SOUTHAMPTON, England -- Several passengers of the cruise ship Aurora are
planning legal action against P&O Cruises over its handling of a virus
outbreak that left hundreds ill and sparked a diplomatic row between Britain
and Spain.
Dubbed the "sick ship" after hundreds of passengers contracted a stomach
virus, Aurora docked in its home port of Southampton Thursday after being
denied permission to stop at Mediterranean ports amid fears over the highly
contagious gastro-intestinal bug.
During Aurora's 17-day cruise around the Mediterranean, more than 500
passengers fell ill with the virus, which caused nausea, severe diarrhea and
vomiting.
Michelle and Barry Seaborn, of Lancashire, north west England, are among
those passengers considering legal action against P&O over the incident.
"We will be suing P&O for holding us hostage on the ship. We have
flights from Gibraltar with British Airways but P&O would not give us our
passports. They held us hostage and we will be suing them for kidnap," she
told the UK's Press Association. "We were given the all clear that we didn't
have the virus.
"It (the virus) was on board when we got there and it's their fault that we
got it. They put a notice up warning passengers and that but it's not good
enough. P&O (cruises) are at fault. They knew all about it and they should
have cancelled the voyage and given us our money back."
David Dingle, Managing Director of P&O Cruises, owner of the ship,
said: "We need to treat this in proportion.
"This is a 24-hour virus which affected just over 500 people on the ship.
It was a relatively small portion on the 17-day cruise on which they
traveled."
He added: "Clearly this is an incident which we would have preferred not to
have happened.
"What we need to do is to put this behind us, deal with the passengers in
the right way, and go on from there," without offering a blanket compensation
package.
He said the company will "deal with the matter accordingly to do everything
we can to restore the goodwill of those affected."
On Monday, the ship -- carrying about 2,000 British passengers -- docked in
Gibraltar, causing a diplomatic spat when Spain closed its border with the
British territory citing health concerns. It was the first time in 20 years
that the border had been closed. It was re-opened after the ship left.
Earlier, passengers and crew were denied permission to land at the Greek
port of Piraeus, near the country's capital Athens.
P&O also confirmed that two passengers in their 70s died during the
cruise from heart conditions unrelated to the virus.
Officials say that in the last few days of the trip, the number of new
infections among passengers had subsided, with just one passenger still
displaying symptoms at the time of the ship's arrival in Southampton.
The Aurora, meanwhile, is scheduled to depart Southampton at the start of
another cruise late Thursday evening.
