The Reality of Sailing
With Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
By Mike Groves
Many of you will know that I have submitted a number of articles involving Norovirus during my short time with Cruise Bruise, and it is something I dearly wish I could stop writing about however it would appear this will not come anytime soon when companies like Fred Olsen [FO] continue to push out their ships having failed yet again to rid their vessels of this debilitating virus.
Only very recently, April 22, Fred Olsen’s MV Boudicca passengers were subjected once again to the unpleasantness and acute dangers that come with the dreaded Norovirus. Norovirus (formerly Norwalk agent) is an RNA virus (taxonomic family Calicivirdae) that causes approximately 90% of epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world.
This attack was the sixth in just sixth months that the MV Boudica had been struck down with this bug, which causes violent bouts of sickness and diarrhea. It has killed in the past and will continue to kill if the cruise industry is not forced to undergo stringent and new legislation for those who suffer from persistent outbreaks, such as Fred Olsen. On this occasion as many as 650 of the 900 people on board were affected by Norovirus according to many travelers on board the vessel, although the company denies this and stated only 305 were affected?
No matter how many were struck down, this company has consistently failed to rid their vessels of this bug and surely the time has come for the company to cancel one cruise for each of their ships and to place that vessel into dry dock for a through deep clean, something many have been calling for if one is to read on-line notice boards. I personally feel the company has ignored the root cause of this problem long enough and already there is one legal class action coming their way – do they really want more?
To further compound the company’s reputation in the eyes of their passengers, some who have sworn never to return again they have suffered an unprecedented PR disaster. Unless they are firmly focused on taking the most appropriate steps and and which of course will involve losing money through canceled cruises they will be finished. We live in the twenty first century yet to board one of their ships is to step back to the Middle Ages in my opinion. I find it deeply concerning that their main focus appears to to shift blame by firmly pointing the finger towards their ‘loyal’ guests rather than showing the courage to stand up and make a public statement that the company has clearly fallen short, and that they will now do everything possible to address this fully?
Norovirus on board cruise vessels has been examined in some depth before now and the cruise industry knows full what action they should revert to rid their ships of this virulent bug. Researchers from Boston have previously raised doubts about the cleanliness of cruise ships, reporting "widespread poor compliance" with on board cleaning routines. Such shortfalls came to light during a number of unannounced inspections of restrooms on dozens of vessels operated by nine major cruise lines. The researchers suggested a link between dirty restrooms on ships and outbreaks of the bug.
The group reported, ‘The thoroughness of daily cleaning of surfaces (in cruise ship restrooms) with a high potential for Norovirus transmission - at 37% - was similar to the 46% we found (in separate studies of) 4,800 hospital bathrooms. What was surprising was the range of daily disinfections cleaning from almost none at all to almost perfect.
We were surprised that almost 20% of public restrooms on ships were not cleaned at all during a given 24-hour period. We were also surprised to find that baby changing tables were the least cleaned objects and were not cleaned at all for at least a week on three of the 12 ships with baby changing tables in their restrooms’.
It would appear from the closing statement that some were not even bothering and quite shamefully, even in the baby changing areas. It has been widely documented that the very young and infirm are at particular risk from Norovirus yet some within the industry blatantly ignored this, turning a blind eye to this area as well? In fact there should be no shortfalls in ship cleanliness and whether they like it or not, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines are leading the way in this shortfall. With all this in mind I decided to start a more thorough investigation and soon discovered I had bitten off more than I could chew! I was then very fortunate to be contacted by one Fred Olsen passenger who offered to help me gather the vast amount of data and personal accounts from victims and fellow Fred Olsen passengers. The Internet postings are endless and the rather long article below is just a snippet of what we have found. It is only when you put everything together on one page do you really notice how serious this problem is for Fred Olsen and her ships. It is truly grubby!
This really is an article for and on behalf of all those who have been affected by this bug and I’m sorry to report, all those listed below relate solely to those who have taken a cruise with Fred Olsen, the sole focus of this particular article.
You will see below a number of postings where we have been unable to record the true number of those taken ill because we just don’t know, but wherever possible we have factored in the data we have found and made the appropriate calculations.
BALMORAL 2008
16th Apr 2008 Re March Cruise
“I will try my best to give a fair review of these two cruises. It's a pity Fred Olsen did not also try to be fair with their customers. The itinery for the first part of the cruise was altered two days before departure, removing three destinations and replacing them with others. In our particular case this removed two islands which we hadn't visited before with two others that we had visited previously. This was claimed to be due to difficulties with tendering, but only St Barts was a tender port! It appeared that an accident in the port at Antigua on the previous cruise with the boat colliding with the pier and maybe some vessels was at least a contributory factor, although because FO did not come clean with the full story, one had to rely on gossip. Combined with another alteration after a very late departure from Miami meant a very poor itinery for the first part of the cruise and much reduced time on Tortola.
OK, Miami was appalling, but one can hardly blame FO for this. The Monarch flight was unsuitable for cattle, avoid their Airbus 330s like the plague! And one is prepared for a few minor annoyances in what amounts to a new ship, such as the following:- occasional bad smells around the ship; lifts out of order; telephones out of order; work going on round the ship like the laying of floor tiles; no launderette on floor 9 as claimed; and brown water from the taps. More serious was the use of passenger cabins for ship entertainers with resultant noise and disturbance as soundproofing was entirely absent, and the almost total lack of shade anywhere on the outside deck areas.
Food was variable, some very good, some mediocre at best. I really did not like being virtually chased out of eating places by waiters anxious to close the place. Much prefer one restaurant to be open all hours as on every other cruise I have been on. Having said all this, we had a great holiday! The ship was far from all bad; some members of staff were great, the entertainment was quite good in general although variable, and the Western Caribbean itinery was really good - the highlight being Roatan Island in Honduras. Might go with FO again if the itinery was right, but in general prefer the other lines I have cruised with.”
(Attributed to Taylor, Loughborough)
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Grubby Marriage with Norovirus
And other incidences, from reported misrepresentation in their brochure, incidences of Norovirus, Pneumonia, Fumes etc!
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
June 6, 2010
