Couple's £3,500 luxury holiday ruined by illness
A couple's dream cruise became a nightmare when passengers where struck down by a stomach bug.
Pat and Ken Kennett had been looking forward to their 3,500 cruise to the Canary Islands onboard the Fred Olsen liner Boudicca.
But when almost 300 people became ill with norovirus - which causes sickness and diarrhoea, they couldn't bear to be onboard any longer and so cut their trip short and flew home.
'It was horrendous,' said Mrs Kennett, 65, of Eastern Villas Road, Southsea. 'People were being sick everywhere. They were dropping like flies.
'People started to get ill a few days into the cruise. Those who got the virus had to stay in their cabins. Trays of food would be left outside their doors and then you'd see people in white suits and masks coming along to collect them.
'One night when we were watching a show we turned round to see about seven to eight tables cordonned off and staff cleaning the area with a big machine.
'We had been looking forward to the cruise for a long time because we haven't been on holiday for a few years because I've been ill.
'But it got to a point where we couldn't bear it any longer. We just had to get off the ship and so decided to fly home, by which point I'd caught the virus and have been ill ever since.'
Mr and Mrs Kennett's cruise left Portsmouth on December 22. They flew home from Madeira on January 1. The ship was due to return to Portsmouth today but instead came back yesterday to be deep cleaned.
This is not the first time there has been a norovirus outbreak on the ship. There have infact been cases on the last three Boudicca cruises.
On a 12 night Canrary Islands cruise between December 6 and 18 there were 180 cases and on a four night mini cruise between December 18 to 22 there were 50 cases.
On the latest cruise to the Canary Islands 289 passengers of the 1,116 onboard were affected. Seven crew also became ill.
Wendy Hooper-Greenhill, spokeswomen for the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said: 'The ship has returned from its cruise one day earlier than scheduled, and the next cruise has been delayed by one day, in order to allow for a three day programme of deep cleaning and sanitisation with independent specialist contractors to take place.
'Everything that we do to work on a virus infection such as this is done in consultation with Port Health. This department has expressed satisfaction that we have done everything that we possibly could in order to eliminate all traces of the virus on board.'
The company has since said passengers will be compensated for one day's holiday based on the amount that was paid for the cruise, and those due to go on the next trip will have money credited to their cabin account to be spent onboard.
But Mrs Kennett said: 'One day's refund is not good enough. We'll be pushing for more compensation. It's just not on.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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