Cruise passengers seek compo
A Perth couple claim their 21-day cruise on Princess Cruises' Sun Princess was ruined when a parasitic virus swept through the ship, infecting more than 200 passengers and crew.
And they want to be compensated.
Jim Murray's wife Lucy was one of those confined to her cabin after falling ill with cyclospora halfway through the South-East Asian cruise, which returned to Fremantle yesterday.
"It spoiled our whole trip and she's still ill," Mr Murray said.
Mr Murray said the cruise cost about $8000 and they wanted some of that money back.
Princess Cruises spokeswoman Sandy Olsen said 190 passengers - about 10 per cent of the 2000 on board - and 40 crew had a gastro illness that was quite common in the South-East Asian region.
"It's essentially transmitted through contaminated food and water, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables," she said.
Ms Olsen said it was not transmitted person-to-person but to minimise the spread of the disease passengers who were unwell had been asked to stay in their cabins, self-service at buffets had been stopped and staff members had increased cleaning.
Mr Murray claimed his wife had been infected by something on board the ship. "They say it is common from food in South-East Asia but my wife never ate anything when we were off the ship at ports," he said.
He also claimed people who had been on a Sun Princess cruise immediately before theirs had been ill and that the ship must not have been cleaned properly.
The Atwell man said he spoke out because he was concerned about passengers embarking on the Sun Princess for a cruise just hours after his ended.
Ms Olsen conceded six people on the previous cruise to South-East Asia had been sick. But she said the company was "very skilled at cleaning our ships during our turnaround days".
Ms Olsen said it was not yet possible to determine exactly where the passengers got the bug.
"We did some laboratory testing in Singapore last week but we weren't able to identify the cause of the gastro," she said.
The Health Department said a public health team was working with the cruise operator to investigate potential causes of the outbreak.
Ms Olsen would not comment on whether any passengers would be compensated if food on the ship had been the source of the illness.
