Pursuit soon? Bring antibiotics.

[Shawnino]

Disembarking TA this morning.

Lots of us got sick on this cruise.

Pax. Crew. Officers. Captain.
Our stellar, indestructible cruise director Amanda was KO’d for three days and she could not do her cruise-ending show, so I’m guessing she had a near-death experience.

 

most people responded to penicillin-type antibiotics after 2-4 days. I’m on day 6, but I’m slow.

antivirals didn’t seem to help people, so thank goodness it’s not you-know-what.

 

The guess is the air quality on the ship. Spoke with a couple people with asthma. They had the air filter in their room replaced and it helped. I wish I’d thought of that on Day 1. 
 

if we cruise A again, we won’t do OV—balcony or better so we can bring in fresh air. 

[excitedofharpenden]

Well I'm not quite sure how to respond to this post. It's been 8 hours and not a reply.   Which probably says something. The first word that came to my mind was scaremongering. Well that was the second. I can't write the first here. 

 

To suggest those going on Pursuit take antibiotics with them?  I'd comment that giving such advice like this here to others from a medical point of view is wrong. Sorry. I'm not sure how the use of antibiotics pans out from where you are, but it's been said many times by professional health care workers that they are overused and really shouldn't be taken unless necessary because the human body builds up a resistance to them. So that when you really need them they aren't so effective. 

 

I've been on many cruises and find it's best to take preventative measures.  Taking echinacea before, during and after your cruise is one idea.  Taking something like Airborne at the first signs of symptoms is another. There are others. 

 

Finally, to suggest that there is something wrong with Pursuit?  Welcome to the world of cruising in a closed environment. It's coming into winter now in the Northern Hemisphere. It's not unusual to expect to come into contact with germs at this time of year. To suggest there is something wrong with the ship and moreover to give generalised medical advice is just poor. 

 

Phil 

Edited November 30, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[travelberlin]

I will be on Pursuit soon and if there have been many cases of people getting sick, I would expect for the ship to be throughly disinfected for the next cruises. Unfortunately you do not mention what kind of disease it was and who prescribed the antibiotics.

[Baynanno1]

Well said Phil!

Antibiotics are over prescribed and have absolutely no effect on a viral cold or flu type illness, which from reading HGC's blog I believe was the culprit on that crossing. Sure some may well have developed into bacterial infection requiring antibiotics, but from my experience that would be a minority.

 

People could . . . and both Peter and I have on occasion confined ourselves to our stateroom for a day or two so that we do not cough or sneeze on fellow passengers.

 

You may remember Peter doing that on the March crossing, while others were roaming the ship spreading their germs. Sure, he was missed from our trivia team, but our fellow players appreciated his thoughtfulness.

 

I won't get into hand cleanliness or lack of especially after using a handkerchief or tissue, otherwise my post may be deleted . . .

 

Trish

[Baynanno1]

20 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

I will be on Pursuit soon and if there have been many cases of people getting sick, I would expect for the ship to be throughly disinfected for the next cruises. Unfortunately you do not mention what kind of disease it was and who prescribed the antibiotics.

 

Enjoy your cruise! 😊

 

Yes, I am sure it would have had a "terminal clean", as was done on Journey after our Suez Canal cruise in 2017 during which we were served by crew for the last 5 or 6 days.

 

And on the subject of hand cleansing . . . during that time a number of people attempted to walk straight past the hand sanitisers without using them . . . even with crew members standing and supervising!!!!

Edited November 30, 2019 by Baynanno1

[candkd]

I would guess there was a viral respiratory infection going around, especially that your infection was not responding to antibiotics (and shame on the doctor for just prescribing it without knowing if you had a bacterial infection). People just need to remember to cough into their elbow and constantly wash/sanitize their hands.

[gymfreak]

We too have just disembarked 

I was down for a few days but basically it was a nasty cold or “man flu” 😂

Dont think it’s the ship just lots of people together sharing the virus!

Loved the cruise

Vicki

[Covepointcruiser]

It’s a shame they can’t confine folks to their cabin when they are coughing, sneezing and spreading viruses.   On the Journey, we had two passengers with bad respiratory infections and they always seemed to sit near us.   We spoke to them and they said they caught the infection on a previous cruise. It were no longer “infectious”.   We had quite a few passengers freely spreading their germs.   If they used a tissue, they did not wash their hands.   Most did not bother covering coughs or sneezes, after all they were either suffering allergies or were no longer infectious.   Anyone with any immune system problems takes a severe risk taking a cruise.

[Bloodaxe]

32 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

It’s a shame they can’t confine folks to their cabin when they are coughing, sneezing and spreading viruses.   On the Journey, we had two passengers with bad respiratory infections and they always seemed to sit near us.   We spoke to them and they said they caught the infection on a previous cruise. It were no longer “infectious”.   We had quite a few passengers freely spreading their germs.   If they used a tissue, they did not wash their hands.   Most did not bother covering coughs or sneezes, after all they were either suffering allergies or were no longer infectious.   Anyone with any immune system problems takes a severe risk taking a cruise.

 

Unfortunately that applies not just to cruising but also to flying or anywhere in confined spaces..

[uktog]

Most people catch the bugs on the flights to cruises then yes they get spread but you cannot prevent that. 
We were on the same cruise as Covepointcruiser. We were conscious of the sneeze police as someone spoke to DH. They would not believe it was an allergy he sneezes 6/7 times in a go 4-5 times a day. Maybe he should carry a doctors note next cruise 

[nordski]

8 hours ago, uktog said: We were conscious of the sneeze police as someone spoke to DH. They would not believe it was an allergy he sneezes 6/7 times in a go 4-5 times a day. Maybe he should carry a doctors note next cruise 

This comment made me smile.

 

My wife has allergies which can easily lead to coughing. Thus a doctor’s note might be handy. 😄

 

On the other hand we realize why others might be discomfited, especially if the ship is in a “Code Red”.

[nordski]

8 hours ago, uktog said:

We were conscious of the sneeze police as someone spoke to DH. They would not believe it was an allergy he sneezes 6/7 times in a go 4-5 times a day. Maybe he should carry a doctors note next cruise 

This comment made me smile, although in my wife’s case her allergies can lead to short bouts of coughing.

 

On the other hand we recognize that others may feel discomfited when she has one of those events, especially when the ship is on a “Code Red”.

 

Perhaps the doctor’s note is a good idea. 😄

[santrah]

Cruise ships, hospitals and schools are all suffering at the moment with a flu type virus, antibiotics don't treat it.  They only treat a secondary infection that you may contract whilst your body is vulnerable.  My daughter attends a local secondary school in the North of England, 400 of 1200 pupils plus many staff were off one day last week.  The tabloids were phoning for news but the school refused to comment.  It is the most pupils absent in their history.

 

[Grandma Cruising]

Shawnino is quite right that a lot of people went down with this bug. Some were fine within 24 hours, others took longer to improve ( including Amanda). I had it for a couple of days, my DH had it and it really affected him, but then he has chronic bronchitis and gets badly affected whenever he has a cold. We felt that it was most likely a common cold that hit different people in different ways - and it’s not surprising that this happens when nearly 700 people get off planes and get into the confined environment of the ship.

[uktog]

Actually today on Journey it is cough cough cough - but all from guests who embarked yesterday so certainly not the cruise lines fault

[mj_holiday]

Doesn't the ship declare a code red if there are a certain number of illnesses? 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

Doesn't the ship declare a code red if there are a certain number of illnesses? 

Maybe that’s only in relation to noro-virus or other tummy bugs.

[Trend]

Yes I have asthma and go into coughing fits with the strong cologne people wear.
I have had people give me bad looks even though I say I have asthma.

[cheznick]

On 12/1/2019 at 7:20 PM, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Shawnino is quite right that a lot of people went down with this bug. Some were fine within 24 hours, others took longer to improve ( including Amanda). I had it for a couple of days, my DH had it and it really affected him, but then he has chronic bronchitis and gets badly affected whenever he has a cold. We felt that it was most likely a common cold that hit different people in different ways - and it’s not surprising that this happens when nearly 700 people get off planes and get into the confined environment of the ship.

same for us denise   i still have it and did for most of the cruise but i have a lower immunity due to heart failure,  wife now has it and it didnt start until 2nd day in rio   it was as far as we were concerned a cold which spread rapidly and nothing in that case could stem the tide x

[Shawnino]

On 12/1/2019 at 3:20 PM, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Shawnino is quite right that a lot of people went down with this bug. Some were fine within 24 hours, others took longer to improve ( including Amanda). I had it for a couple of days, my DH had it and it really affected him, but then he has chronic bronchitis and gets badly affected whenever he has a cold. We felt that it was most likely a common cold that hit different people in different ways - and it’s not surprising that this happens when nearly 700 people get off planes and get into the confined environment of the ship.

 

Great to meet you F2F on the cruise.

 

What actually surprised me was this: this was our first cruise on A, a B2B as it happens. On both legs they had staff serving us in the buffet for the first 24 hours. I asked around and it seems they do this as a matter of course to minimise illness. What a great idea (like the fist bump). After a stack of people got ill, I was surprised they didn't go back to crew serving in the buffet. 

 

IDK, maybe it was because they were suddenly short crew as well 🙂 ? My wife thought the Russian speakers took the worst of the illness for instance, although most were only out a day or two.

[Shawnino]

On 12/1/2019 at 2:36 PM, santrah said:

Cruise ships, hospitals and schools are all suffering at the moment with a flu type virus, antibiotics don't treat it.  They only treat a secondary infection that you may contract whilst your body is vulnerable.  My daughter attends a local secondary school in the North of England, 400 of 1200 pupils plus many staff were off one day last week.  The tabloids were phoning for news but the school refused to comment.  It is the most pupils absent in their history.

 

 

Emphasis mine.

This is really interesting. As I had mentioned in the first post, the antivirals crowd were getting no joy but the antibiotics crowd were doing better after 2-4 days. Evidence anecdotal of course. So maybe the virus was just doing its thing and the antibiotics were cleaning up secondary infections, I'm not sure. I guess we'll never know.

 

That said, the air quality in our OV was poor--wish I'd thought to have asked to have had the filters changed. I spent a week in Brazil after the cruise (just got back), and after 24 hours off the ship I was coming around nicely. 

 

 

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, Shawnino said:

That said, the air quality in our OV was poor...

You measured this how?

[Redtravel]

People often are sick on cruises. They arrive sick, pass it on to other guests, and before long you hear the constant cruise coughing.  Traveling in crowded areas pushes sick people too close to avoid getting sick.  Fresh air and hand washing help.  

[Grandma Cruising]

I think you’re right about people being together in a ‘confined’ space. Any virus/infection gets passes around quickly in such circumstances.  In our area two schools have been closed for several days recently due to noro-virus - same effect.

[excitedofharpenden]

11 hours ago, Shawnino said:

 

 

What actually surprised me was this: this was our first cruise on A, a B2B as it happens. On both legs they had staff serving us in the buffet for the first 24 hours. I asked around and it seems they do this as a matter of course to minimise illness. What a great idea (like the fist bump). After a stack of people got ill, I was surprised they didn't go back to crew serving in the buffet. 

 

This isn't surprising and a standard on Azamara.  It's nothing to do with people having colds. It's a precaution against gastrointestinal illness.  If there are no cases of GI onboard after the first day then the buffet will go back to self serve. 

 

Phil