Disastrous Nile Cruise ruined with illness

oliveoil54

Appsolutely!
The problem with the MS Nile Diva was that there wasn't much info on it to find out. I did try looking on trip advisor & various cruising forums, but no-one had posted anything.

Had a look on the Flash Tours web site & it looked really nice. But as we got a really cheap deal through Travel Zoo, 'you pays your money & takes your chance!', compared to some people who had booked direct with Cosmos ours was £100-200 each cheaper, but they were on the 'better' boats.

Maybe because most of the English Passengers onboard had booked via Travel Zoo & therefore got the much cheaper deal, the booking agents thought they could put us on the worst boat?

Oh well its over & done with now & yes I am going to take the money offered.

alanrowell

oliveoil54 wrote: »

Immodium useless

Immodium is worse than useless. It should NEVER be used unless you have no other option (ie no loos), otherwise you run the risk of making the illness WORSE - possibly to the point of having to go to hospital.

Instead of taking immodium let nature take it's course and keep drinking flat cola which is very good for replacing lost electrolytes

Enterprise_1701C

We are going on a Nile cruise soon, but we are going on the RAII. It has its own mooring for the main part, and I have looked at a lot of reviews and no-one has mentioned any problems with illness on it, although I am still expecting it!! Has anyone here had any problems on the RAII??

Pollycat

Pollycat wrote: »

We've been on 2 Nile cruises and we were told by people who'd already done this that we'd likely be ill at some stage during the cruise.

We were - as were most of the other passengers - but certainly not to the extent that you describe (which sounds awful).

It was clear that some of the food served up on our cruises was making a re-appearance in a different guise either later that day or the following day.
You've already mentioned that you suspect this but it will be very hard to prove after the event.

We steered clear of foods that we thought might be a bit 'iffy'.

Our rep told us that if we we became ill to ask at Reception where they had tablets designed to deal with it.

Jane
we didn't go on the RAII boat but see part of my first post to Olive above regarding illness.

oliveoil54

Would suggest you try & get some Antinal (Egyptian answer to the 'Luxor Quickstep') , once you get out there, purely as a precaution it isnt too expensive. But at least its there if you need it.

Also def avoid anything like salads etc try & stick to food that has been cooked, or peel fruit etc. We were told that all the veg, salad & fruit had been washed in mineral water! But that didnt stop 11 out of 16 people going down with the bug. Would also avoid anything that has been reserved the next day.

Found these coments on RAII http://www.holidaywatchdog.com/29554-Nile_Cruises-Ra_II-Holiday-Review.html, http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews95488.html
sounds ok.

Hope you have a really good time.

htwfrank

Olive

I was very sorry to read of your appalling holiday experience. Let me begin by saying that the current offer of compensation is no where near where it should be!

I note that one member has been diagnosed with Shigella. I also note that there was an issue over the other stool samples. In our experience you should not assume that you are clear from illness; many UK holidaymakers do experience a revisitation of symptoms, some for many months after the holiday. It is very important that you provide another stool sample (I was puzzled why they were provided in a bottle, most samples are provided in a sealed packet) because even though you may feel relatively well, it is often the case that the pathogen will remain in the system for quite sometime. Tio demonstrate further, we have dealt with some Consumers who were not ill in their group, but nonetheless returned positive samples for Salmonella! If the GP considers that there is no need for a sample (I accept that I am not a medical expert), I would in any event seek assistance to do so from your local environmental health officer. My view is that if you obtain a stool sample it is a route to quick and early diagnosis. If it returns a negative result, so much the better, it will produce peace of mind.

On the issue of drugs in Egypt, extreme caution should be exercised by all who go and are offered medication in that country. Some of the medication offered is actually banned in the Western hemisphere, whilst others may be constituted with elements that may have already provided you with a recation in the UK. The safe route is to bring your own preparations and if in doubt in resort, call your GP in the UK!

I note the issues of hygiene on board this boat, in particular the exposure to fumes. The exposure to fumes onboard ships and boats has this year led to a number of 'aerotoxic' complaints, with some holidaymakers reporting serious chest/respiratory problems. Again, if you or your party are suffering with such ailments, you should seek medical assistance asap.

The issue of what to do with a holiday complaint is always difficult and sometimes vexatious. The simple rule is to seek independent advices before accepting any offer (even accepting is not necessarily fatal to making a claim).

I think the rules of this forum prevent me from sending a link to our organisation and I shall respect those rules. If you wish to maintain dialogue through this portal I shall happily look in and see where I can assist. If it is permissable for me to post our e mail address, I would be grateful if the moderators could guide me on that issue.

I hope that this in some way assists,

Regards,

HTWFrank

htwfrank

Olive

I have just noticed your comment about the small claims court. I would point out that it is very likely that the Shigella diagnosis will very likely offer damages in excess of £1000. If that is the case, then you would not be able to bring the claim in the small claims court as this would exceed the personal injury limit. In addition, given that the rest of the group also suffered illness, and given my concern over diagnosis and ongoing symptoms (because these rarely settle so soon after such a holiday), it is also likely that these would also exceed the small claims limit. In our experience, many holidaymakers fail with their holiday claims in the small claims court, because they are ill prepared to deal not only with the bear pit that is litigation, but also because the tour company will often hire a barrister to defend such a claim and they do so with gusto! You have to be extremely prepared to take a holiday claim into court, because of the complex issues they attract. You also have to be ready to deal with the rigours of that litigation; make no mistake, it is not an easy option. That said, I would never want to put anyone off from exercising their prerogative, my caveat is that before you decide to take that route, always seek independent advices!

Again, I hope that this assists.

Regards,

HTWFrank

david39

We went on the RA II a couple of years ago.

Absolutely superb - no illness, good food (except for however they tried to cook potatoes they never turned out like we would expect them!) Excellent breakfasts.

Early morning slots at all the temples and sites, so no trudging round in the midday heat. They always got you back to the boat for main meals, so you did not have to eat any food from outside sources - most important!

Very clean in all parts of the boat, room attendant excellent. Entertainment a bit sparse, but, what there was, was OK.

When we were moored up alongside the other boats and had to walk across them to get ashore, we were able to see that, of the ones we encountered, ours was certainly the most plush.

Best of all - the price included tips for the crew, so there was no envelope left in the cabin on the last night and no quandary about how much to give - mind you, we did leave the room man an extra donation as he had kept us amused all week.

All in all, an excellent holiday and would thoroughly recommend the RA II to anyone who had doubts about which boat to book.

Enterprise_1701C

Thank you so much David, all the reviews in the world count for very little in my book, but info from a trusted source like this is worth it's weight in gold.

I am now hoever wishing it was the first part of our itenerary - we are going to Giza for the weekend before the cruise!! Shall pick up some Antinal at first opportunity though, and be very careful. Have picked up some antiseptic hand gel, and not planning on eating much because I don't eat much in warm weather till I am used to it. I did make the mistake of having ice in Marrakesh one time - soemthing I will not do again (especially as I was flying the next day!!!)

I am looking forward to it a whole lot more now - should be in the air in a fortnight!

Thank you and sorry for the semi-hijack of the thread, just thought it might be the best place to ask the question.

davidlizard

alanrowell wrote: »

Immodium is worse than useless. It should NEVER be used unless you have no other option (ie no loos), otherwise you run the risk of making the illness WORSE - possibly to the point of having to go to hospital.

Instead of taking immodium let nature take it's course and keep drinking flat cola which is very good for replacing lost electrolytes

Fully agree - if you have some kind of bug, then the last thing you want to do is keep it inside you. Immodium should only be used as a last resort - for example flights. My wife took immodium when we were in India and was very bad for this reason (according to our doctor) - a simple case of a gippy tummy ended up as something much worse.

Also one of the other big mistakes people make is assuming plain foods are safe - rice can be one of the worst things you can eat - especially when its part of a buffet - it gets heated and allowed to cool, then heated again and so on, which allows the bacteria to grow.

Making sure the food is hot is always a good tip - when in Egypt I ate mostly off stalls in the streets - I could see the food being cooked, so could see that it was cooked properly, and a large number of locals eating there would minimise the chance of food handing around for too long. I had no problems.