Norovirus outbreak on P&O Ventura cruise ship puts it on lockdown with hundreds affected
Spme 150 passengers have been locked down in their cabin in Tenerife with a further 250 confirmed cases of the virus in the last four days - with holidaymakers describing violent bouts of sickness and toilets ’covered in excrement’
A cruise ship plagued with hundreds of cases of Norovirus has been placed on lockdown while health agencies investigate, insiders have told the Mirror.
Countless passengers have shared horror stories in recent weeks after boarding the P&O Ventura from Southampton. Holidaymakers described violent bouts of sickness, toilets “covered in excrement” and slammed the cruise ship company for its “disgraceful handling” of the situation. The outbreak allegedly started six weeks ago, during which time several cruises have gone ahead.
The ship is currently in Tenerife on a 14-night cruise around the Canary Islands with approximately 2,900 passengers. Sources on board claimed some 150 passengers have been locked down in their cabin with a further 250 confirmed cases of the virus in the last four days.
Now the 1,500 staff on board say they are planning to walk-out if P&O bosses don’t suspend cruises until the problem is resolved. One disgruntled employee said: “This has been going on for a month and housekeeping team are having to clean up after the guests throwing up in public spaces. Some guests have left the ship to fly home, others have been hospitalised
“It is a terrible situation but management have said they need to keep making money so they’re willing to put crew and guest health at risk to sell cruises. As crew we are now planning to walk out if the problem is not solved, the only way it can be solved is to cancel the next cruise and deep clean. If this doesn’t happen all staff on Ventura will go on strike.”
P&O claimed it had adopted a phased and proven approach that was “appropriate to the specific scenario”. Guests claimed they were not notified about the sickness bug until hours before they boarded. Helen Bradburn, 49, from Essex said her 19-year-old daughter, May, had fallen seriously ill earlier this month while on the ship during a cruise to Amsterdam.
She said: “The whole situation has been handled disgracefully by P&O, if you one of the unlucky ones in isolation you have to fight for your bathroom to be deep cleaned, fight for still bottled water and now obviously Room Service is overwhelmed [you have to] fight for food for those [who are] looking after those that are sick. It’s just so disgraceful our ship should have been cancelled and deep cleaned.”
Passengers said mandatory hand sanitation stations had been installed and the self-serve element of the buffet had been removed on some cruises in recent weeks. But alarmingly cruise insiders claimed huge numbers of guests were still able to gather in communal areas for some activity. A spokesperson for P&O said: “We implemented enhanced and proven sanitisation protocols to uphold the welfare of everyone onboard.
“Today in Tenerife, whilst guests are ashore, P&O Cruises is carrying out an extended and enhanced sanitisation of Ventura. We appreciate the understanding and cooperation of our guests to maintain the onboard hygiene procedures, as we continue to prioritise their health and wellbeing throughout their holiday with us.” The Mirror also approached the UK Health Security Agency and Southampton City Council for comments.
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