Cruise passengers break silence on gastro outbreak hell
Two days after it was reported that almost 200 of the 5,800 passengers onboard the Ovation of the Seas (one of the largest cruise ships in the world) had been struck down with gastro, the mega-liner has finally returned to Sydney after a two-week cruise from Singapore.
The Daily Telegraph claims the ship saw “several hundred” cases of gastro, with two passengers still fighting the bug upon arrival back in Sydney.
But those affected by the severe illness have nothing but praise for the crew, who passengers say did everything in their power to stop the virus’ spread.
“They restricted everything – there was no self-serve, no samples, the shops were all closed except for one,” Maria Parisi of Peakhurst said. “You couldn’t even make your own coffee.”
Maria, 59, and her husband Charles, 60, have both worked in hospitals – Charles currently works at RPA – and say the level of care taken by the crew surpassed their expectations.
“Infection is common when you have that many people in one place but the level of infection control on board was over the top,” Charles explained. “It wouldn’t have even been controlled like that at RPA.”
Another passenger, 55-year-old Kim Foster, agreed that the crew were amazing and that the rapid spread of the disease was the fault of the people on board – not the ship’s staff.
“This happens on every ship to some degree, it’s just people not washing their hands and not being clean,” she said. “They were really good – they were even disinfecting the salt and pepper shakers.”
Debbie Foster, a pathology lab tech who got sick twice during the 14-day cruise, had no complaints about the crew, either. “You couldn’t fault what they did and how they handled it,” she said. “They can’t individually make sure people’s individual hygiene is good.”
She added that the staff and captain kept all passengers informed of the outbreak, and that those struck down by the illness were taken care of with free treatment and movies.
“It’s just one of those unfortunate things where maybe the conditions were just right,” she said. “Even in the bar they had people on sanitation duty and they were washing the railings on every floor.”
Tell us in the comments below, have you ever contracted gastro on a cruise?