Illness On Cruise Ship

Fifteen holidaymakers have contacted cruise ship illness experts at Irwin Mitchell after a nightmare trip onboard the Aurora cruise ship.

The passengers, who are mainly pensioners, left Southampton for a round the world cruise on 11 January 2009.

A number of the passengers were celebrating retirement or wedding anniversaries and had paid up to £16,000 each for the trip.

Sadly the group’s four-month cruise came to a sudden halt in New Zealand when the ship broke down and passengers were stranded in Auckland for five days.

Many of the passengers then suffered gastroenteritis and some of the group reported that they had been served undercooked seafood. P&O has denied being at fault.

Mrs Maryanne Ainger from Bristol was so ill that she was hospitalised for two days in San Francisco before returning home early. Mrs Ainger still suffers symptoms as a result of the illness she contracted on board the Aurora.

Another passenger was diagnosed with E-Coli when he returned to the UK and another five holidaymakers were confined to their cabins after seeing the doctor on the ship.

There is not the first Aurora voyage to be affected by illness. An investigation was launched in 2008 after a Hepatitis E outbreak. In 2007 and 2003 the liner was also affected by Norovirus.

Specialist travel lawyer Amandeep Dhillon said: “Many of these holidaymakers will never be in a position to go on another world cruise – this once in a lifetime opportunity has been ruined. In some cases our clients continue to suffer symptoms and the cruise has left them bitterly disappointed. We urge P&O to enter into constructive negotiations with us so that our clients can obtain fair compensation and put the whole sorry affair behind them.”