Galapagos – Illness on boat
 

On April 1-8, my family and I went on a Galapagos cruise on the Letty, one of the Ecoventura boats and a sister ship to the Flamingo and the Eric.

3 out of 4 members of my family and 7 out of 22 people on the boat contracted a stomach virus with symptoms including fever, diarrhea and vomiting.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, a norovirus outbreak which exceeds 3% on a cruise ship needs official investigation. On the Letty, the sickness rate was 32%.

It was a Sunday to Sunday cruise and the sickness didn’t start until Friday, which makes me think it was something on the yacht instead of something people caught in Ecuador before the trip.

You get a feeling of despair when your out in the middle of nowhere with a 102 fever which won’t respond to Advil and the boat is rocking and bouncing and you’re lurching to the bathroom. The medical resources which the boat offered was one Celsius thermometer which had to be passed around among the sick people.

I wish I could say about the Galapagos: “You wouldn’t believe how wonderful the trip was!”

Instead, I’m left to say; “You wouldn’t believe how very sick we were!”

I e-mailed the company expressing my concerns and telling them they should change their hygiene procedures. I received no response.

I suppose the Letty is fine if you know you won’t get sick. Otherwise, you should probably look elsewhere.

I’m putting my name and city on this post to make sure everyone knows this is not just some anonymous diatribe, but a real problem that I will vouch for.

Tom Tighe
Wilton Manors FL
[email protected]
954-566-7337

You really don't need to post this on dozens of threads. One, maybe two, is enough.

By the way, you realize one of the ship's guest could have brough the virus on the ship and that it's highly contagious, right? There's not much a ship can do except sanitize between sailings.

hills27,
I would agree five days is "outside the window" for a previously acquired infection to be transmitted.
Asymptomatic norovirus carriers have not been documented to my knowledge.
Sounds like a local ship-board issue, but a serious opportunity for CDC to possibly learn a great deal.
M

A poster on Trip Advisor just reported norovirus on the Xpedition earlier this month. He/she also reported that those who became ill were OK after about 24 hours.

Actually, according to the CDC, a person may be contagious up to two weeks after recovery.

http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/dvrd/revb/...rovirus-qa.htm

Thanks for this very specific report. I’m really going to keep it in mind.


What was the explanation that the boat gave for the illness?


P.S. Seems like hills27 didn’t like your post. I wonder if that person works for an airline . . .

Nope, I work in real estate lending.

hills27,
One case, lol.
M

Just returned from trip to Galapagos on the Letty. No one on our ship got sick with stomach virus. The food was excellent, healthy and very nicely prepared.

A few passengers experienced seasickness and it is recommended to take along seasickness medication if you are prone to seasickness. My husband took the medication and fared fine with the rough seas while taking the scapalomine pills.

The places we visited during the 7 day trip provided excellent marine animal and bird viewing as well as a variety of interesting geological terrain. There was plenty of exercise each day walking on various islands as well as opportunities to snorkel often.

The boat had full length wetsuits, fins, snorkels and masks available. Those that snorkeled found the wetsuits appropriate for the 'cooler waters' they experienced, but all enjoyed the experience swimming with turtles, penquins, and sea lions.

The guides were excellent and very knowledgeable on the islands and birds and marine life.

The daytime temperatures ranged from pleasantly cool to hot during the day. Most days were overcast with an ocassional sunny day. On some of the long hikes around the islands and extended steps up to top of view areas, we worked up a sweat. The only rain experienced was during the time on Santa Cruz Island while camping and this was basically a fine mist that occurs at the higher altitudes. Since our visit was during early August we probably had cooler temperatures than one would experience during other times of the year.

I would recommend the Letty to anyone wanted to experience the Galapagos.

-Granny Joan