Gastro victims set to sue cruise ship company for thousands of dollars
Up to 16,000 Australian cruise ship passengers could be eligible for thousands of dollars each in compensation following a series of “nightmare” gastro outbreaks.
Shine Lawyers is investigating a class action on behalf of people who took cruises on the Sun Princess in late 2016 and early 2017, where eight cruises on the ship were blighted with severe norovirus.
The law firm expects to launch the class action against Carnival, the parent company of cruise operator Princess Cruises, early this year.
William Noney, a seasoned cruiser, was among those who fell violently ill during a 14-night New Year’s cruise to Bali.
“On my deck, every third cabin had a ‘do not disturb sign’ on it and there was constant cleaning of the ship,” he said.
“On one of the lunchtimes, an elderly passenger vomited with people all around him.”
Mr Noney became nauseous after dinner on New Year’s Eve.
“I must have vomited for about five minutes constantly, everything,” he said.
“Later that night, early morning, I started getting diarrhoea. Even after leaving the ship and for the next few weeks, I still had symptoms.”
He said he missed shore excursions and the cruise company had not offered any apologies, refunds or credits.
“They never admitted that it was their fault nor that norovirus was on the ship prior to sailing. They tended to blame the passengers for it. I only get four weeks’ (annual leave) a year and my holiday was ruined.”
Thomas Janson, from Shine Lawyers, said the class action could involve up to 16,000 people.
“The case revolves around an alleged failure of a duty of care by Carnival to properly and adequately sanitise the Sun Princess on each cruise and also to give adequate guidelines and safeguards to passenger in preventing them from coming down with norovirus,” Mr Janson told 9News.
“Best practice dictates the ship should have been put into dry dock for up to 48 or 72 hours and cleaned thoroughly.
“What we’ve been told is that there were very short turnarounds, usually of around two hours, to clean the ship before the next lot of passengers and new crew boarded … that’s manifestly inadequate to sanitise a ship that’s the size of a skyscraper.”
Compensation would vary, but it could be the equivalent of a full refund for the price of the cruise plus twice the amount in damages.
David Jones, a spokesman for Princess Cruises, has refuted Mr Janson's argument, telling Daily Mail Australia the cruise line leaves 'nothing to chance to maintain a healthy on-board environment'.
“[We have] robust procedures that are in line with the highest international public health management standards,” he said.
“The risk of becoming ill while on a cruise holiday is tiny — in fact, a factor of just 0.02%. Last year, 265,000 Australians and New Zealanders cruised on Princess's locally based ships during a period in which norovirus and influenza were at times widespread in the shore-side community in Australia.
“In spite of these challenges, the overwhelming majority of our guests enjoyed trouble free cruise holidays as did the more than 1 million Australians who cruised industry wide.”
The spokesman said it was 'absurd' to suggest up to 16,000 people could have come down with novovirus on the Sun Princess during that time.
“Australians spend more nights on Princess ships than on any other cruise line and the high proportion of repeat business is testament to their well placed loyalty and confidence in the onboard environment,” he said.