107 days looking out on the gorgeous blue ocean, exploring new places, and gorging yourself on unlimited food and drink sounds pretty wonderful, right? That’s what the 1,824 passengers of the luxury Queen Victoria cruise ship thought, until 30 days in when hundreds of passengers and crew members reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating. Keep reading for more information.
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Hundreds Fall Ill Aboard Queen Victoria Cruise Ship
The Queen Victoria cruise ship, operated by Cunard Lin, set sail from Southhampton, England on Jan. 11th, and since then has made stops in Bermuda, Florida, Aruba, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, San Francisco, and most recently, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
But, as of Thursday, Feb. 8th, 129 passengers and 25 of the 967 crew members have reported "symptoms of gastrointestinal illness," according to a statement from Cunard Line, including diarrhea and vomiting. The CDC said that the cause of the illness is "unknown," and Cunard Line reported that they're taking the following actions to help stop the spread of the illness:
- Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to the ship's outbreak prevention and response plan.
- Isolated ill passengers and crew.
- Notified current and embarking passengers and crew of the situation on board and encouraged prompt illness reporting and good hand hygiene.
In response, the CDC said it was remotely monitoring the situation, including "reviewing the ship's outbreak response and sanitation procedures."
