P&O 'plague ship' docks at Southampton after norovirus outbreak

P&O 'plague ship' docks at Southampton after norovirus outbreak Passengers claim captain admitted crew had struggled to cope with outbreak on Christmas Baltic The P&O liner Oriana, which was described as a 'plague ship' by passengers, has docked at Southampton. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA A cruise liner dubbed "a plague ship" by passengers struck down with the norovirus winter vomiting bug has docked at Southampton. Scores of passengers were laid low by the virus.

One female passenger told Sky News today: "It was poorly organised. The crew were running around like headless chickens. Passengers on the 10-day voyage aboard the P&O vessel Oriana claimed up to 400 travellers had been struck down. Chris Meadows, from Southampton, who attended a crisis meeting between the liner's captain and passengers, said the captain had told them staff were struggling to cope. Meadows told the Daily Telegraph: "The captain has admitted at the height of the outbreak that the crew could not cope." "They didn't seem to know what to do and we were told it was all our fault." A male passenger told Sky that passengers had had to rely on room service for food as parts of the ship had been shut off. "The wait was around two and a half hours," he said. A spokeswoman for P&O's owner, Carnival, said on Thursday that out of 1,843 passengers only six had active symptoms. The Oriana left Southampton on 4 December, with passengers paying up to £1,400 for the voyage, which included visits to Copenhagen, Oslo and Amsterdam. The Health Protection Agency said this week that more than 750,000 people across the UK could be affected by a norovirus outbreak.

The P&O Cruises managing director, Carol Marlow, apologised to passengers on Friday. She told Sky: "We had a number of people who were taken ill. I have written to all the passengers saying how sorry I am. "These are our passengers. We want them to have a good time so they sail with us again." She invited passengers with particular concerns to contact the company and added that any compensation would be dealt with on an individual basis. Travel insurance: do I really need it? One well-travelled reader regales us with tales of his cover-free adventures... but can we all afford to be so oblivious to risk? Рlease write comment on my blog!