> Cruiselines N-Z > Royal Caribbean Cruises > Gastro bug hits Vision of the Seas...

According to the Associated Press, Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas has had an outbreak of Norovirus and gastroenteritis in as much as 2 weeks.

Apparently the ship was briefly put under quarantine last week after hundreds came down with the norovirus, leading to an outbreak of gastroenteritis this week.

"At least 47 passengers on the Vision of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean International, were stricken by what we believe are noroviruses that cause gastroenteritis," a spokesman for the National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance said.

The ship will be cleansed again "but now that we are pretty sure that noroviruses are again to blame, we know what kind of cleaning agents to use," the spokesman said.

Royal Caribbean spokesman Alexandre Raith said most passengers were Brazilian.

Have you ever been unlucky to experience an outbreak at sea?

/SOAPBOX WARNING/ I really don't get the need for a detailed news feeding frenze in the press everytime there is an outbreak - especially when it is a one off incident, there must be dozens of bug outbreaks in hotels all over the world every week and they don't make the news even locally in most cases. Before I don the fireproof overalls I'm not saying that as interested cruisers we don't want the facts but some of the sensationalised drivel I see written drives me up the wall. This is not an attack on this specific report but the reporting in general /SOAPBOX OFF/

Now I'm off to wash my hands - you all have a good day.

David

Hi David

To a large extent I agree with you. Most of these stories are the same and we get the same posts afterwards about who will have been to blame and how good XYZ cruise line were at maintaining hygiene.

The fact is that norovirus happens, apparently to every line. Personally I would be interested in statistics that highlighted whether any ships or lines had a recurring problem which may indicate a cavalier attitude towards cleanliness but otherwise these reports don't really add to what we already know.

Got a meeting but had to say - spot on!

David