Sixty-six passengers
fell ill aboard the Majesty of the Seas cruise ship last week, according to a
statement from Royal Caribbean International.
During the
four-night cruise 66 of the 2,300 passengers became sick with a stomach
illness, vomiting and diarrhoea, with two of the more than 800 crew members
also experiencing gastrointestinal issues, the statement said. The company
believes that the cause is norovirus, which is described by the US-based
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a highly contagious bug
that can be spread by an infected person, contaminated water or food, or if a
person is in contact with contaminated surfaces, Royal Caribbean reported.
The company
said that passengers responded well to drugs administered onboard and that it
had undertaken enhanced cleaning of the ship during the journey to help prevent
the illness from spreading further.
The ship
docked in Miami and after that Royal Caribbean conducted an "extensive and
thorough sanitizing" onboard and within the cruise terminal in an effort
to prevent the sickness from affecting the next sailing.
Before
boarding, the passengers on the next trip received a letter asking if they had
experienced any gastrointestinal issues over the past three days. Those who did
not feel well were allowed to reschedule their trip, according to the company.
Back in May
2013, a fire broke out on another Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Grandeur of
the Seas, which forced people to fly back home. And in February last year a
fire in the engine-room of the Carnival Triumph, operated by Carnival Cruise
Lines, forced the ship to drift in the Gulf of Mexico for several days.
Cruise Travel Insurance provided by Onestop4 steps in to financially compensate
passengers affected by these types of events. ‘Withdrawal of Services’ cover is
just one of the many comprehensive benefits provided as standard as part of
this specialist cruise insurance.
Kate Huet,
MD, International Travel and Healthcare Limited said “ It is no fun being on a cruise ship with a
norovirus outbreak. Until the ship has been fully sanitised passengers are
confined to stop the virus spreading. Amenities are immediately withdrawn and
it is not unusual for passengers to be confined to their cabins until the
sanitising has been completed, a long job on a cruise ship with 4000+
passengers.
Similarly,
the loss of engines after a fire results in no power, and with that no air
conditioning, refrigeration of food, heating of food, flushing toilets and many
other discomforts materialise.
We encourage
all cruise passengers to ensure that they have adequate cruise insurance, which
recognises that once on board you are unable to simply check out and relocate
to the nearest hotel, as you would be able to if your holiday hotel was not
meeting your expectations. Cruising is a different “risk” and passengers need
to be aware that they could be affected by more events than a typical hotel-type
holiday would normally present”
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