Passengers on Sea Princess cruise ship struck down by virus
04/06/2006
May I thank you for the way my accident claim has been handled, after my accident my confidence was very low indeed but the sympathetic handling of my case restored my confidence.
John, Sheffield
Passengers aboard the Sea Princess luxury cruise ship have been struck down with a vomiting virus.
Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. It is thought that over 200 passengers have been affected. Over 2500 passengers are believed to have been onboard the ship.
Passengers paid up to £1,000 for the seven-day cruise. The cruise has been ended a day early.
The virus is believed to have struck within 24 hours of setting sail.
Passengers are extremely angry that their holidays have been ruined.
The Sea Princess will now return to Southampton at the end of the week to allow extra time to disinfect the ship. It will miss the final destination of Lisbon.
Princess Cruises have offered passengers a 30% refund of their trip.
Specialist accident and illness overseas solicitor Suki Chhokar said:
"Often simple preventative measures can be taken to avoid virus outbreaks. These episodes not only ruin people's holidays but can result in long term health problems."
"Customers should be aware that they may be entitled to compensation, and should seek legal advice before accepting any offers made by the tour operator."
The ship left Southampton on Saturday for a seven-night cruise to Guernsey, France, Portugal and Spain.
A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises said the virus was suspected to be norovirus - a highly contagious stomach illness.
Norovirus
- Most common cause of stomach bugs
- Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea
- Symptoms typically last between 24 and 48 hours
- Affects over 600, 000 people in the UK each year
- Most often transmitted by contaminated food or water
- Also transmitted by human contact and contaminated surfaces
- Outbreaks are common in semi-closed environments
At the weekend, 500 passengers had their cruise onboard the Van Gogh liner cancelled after more than 100 on a previous cruise fell ill with a stomach virus.
In 2003, 600 passengers and crew on board P&O's Aurora Cruise contracted norovirus.
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