When Amy and I were in France last year, I was struck by how all of the toilets were contained rooms and the sinks for handwashing were located with the shower and bath in a separate room, and wondered if this was the best design.

Sally Bloomfield, honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has similar wonderings about bathroom layout and has criticized Norwegian Cruise Lines for ditching cabin bathrooms in favor of separate basin and toilet cubicles.

“Norovirus spreads by person-to-person contact and through contact with surfaces that have been touched by people carrying the bug. Everyone should wash their hands as soon as they have been to the toilet and the toilet area should be designed to encourage that. That means putting the sink by the toilet.”

A spokesman for NCL said,

“Having the basin outside the commode gives guests more space within the bathroom and allows guests the ability for one to shower while the other is using the sink.”

Which is why apartments like the one we stayed at in Paris are designed such, but is it best to control disease transmission?