Sickness bug cruise passengers finally return home
Trouble continues as Marco Polo operators face legal threat Passengers and crew of the Marco Polo cruise ship which was struck this week by the vomiting bug norovirus are to return home today, after an agonising week aboard the cruise […]
Trouble continues as Marco Polo operators face legal threat
Passengers and crew of the Marco Polo cruise ship which was struck this week by the vomiting bug norovirus are to return home today, after an agonising week aboard the cruise liner. The ship is due to set sail from Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands to its base in Tilbury, Essex; passengers have also been given the option of travelling back to London by train, on a chartered journey from Inverness which will stop at York and Peterborough. (Scotsman.com, 09/07/09 i)
Last Tuesday saw the ship’s operator, Transocean Tours declare that it had decided to terminate its scheduled 10-night cruise after consultations with the health board NHS Highland (Telegraph.co.uk). The NHS reported on Wednesday that 400 people of the 769 passengers and 340 crew members onboard had been examined by doctors at signs of the vomiting bug (BBC News, 08/07/09).
Legal threat for cruise operator
However, in a controversial development on Wednesday, Transocean came under fire from the London Port Health Authority amid accusations that they were not told about a small number of passengers who were suffering from a sickness bug when the liner docked at Tilbury, Essex on Saturday, before the tour began.
Having been given “a clean bill of health” at the port according to Transocean Tours, the ship then notified the health authority “stating that 31 passengers and two crew members were suffering from gastro-intestinal illness, prior to the ship calling at Tilbury,” according to a spokesman (BBC News, 08/07/09). A Transocean spokeswoman approached by the Scottish Press had no comment (Scotsman.com, 09/07/09 ii).
Port authority faces criticism
The port authority where the Marco Polo liner was docked also received accusations on Wednesday that it was “caught napping” in the midst of the cruise ship bug fiasco. Maxine Smith, Highland Councillor for Cromarty Firth said Cromarty Firth Port Authority had “failed to act decisively and effectively,” adding, “What if it had been typhoid on that boat?” (Highland News, 09/07/09)
Marco Polo a “hospital prison ship”
One passenger on the ship, Derek Cloke, described how passengers were anticipating being struck by the illness aboard the liner, saying “I have never been through such a traumatic experience. It felt like you were sitting on a hospital prison ship… death row if you like,” (BBC News, 09/07/09).
Nonetheless, other passengers have praised the ship’s staff, including kitchen workers, cleaners, nurses and doctors, for their management of the outbreak – although many also complain about the lack of information available to the passengers during the incident. Some tourists travelling home on the train to London hope to be refunded for the remainder of the trip which had to be abandoned. (BBC News, 09/07/09) However, what everyone agrees on is the sense of relief that the dramatic episode is, fortunately, now over.