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Stomach Flu Outbreak On Cruise Ship in Australia

Explorer of the Seas

Published Dec 15, 2015 7:41 PM by The Maritime Executive

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney, Australia, on December 15, bringing with her some 180 passengers who had fallen ill with a stomach bug. 

Media report that the outbreak began on December 4. None of the passengers were reported to be in need of hospitalization.

“Just about everybody was sick,” one passenger told local media. “All the medics [were] going in and out of all the rooms.” Separate reports indicated that 4,700 passengers were on board during the cruise, for an infection rate of less than five percent. 

The Explorer was on a 14-day tour of New Zealand and Australia, including visits to the Bay of Islands, Wellington, Dunedin, and the Milford Sound.

Port Otago manager Peter Brown told media that the company had not reported the outbreak before calling at Dunedin on December 11, but suggested that crew had handled the incident properly by quarantining affected passengers. “There was nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.

The crew will conduct extra cleaning of the ship before setting sail again in order to ensure that the outbreak is not repeated. The Explorer was scheduled take on new passengers and depart the same afternoon.

Royal Caribbean was contacted for comment but had not yet responded or posted a press release as of December 15.

The Explorer of the Seas experienced a previous stomach bug outbreak on an American cruise in early 2014, which sickened nearly 700 vacationers and crew.

Passengers disembarking after the vessel pulled into Bayonne, New Jersey recalled falling ill during the Caribbean cruise, being quarantined in their rooms, and putting everything they touched into bags.

"I had three days of sickness and quarantine," recalled passenger Susan Rogutski. Altogether, 630 of 3,000 passengers and 50 of 1,100 crew fell ill on the 2014 voyage. 

"Though it was a bad situation all around, and it was very bad, Royal Caribbean bent over backwards to provide everything we needed," passenger Leonard Rogutski said.