the ship.

To help prevent that, the Norwegian Gem had hand sanitizer stations everywhere. Every public space you entered, especially restaurants, had them.

When you entered the buffet restaurant, though, there was an additional protection. In the buffet, dirty hands touching food serving implements could spread disease quicker than anywhere else. This meant that they upped the protections by positioning crew members at every entrance with bottles of hands sanitizer spray. As you entered, you would be sprayed with an encouraging jingle of “washy washy, happy happy, smiley smiley.”

Unfortunately, hearing that every day for a week got old. We understood the importance but the jingle turned into a joke and an annoyance. Still, I’d rather have been annoyed than sick so even though we hated the jingle, I’ll still thank Norwegian Cruise Lines for it.

And, to remember the jingle (and perpetually annoy JSL with it), I actually videoed one of the crew members saying it.