Final insult after gastro cruise
A cruise passenger has spoken out about the final insult that made her join a class action against a cruise ship that she got gastro on.
Lorraine Thomas is just one of the 16,000 passengers who were impacted by consecutive norovirus outbreaks on eight Sun Princess trips from December 2016 to February 2017, and who may be eligible for compensation according to Shine Lawyers.
Lorraine, from Queensland, had saved $2,200 for a 14-day cruise to New Zealand with a friend but spent most of her holiday in quarantine in her cabin.
The cruise started well but halfway into the trip, the two friends began to experience the symptoms of the norovirus.
When the vomiting began, Lorraine was diagnosed over the phone by the ship’s doctor and told to remain in her cabin with the promise someone would come to check on her. After 11 hours of waiting, someone finally arrived.
“To be quite honest, it was horrendous,” Mrs Thomas told news.com.au.
“It was a small cabin and — I can’t put this any more politely — there was only the ice bucket to be sick in. The basin was blocked, and we had problems with the loo anyway and it kept overflowing.
“I kept ringing down to ask if someone could come up ... They kept saying they were busy and would get to us as soon as they could.”
Eventually cleaners arrived in Hazmat suits arrived to “deep clean” her cabin, but Lorraine said their job was far from a thorough clean.
“They sprayed the back of the bathroom door and the other side of the bathroom door and that was it,” she said.
“They did not change my bed linen, they did not change the towels. There was no proper deep clean. I was still vomiting and laying on the bed.
“Because of the length of time I was left feeling so ill, I did think that was wrong.”
Lorraine is one of an estimated 140 people who got norovirus on the New Zealand cruise in February 2017.
“It was just a nightmare,” she said. “There were parts of the ship that smelled of sewerage so bad, it was awful.”
While Lorraine said staff did take some measures to stop the spread of the virus, such as wiping down surfaces and suspending self-service of food, she believes the virus was already on the ship when they boarded.
The Sun Princess had already been struck by a norovirus outbreak on a voyage to Papua New Guinea.
When Lorraine was back on land, her nightmare continued as she struggled to get a response from the cruise line.
After repeatedly trying to contact Princess Cruises to report her experience, Lorraine finally received a $250 goodwill voucher months later to spend on a future cruise.
“I said, you have to be joking — after half a holiday that we couldn’t enjoy, to sail with them again?” she said.
“I won’t risk going back on another Princess cruise.”
Lorraine was then told that she could only use the credit with Princess Cruises even though she was planning another trip with P&O, which is also owned by Carnival.
Lorraine was shocked by this treatment and finally joined the class action against the company.
“I didn’t want to in the beginning because I thought I needed to give them the chance to come to the party and acknowledge that there were mistakes, there were problems,” she said.
“And then when they gave the gesture of goodwill and didn’t honour it, I thought, 'Well, no. You really, really don’t care about your customers.'
“If they really, genuinely, wanted to, they could have honoured the $250 against the P&O cruise and they chose not to.
“I know I’m only one voice, and only one person who won’t affect them in the least, but it’s wrong they continue to do this. It’s not something you’d want to go through.”
Shine Lawyers said more than 16,000 Australian passengers could be eligible for compensation for being impacted by the consecutive norovirus outbreaks.
Shine’s transport law manager Thomas Janson said compensation could be the equivalent of a full refund, plus damages for failure of a duty of care by Carnival.
A spokesman for Carnival Australia said in a statement to news.com.au, “Princess Cruises leaves nothing to chance in maintaining a healthy on-board environment with policies and procedures that are in line with the highest international public health standards.
“The incidence of gastrointestinal illness is much higher in the general community than on a cruise ship. Even in the comparatively rare case of gastrointestinal illness on board, the risk of actually becoming ill is one in 5,500 as a result of the focus on the wellbeing of guests as a priority.”
Have you ever experienced a nightmare cruise? If so, tell us about your experience in the comments below.