Cunard Christmas cruise hit by vomiting bug

Saturday, 28 Dec, 2012 0

The winter vomiting bug has blighted another cruise ship during its luxury Christmas cruise to the Caribbean.

Cunard has been playing down reports by the Daily Mail that hundreds of passengers have been hit by the virus on the Queen Mary 2 which left New York last weekend on a 13-night tour of the Caribbean.

A spokeswoman for Carnival, which owns the cruise ship, said there were just 19 people with ‘active symptoms’ on board.

Passengers on the Queen Mary 2 have had to take extra hygiene precautions after fellow guests were taken ill by the infectious Norovirus.

They said they were unable to shake hands with fellow guests on Christmas Day while other passengers have been encouraged to only eat in the main dining room or order food to their rooms.

Those diagnosed with the illness have been quarantined to their cabins.

The cruise ship is due to make stops in St Lucia, Barbados and St Kitts, before returning to New York on January 4.

Michele Andjel, spokeswoman for Cunard owner, Carnival, said: "This illness is suspected to be Norovirus, which is highly contagious and typically transmitted from person to person.

"There are 2613 passengers on board, the number of passengers with active symptoms today is 19.

"Enhanced sanitation protocols have been employed to help minimize transmission to other passengers."

The Health Protection Agency has stated that Norovirus activity across the UK this season is 83% higher than the same period last year.

Hundreds of passengers were hit by the bug on P&O’s pre-Christmas Baltic cruise on the Oriana this month, see previous story.

Ten cases were also confirmed on P&O’s Azura in December following an 11-night tour of Iberia.

Diane

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