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Live from Uniworld's India and the Sacred Ganges - Feb 6, 2017


jpalbny
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Hi there. I felt I should take a few moments to sincerely thank you for posting your blog on the Uniworld Golden Triangle. I read it through and through because we were embarking on the same trip departing 12 January 2018 and I wanted to take all precautions. In particular I took the prescription antibiotics you recommended for my partner (John) and myself along just in case. Everything was OK until the cruise. On the second day John woke up feeling very unwell. There was a doctor on board (a passenger from Melbourne) so I asked him to have a look. He arrived with his stethoscope and said there was 'a rattle' in John's chest and advised him to take the antibiotics immediately (otherwise it could develop in to pneumonia). He still spent four days in bed, not eating and drinking little. Again I am very grateful for your advice because had I not had the antibiotics with me (and the Melbourne doctor was not onboard) John's condition would have deteriorated further.

 

I have shared John's experience with Uniworld because I thought they should know and I want to know what precautions they have in place for a similar situation that may occur in the future. It worth pointing out that of the 22 passengers on the trip all but 1 went missing for 1, 2 and some 3 days during the cruise. They were mostly effected by stomach bugs. Even the doctor, his wife and 14 yo son went missing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Warren Stanborough

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JP, I was delighted to find this, since you are another Silversea cruiser! This is excellent and so very helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary, your insight and of course the photos.

 

We are thinking about this cruise, and I read some odd things about the ship—issues with the water supply (alternates freezing cold and blistering hot), the air conditioning, and not being able to flush toilet paper. Supposedly, this was the first year Uniworld chartered the GVII. Was this the case on your ship/voyage?

 

So difficult to tell how you caught the GI bug...but any ideas? When I travel to places like this, I don’t consume raw veggies or fruits, though I must say everything looked great; no ice; try to get food served piping hot.

 

I have been to India before but only Mumbai, on business, so definitely travelled in a bubble. I know India is not for the faint of heart!

 

I am also wondering if the pace of this trip the second week and the sights are a little too off the beaten path because mostly small villages. Tauck offers an interesting land based trip, but I also wonder if that is too much time “on the road.”

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi there. I felt I should take a few moments to sincerely thank you for posting your blog on the Uniworld Golden Triangle. I read it through and through because we were embarking on the same trip departing 12 January 2018 and I wanted to take all precautions. In particular I took the prescription antibiotics you recommended for my partner (John) and myself along just in case. Everything was OK until the cruise. On the second day John woke up feeling very unwell. There was a doctor on board (a passenger from Melbourne) so I asked him to have a look. He arrived with his stethoscope and said there was 'a rattle' in John's chest and advised him to take the antibiotics immediately (otherwise it could develop in to pneumonia). He still spent four days in bed, not eating and drinking little. Again I am very grateful for your advice because had I not had the antibiotics with me (and the Melbourne doctor was not onboard) John's condition would have deteriorated further.

 

I have shared John's experience with Uniworld because I thought they should know and I want to know what precautions they have in place for a similar situation that may occur in the future. It worth pointing out that of the 22 passengers on the trip all but 1 went missing for 1, 2 and some 3 days during the cruise. They were mostly effected by stomach bugs. Even the doctor, his wife and 14 yo son went missing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Warren Stanborough

 

So sorry to hear this. How frightening, and how difficult to tell how it was contracted. I remember traveling on a bike trip through Morocco and we were told by the guide it was so easy to pick up a bug. All you had to do was touch money—which is covered with bacteria—and then touch your eyes, lips or nose! [And it sounds like JP was handling the money! 😉] We had 13 people on our trip and 8 got sick...some from dehydration, some just careless eating after a number of days feeling good and letting their guard down. (One woman from eating hard boiled eggs at lunch—she said they’d be safe because they were hard boiled—I told her “hopefully, but you have no idea when they were cooked and how they have been stored.”) I also brush my teeth and rinse my toothbrush with bottled water.

 

With so many missing, you are left to wonder if it is just bad luck, letting one’s guard down, or something on the ship—though the ship seemed to be so careful!

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Hi there. I felt I should take a few moments to sincerely thank you for posting your blog on the Uniworld Golden Triangle. I read it through and through because we were embarking on the same trip departing 12 January 2018 and I wanted to take all precautions. In particular I took the prescription antibiotics you recommended for my partner (John) and myself along just in case. Everything was OK until the cruise. On the second day John woke up feeling very unwell. There was a doctor on board (a passenger from Melbourne) so I asked him to have a look. He arrived with his stethoscope and said there was 'a rattle' in John's chest and advised him to take the antibiotics immediately (otherwise it could develop in to pneumonia). He still spent four days in bed, not eating and drinking little. Again I am very grateful for your advice because had I not had the antibiotics with me (and the Melbourne doctor was not onboard) John's condition would have deteriorated further.

 

I have shared John's experience with Uniworld because I thought they should know and I want to know what precautions they have in place for a similar situation that may occur in the future. It worth pointing out that of the 22 passengers on the trip all but 1 went missing for 1, 2 and some 3 days during the cruise. They were mostly effected by stomach bugs. Even the doctor, his wife and 14 yo son went missing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Warren Stanborough

 

Hi Wossa, and welcome to the boards. Thanks for posting and letting us all know about your experience. You were well-prepared for that contingency. Glad it worked out OK in the end. And your experience on the cruise seemed like ours - most people went missing here and there.

 

I may have a different attitude towards illness given my medical background, but I fully expect to get sick when traveling, and I have gradually learned to take it in stride. I think that it is hard to avoid. When I was young(er) I got annoyed by it, even though it didn't really slow me down. I cared more about it then, but now... I expect it, and think of it as a bonus if it doesn't happen. Considering that you're on an airplane for 10+ hours with hundreds of people, breathing recycled air, it's a miracle NOT to get sick, just getting there!

 

One other caveat is that food-borne illness is way more common than you think. And, it is NOT just a problem with less-developed countries. It happens commonly in the US and other developed countries. Often the illness is mild and you don't even know that you have it. Sometimes it is quite significant. And while you can take precautions to lower your risk, I don't think that you can avoid it entirely, no matter what you do.

 

So, while I try not to drink the water in third-world countries, I don't go overboard with precautions. I put it into perspective in my own mind by telling myself that there are a billion people in India, and they all haven't died from foodborne illness yet. So the food must not be too deadly. So is it really worth it to restrict my intake so stringently, in order to just lower (not eliminate) the risk of a GI bug? I struggled with this but finally decided to not worry so much about it.

 

So, I ate pretty much everything, within reason. And apparently out of the 60+ meals that I had, one didn't agree with me. That's not so bad. Sometimes that isn't even "food poisoning" per se, but just a different variation of normal bacteria that we're not used to. And since I really enjoy eating different foods when we travel, I won't restrict the scope of my food intake too drastically. For me, it would reduce my enjoyment of the trip.

 

I fully realize that others may have different opinions, or may have medical issues that require them to be more careful than I am. I respect that completely. Just my own POV.

 

JP, I was delighted to find this, since you are another Silversea cruiser! This is excellent and so very helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary, your insight and of course the photos.

 

We are thinking about this cruise, and I read some odd things about the ship—issues with the water supply (alternates freezing cold and blistering hot), the air conditioning, and not being able to flush toilet paper. Supposedly, this was the first year Uniworld chartered the GVII. Was this the case on your ship/voyage?

 

So difficult to tell how you caught the GI bug...but any ideas? When I travel to places like this, I don’t consume raw veggies or fruits, though I must say everything looked great; no ice; try to get food served piping hot.

 

I have been to India before but only Mumbai, on business, so definitely travelled in a bubble. I know India is not for the faint of heart!

 

I am also wondering if the pace of this trip the second week and the sights are a little too off the beaten path because mostly small villages. Tauck offers an interesting land based trip, but I also wonder if that is too much time “on the road.”

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi Herman,

 

We like Uniworld a lot; their service and quality remind us of SS as well.

 

We had no issues at all with the GV II. Lovely ship. No problems with hot water, AC, toilets flushing, etc. They must have worked out those kinks prior to our arrival.

 

I have long since given up trying to figure out how I got sick. As above, I just expect it now and then. I have the idea that it was probably something from our lunch that day (the restaurant at the market in Delhi) but in reality I have no way of knowing. Chris and I always try each other's food and she didn't get sick at all.

 

The second week is certainly leisurely. If you want to go non-stop for the two weeks, and only see the top sights, then this might bother you. We actually enjoyed the contrast between the non-stop parade of crowded major sights, and the much more low-key sights along the Hooghley. It is really nice to not share your tour with thousands of others. And the boat was a lot of fun.

 

You mention too much time on the road. The 4h drive from Delhi to Agra was plenty for me. Uniworld had very nice buses, and I'm sure Tauck does too. But the driving is tough. The boat trips were different, and in many ways, more enjoyable than the bus rides. I preferred the mix.

 

Uniworld provided a great trip. If you do go with them, I hope you have as much fun as we did!

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