Stomach Bug on Pusuit 3 January Sailing

[*twinkle*]

Hey. Have just disembarked this cruise and have terrible stomach bug now. As there was a known outbreak onboard, does anyone know what the official diagnosis was so I can get the correct medicine here in South Africa? 
 

was it norovirus or some other GI infection?

 

thanks in advance. 

[nordski]

7 hours ago, *twinkle* said:

 

Hey. Have just disembarked this cruise and have terrible stomach bug now. As there was a known outbreak onboard, does anyone know what the official diagnosis was so I can get the correct medicine here in South Africa? 
 

was it norovirus or some other GI infection?

 

thanks in advance. 

I would respectfully suggest that your local Family Doctor or a GI specialist would be a far more reliable source.

 

There are also medical centres that help with maladies acquired during travels to a foreign land.

[*twinkle*]

Unfortunately I’m still in South Africa and won’t be able to see my own dr for another week. If I knew what the strain was onboard I could tell someone here what it was. 

[Grandma Cruising]

I doubt if the medical centre on the ship will have done any testing as I don’t think they have the facilities. Likely that they will have quarantined those affected, given them a diet and told them they couldn’t leave their cabins until they had had no symptoms for 24 hours. That was what happened to my husband when he had a stomach upset onboard. The diet was strictly enforced - when he rang room service he could only order plain chicken, consommé soup, plain white rice, jelly etc

[uktog]

11 minutes ago, *twinkle* said:

Unfortunately I’m still in South Africa and won’t be able to see my own dr for another week. If I knew what the strain was onboard I could tell someone here what it was. 

They need to test you. They unfortunately can’t assume your issue is the same. Hope you get better soon 

[nordski]

1 hour ago, *twinkle* said:

Unfortunately I’m still in South Africa and won’t be able to see my own dr for another week. If I knew what the strain was onboard I could tell someone here what it was. 

Apologies, I should have realized you were still away from home.
 

If you are at a hotel will they arrange a consultation?

 

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Edited January 16 by nordski

[Dynacruiser]

Does anybody have an update on the stomach bug situation in Pursuit?  I m monitoring different discussion boards, and unfortunately the threads are hard to follow, as many people post bad information ("I'm not an epidemiologist, but it's norovirus" "it must be COVID"), or just personal opinions ("they should cancel all the cruises and clean the ship" "people go to the bathroom and dont wash their hands" "take lots of vitamin D").

 

Here's a summary of what I read,  based on current passenger posts (may or may not be correct):

 

• Pursuit is in South Africa.
• Azamara has test kits onboard, and it is not Norovirus.
• It may be related to eating in South African ports, or food brought in from South Africa.
• Some locations in South Africa are losing power for hours, so food may spoil (?).
• Not everybody on board is sick, may be just a few (?).
• This has been going on for a few weeks, but not clear when Pursuit arrived in South Africa.

 

My questions:

1. Is this happening in other cruises currently in South Africa?
2. Is there a stomach bug problem currently  in cities like Capetown?
3. I searched with Google, and the only place I found something related is this thread, so should I conclude that it is mainly an Azamara pursuit problem?

Edited February 14 by Dynacruiser

[Holker01]

Our party returned from CT on 24 Jan, we were staying in a villa,  out of 7, 5 had a really bad gastro bug, one of our party was informed by a dr that there was a really bad gastro bug in CT and the surrounding areas, so that’s maybe why people on Pursuit were ill

[Dynacruiser]

4 minutes ago, Holker01 said:

Our party returned from CT on 24 Jan, we were staying in a villa,  out of 7, 5 had a really bad gastro bug, one of our party was informed by a dr that there was a really bad gastro bug in CT and the surrounding areas, so that’s maybe why people on Pursuit were ill

 

Many thanks for the great information.   I assume that CT is Capetown.  When you were in Capetown, did you Board the Azamara Pursuit, or this was not a cruise ship vacation?

 

I am curious why I have not found discussions about stomach bugs or norovirus in other cruise lines, since this appears to be a  Capetown-wide problem rather than limited to the Pursuit.  Perhaps I am not entering the right search terms.

[Holker01]

Didn’t board Pursuit, but did meet friends in Cape Town who had disembarked from the 3 Jan sailing, they were ok but said many passengers had been Ill, 

[Heartfelttraveler]

We were on the January 3, 2024 sailing with another couple.  All four of us had stomach issues.  One of the men went to the medical doctor on board and had extensive testing.  Even a poop sample.  It showed no sign of norovirus, flu or covid.  Imodium helped.  If I drank ginger ale my stomach was ok.  We continued with stomach problems for the following eight days after the cruise in Zimbabwe, Kruger NP, and Johannesburg.  We only used and drank bottled water.  Once on our Delta flight home, and the first bottle of Disani Water, our stomach problems disappeared.  I have come to the conclusion that the bottled water filtration and treatment if SA was the cause.  Not Azamara.

 

Now I am trying to find out if the Journey is having the same problems.