Suspected norovirus outbreak on Boudicca

Passengers on a recent 13-night Canary Islands cruise aboard Fred Olsen’s Boudicca are thought to have been hit by a suspected norovirus outbreak.

According to Mail Online, around 170 passengers of the 828 onboard are thought to be affected, with nurses and ambulance crews waiting for them when the ship docked at Greenock, Scotland. The highly contagious virus causes  vomiting and diarrhoea, and those passengers suspected of contracting it had to be quarantined and confined to their cabins.

Reports from the passengers onboard suggested that that there were two nurses wandering around, visiting affected guests, most elderly. Approximately half the ship’s public facilities were closed to stem the tide of infection spreading.  Report from a passenger also suggests that a woman in her 80s suffered a suspected heart attack and had to be winched off by a helicopter rescue crew after a stop in Madeira. It is not known if her condition is linked to the outbreak.

The Boudicca had undergone extensive fumigation prior to her departure for an Adriatic cruise and departed approximately 90 minutes later than scheduled.

The Boudicca was ravaged by viruses before, it was hit by three sickness outbreaks in as many weeks in 2010 and forced to cut short its voyage and return to port on one of those occasions. A spokesman for the line said the latest bug was a viral infection which caused mild gastroenteritis symptoms, however feedback from guest suggested that the infection was far more serious with total number of cases reported during the 13-night at 170 .

The Port Health team spent 30 minutes examining the ship and she was given the necessary clearance to depart on her next part of the voyage.