Cruise lines begin asking passengers about Ebola ties

More than two dozen of the world's biggest cruise lines are now asking passengers boarding ships if they've been in contact with someone known or suspected to have Ebola.

Industry giants Carnival, Royal Caribbean and other major lines represented by the Cruise Lines International Association over the weekend began using new health questionnaires during the check-in process that require passengers to declare in writing whether they've have such contact in the past 21 days -- the incubation period for the illness.

The new screening procedure comes a week after lines began asking passengers during the check-in process whether they've traveled to the Ebola-plagued West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea within the past 21 days.

Passengers who answer yes to either question will be denied boarding.

The new health questionnaire comes in the wake of last week's Ebola scare on the 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic. The scare occurred after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that a laboratory worker who may have come in contact with an Ebola specimen had boarded the vessel while still within the 21-day incubation period for the illness. The passenger has since tested negative for Ebola, and the 21-day incubation period has passed.

The new question specifically mentions laboratory workers. It reads: "In the past 21 days have you, or any person listed above, been in contact with someone known or suspected to have Ebola, their blood or body fluids (this would include working in a laboratory with samples from suspected Ebola patients)?"

Passengers must fill out and sign the form in its entirety before boarding and are warned in writing that answering falsely could result in a fine or imprisonment.

Health questionnaires have been a staple of the boarding process at most cruise lines for a number of years, but until now the questionnaires only have asked passengers whether they have recently experienced diarrhea, vomiting or other symptoms of illness. The questionnaires got their start as an effort to reduce the number of gastro-intestinal illness outbreaks on ships.