Queen Vic Would Not Approve!
QV Cruise Ship Struck Again With Sick Bug
By Mike Groves
As Cruise Bruise reported on Tuesday, almost two hundred passengers and eight-crew have gone down with the ‘alleged’ vomiting bug onboard the cruise ship Queen Victoria and as we know, this is not the first time that the newest addition to the Cunard family has suffered this fate.
Just some three weeks after the Duchess of Cornwall named $600 million ship in a ceremony that some members of the media called ‘botched’ [The first champagne bottle failed to smash against the bow which in some nautical minds is an omen of bad luck], dozens of passengers went down with an intestinal infection.
Then the 90,000-ton Queen Victoria was on a 16-day cruise around the Canary Islands but just days into her maiden voyage passengers went down with the dreaded virus.
In PR terms for the company that was a small Titanic moment for them; the ships maiden cruise being blighted forever more.
It did not help that ‘Knights of the Realm’ were also guests onboard and later made comments like this – ‘Formula 1 motor-racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart dubbed the trip the "cruise from hell," according to the UK's Daily Mail.
Other passengers complained about "appalling service and stopped-up toilets", while others described terrifying scenes of a woman collapsing in the ship's dining room and of a man dying on board from a heart attack’
Of course the same old statements came fourth from the ship’s operators, a Cunard spokesman said, ‘the sick passengers have been isolated and that the crew was disinfecting all public areas.’ "The bug is highly contagious and needs "meticulous" personal hygiene regimes if it is to be contained.’ He then added – ‘it was possible a passenger brought the bug on board." Here we go again with these annoying prepared statements!
Queen Vic Would Not Approve!
QV Cruise Ship Struck Again With Sick Bug
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
January 14, 2010
Ms. Trainor, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said: "No hygiene rules were implemented until people fell ill. If they had been, maybe this could have been avoided." CDC tests have previously shown that stomach flu can prove fatal.
As Jan rightly points out the previous CDC inspection for the ship was in September 2009 and which was far better than their previous inspections, but what is remarkable is that both inspections in January and September 2009 have NOT yielded a Corrective Action Report from the ship’s operators? The following remark can bee seen on the CDC website - This cruise ship has not submitted their Corrective Action Report. Maybe they’re still feeling a little embarrassed by the one they did release in 2008?
It is little wonder why the ship has suffered yet another bout of the ‘alleged’ Norovirus when one examines the 2008 report. If you look at Item 20 I think it says it all –
Description: There was no means to exit this toilet without the use of bare hands.
Corrective Action: Paper towels were placed in the toilet exit area and the area will be checked regularly…
No doubt this will also be put down to the passengers as well for not bringing their own paper towels? Yes I am being sarcastic but can anyone blame me when I read this very recent cruise review from a QV passenger, from the UK [01/07/2010], “Another strange addition was the suggestion in the daily programme that we provide our own flowers for our dining table.” Awhhhh Com’On Cunard, behave yourselves!!!!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Their operational manual can be viewed at -http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/operationsmanual/OPSManual2005.pdf
In fairness, it was the vessels inaugural sailing with passengers on board so I will give the company the benefit of the doubt for that outbreak.
Operators of the company appear to still be keeping a low profile however regarding their ‘pride & joy’ with the last update on their site is from 2008??
