Norovirus Outbreaks Continue
Aboard Fred Olsen Cruise Line Ships
By Mike Groves
Once again Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is reluctantly in the papers with yet another outbreak of the dreaded, and in a number of cases, deadly Norovirus.
This time two of their ships, the 43,537-ton Balmoral and the 28,000-ton Boudicca* have once again been invaded by teams of specialized cleaners on a mission to scrub and fumigate the vessels in their attempts to rid both ship’s of the bug. However what remains remarkable about this particular story/outbreak is that both ships have been hit three times in recent times! So what exactly are Fred Olsen doing about this ongoing problem surrounding their fleet, because in the eyes of some of the passengers who were subjected to this torturous illness, they’re not doing a fat lot to be honest?
Norovirus (formerly Norwalk virus) is a member of the caliciviridae family, which in layman's terms is a family of viruses. They are known to cause approximately 90% of epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world. You may also be interested to know that currently, there are at least five Norovirus genogroups in circulation - (GI, GII, GIII, GIV and GV) and these are divided into at 31 genetic clusters.
The virus itself is quite hardy and can survive at 60°C for 30 minutes. That’s one tough SOB!
The Balmoral, which was recently dubbed ‘the cursed ship of the high seas’ by one newspaper; this does not make for good PR does it, was crawling her way back to Dover, England from the Canary Islands this week after being hit with the dreaded bug for the third time in less than a year. To add insult to injury and more negative PR for the company, she was also due to be detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency after a further 250 of Fred Olsen’s ‘embittered’ passengers fell ill. The purpose of the ships detention is to allow doctors and members from the Health Protection Agency to board the Balmoral to fully assess her passengers and crew.
Norovirus Outbreaks Continue
Virus Still Wreaks Havoc For Fred Olsen Cruise Line
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
January 7, 2010
The ship’s incarceration will be yet another headache for the Balmorals owners as once again she will fumigated by a team of contractors and which can only lead to further delays with her next scheduled departure. This latest outbreak now brings the number of victims 541 in under 12 months and which I am sure, many will be considering their legal position.
There were outbreaks of Norovirus onboard the Balmoral in February 2009 when 200 succumbed to the virus and again in September 2009 when 78 went down with it.
The MS Boudicca has fared no better with at least 289 of her 795 passengers being struck down by Norovirus. As one article reported ‘at 36% of the total passengers, it's one of the most widespread outbreaks of a Norovirus recorded on a cruise ship in years. Even the worst outbreaks of Norovirus rarely spread beyond 10% of passengers.’ In December 2009 at least 180 of 800 passengers on the Boudicca's cruise [Dec 6th cruise] to the Canary Islands were hit by Norovirus and then a further fifty were hit with the illness during the ship's subsequent cruise.
In the last three cruises, Norovirus has hit 519 of Boudicca’s passengers as I understand however, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines continues to make quite clear that the ship had been deep-cleaned twice following the outbreaks and I am not aware of any statement where they are willing to take ownership of these outbreaks? I imagine they have no intention of doing so, moreover when their spokeswoman can only make this statement regarding the latest catastrophe for their reputation – ‘There will be no compensation for days lost due to sickness’.
Three people also died during the last cruise although the company strenuously denies these were connected to Norovirus.
One couple, Derek and Marina Eaton were among many who were confined to their cabins. This is standard practice during such outbreaks and should any of our readers fall ill with Norovirus, then I would strongly urge you to listen to the medical advice given and to not leave your cabin until you have been given the all clear.
The Eaton’s paid over £10,000 for a 14-night Christmas cruise and went so far as to book the ship’s most expensive suite, but instead of happy memories all Mrs Eaton can say of the experience was that it was ‘the cruise from hell'.
Fred Olsen said the ship was deep cleaned and was free from the virus on December 18 when it departed later that day on a four-day mini-cruise to Amsterdam but then this is when 50 of the 827 passengers fell ill. Again she was deep cleaned before setting sail to Madeira on December 22 as scheduled. This time, 289 of the 795 passengers were diagnosed with the stomach bug and the ship had to return to port a day early. You may recall the incident onboard the Marco Polo where that entire cruise was canceled due to a serious outbreak of the virus. The latest outbreak would be the seventh time in the past year that one of firm's fleet has been hit by the illness.
There was also another outbreak on the Boudicca in October 2009.
Mr Eaton added, 'The management of the company should have canceled the cruise once the first set of passengers fell ill. I don't believe for one second that they deep-cleaned the ship because there wasn't sufficient time.'
I tend to agree with you Sir. With only 320 crew; many of which are below decks and not involved with any form of housekeeping duties at all, I find it somewhat difficult to see how 8 passengers decks, associated communal areas and hundreds of passenger cabins could be thoroughly cleaned in one day. Furthermore this was a turn around [embarkation] day!
You may recall I have previously highlighted the organized chaos that embarkation days entail, with countless officers and crew being directly involved in shipping off all the passengers from one cruise before then prepping and readying the entire ship and guest cabins in readiness to embark the new guests arriving that very afternoon, and within a relatively short time period. And Fred Olsen say they managed to sterilize the ship top to bottom in the same time period? I rather think not?
Many other people also share the Eaton’s concerns, as shown on the Daily Mails post feed.
