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Outbreak on Mobile-Based Cruise Ship

By Jamie Burch

Published: Mon, January 28, 2008 - 2:12 pm

Short URL: http://wkrg.com/a/9586/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into an outbreak blamed for making 143 people sick Carnival Cruise Lines' "Holiday."
The ship returned to port this morning, after a 4-day cruise to Cozumel.
According to Matt Albright with the CDC, 121 passengers and 22 crew members on-board the ship got sick with gastro-intestinal illnesses. The symptoms include sudden nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The CDC is analyzing lab specimens to determine what may have caused the illnesses. They have not confirmed whether it is the Norwalk Virus as News 5 first reported Monday.
The CDC is trying to determine whether it will conduct an outbreak investigation. Outbreak investigations, which involve inspecting the ship, looking at things like how the food is stored to the cleanliness of restrooms, are normal in these types of cases.
On Monday, Albright told News 5 that the CDC only has 9 people to investigate these cases and that there have been 15 other outbreaks nationwide since January 1st. On Tuesday, the CDC's Lisa Beaumier said those numbers are not correct. Beaumier said there have only been 5 other similar outbreaks and she insists the agency is not swamped.
This is not the first time "Holiday" passengers have gotten sick. In December of 2003, 120 passengers and crew members contracted the Norwalk Virus during a 5-day cruise to Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel.
Despite the latest outbreak, the manager of Mobile's Cruise Terminal told News 5 that the "Holiday" is leaving this afternoon on another cruise. We'll have much more on this story, including an interview with a passenger who says she got deathly ill, tonight on News 5 at 6:00.

Statement from Carnival Cruise Line
During the previous voyage of the cruise ship Holiday, a four-day cruise, which departed from Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 24 and returned to Mobile this morning, a number of incidences of gastrointestinal illness were reported to the ship’s infirmary.

The cruise line has been working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control since the early part of that voyage. In addition, as soon as the cruise line became aware of an increased incidence of gastro-intestinal illness, the following actions were taken:

- Provided full medical care to guests and crew who became ill and arranged for food and beverages to be provided in the cabins during their recovery.

- Increased the frequency of cleaning and sanitation throughout the ship.

- Offered serving assistance in all the buffet areas to replace self service.

- Communicated with guests throughout the voyage regarding the situation.

The cruise line is currently working with the Centers for Disease Control to determine the cause. Laboratory testing is being conducted to determine what caused the outbreak to occur although a norovirus is viewed as the most likely source.

A total of 121 guests of 1,548 sailing on the four-day voyage and 22 crew out of 686 on board reported to the ship’s infirmary with illness symptoms over the course of the four-day voyage. A reduction in new cases during the latter part of the voyage suggests that the intensive efforts the crew made to reduce further spread proved successful.

The Holiday is scheduled to depart Mobile this afternoon on a five-day voyage to Mexico.

Photo

The CDC tells News 5 that 143 passengers and crew members on-board Carnival Cruise Lines' Holiday Fun Ship got sick after contracting a gastro-intestinal illness that causes sudden nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

WKRG.com Related

∞ CDC: Norwalk Virus

∞ Holiday Cruise Ship

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roserory Says:

Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 2:41 pm

I just returned from the cruise ship Carnival Pride, 1/27 -2/2-2008 cruies, room 7237. and i got the norwalk virus reacting thursday 1/31 and spent fri in the infirmary (thank god for nurse karen!!!) this is my third time on pride and sixth cruise - i am sorry to report that the Carnival Pride is also sick with the Norwalk Virus and in diar need of better sanitation attempts - inc sanitary hand cleaner dispensers like princess has. so sick - so sad - such a bad cruise.

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KATIEP Says:

Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 3:51 pm

I was on the ship and did not show symptoms until the day we arrived back in Mobile. I can not begin to explain the horror and sickness I went through. I vomitted so profusely that I passed out and knocked my head and nose on a tile floor. I also called Carnival and was first told they knew nothing about it! I had no idea how bad the situation was on board. I heard on Sunday that a couple people were sick but heard nothing from Carnival directly. How could this be! I was sanitary and always washed my hands properly. How could this ship set sail again without being quarantined? If I was the next passenger to get on board that ship I would want to know. Even childbirth was better than what I went through and am still going through today. I do not complain about much but this was unbelievable! If I can stress anything about this incident it would be to never take a cruise on this cruise line. I saw my life flash before me these past few days. I am praying to God my 3 yr old stays healthy.

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cindylb Says:

Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 4:46 pm

I agree with the comments posted by PastorD regarding the number sick. I believe the numbers of those sick far exceeds those actually documented. After speaking with other passengers, several had symptoms but never went to the infirmary. My youngest daughter came down with symptoms on Friday and could not leave her room until Sunday night due to how ill she was. My oldest daughter started with symptoms at dinner Sunday night and is still not well today. I was happy to see Carnival taking preventative measures at the buffet lines by serving the food themselves and sanitizing all areas of the ship. I felt the infirmary staff was not equipped to handle this outbreak and it was very unorganized. You can’t have a crowd of sick people and ask “Who ‘s next?” Passengers were lying on the floor! That’s just ridiculous. People were getting very angry. There should be some type of number system in place. First come first served!

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rshiflett Says:

Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 2:53 pm

I agree with Pastor D. In reference to the cancelled show, a staff member first informed us the show was cancelled due to technical difficulties. When we asked if it was due to sickness, he initially stated, “No.” After a couple of minutes he finally admitted the individual who was to run the lights/technical equipment was indeed sick.

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Mishelle Says:

Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:36 am

Lisa I am so sorry about your father. I certainly hope that he is doing better. Please feel free to email me at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). There are others and we are trying to get a list together. We all had horrible experiences with this cruise and have reported it to the CDC. The Carnival Cruise Line number is 1-800-929-6400. When we called Carnival’s guest relations number we were told that they didn’t know that anyone was sick. There were 5 of the 8 of us traveling together sick and in our room most of the vacation. 3 did not set foot off of the boat, but we all remember backing up and redocking to unload a sick passenger that was vomitting up blood while leaving Cozamel. There was an attorney that was on board that was trying to get answers and could not get any. He was sick also. They attended a meeting on Sunday afternoon and took several names of those who were sick. Carnival handled this in a totally inappropriate way!

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LisaS Says:

Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 9:16 am

Health threat from this situation!

My elderly diabetic father was on this cruise. Terrible experience and was REQUIRED to leave ship in Mexico. His problem was low blood sugar due to caring for companion with Norwalkvirus and missing meals and passed out. He was sent ALONE and UNWILLING to a Cozumel Hospital and we are now making sure his health is now not in question because of being sent to questionable hospital and poked with needles constantly trying to give an I.V. Very disappointed in this cruiseline and the care of their passengers. The hospital release him and he was on his own to get back on ship before they departed. Is this a typical experience with this company and is there anyone else out there who had such a bad experience?

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PastorD Says:

Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 12:35 am

* Communicated with guests throughout the voyage regarding the situation ...

Not exactly. In fact, unless you were in the infirmary and asked, or turned to on-board TV channel 11, nothing was said to the passengers. In fact, when the Saturday night ‘Vegas-Style’ Dance/Song show was cancelled ... guests were told that it was because of ‘technical difficulties’ ... when everyone is pretty sure it was because a lot of the dancers were ill. (Of course, ‘technically’ ... you can’t have a show without dancers ... but it was not communicated properly nor truthfully to the passengers).

Anyway ... people were still getting sick on Sunday and Monday ... and there were probably as many cases NOT reported to the infirmary as were ... so, I’d estimate the total to be closer to 350 total sick.

Either way ... I hope they let us all know what it was when they finally do figure it out.

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