Passengers who departed on a 10-day holiday cruise to top cities in Northern Europe now say they are trapped aboard "misery on the high seas" after more than 100 have become sick from a vomiting bug.
Those aboard the P&O Oriana, which left Southampton, England, on Dec. 4 and passed through cities including Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo, told The Sun that the norovirus began sweeping through the ship right after it left port.
Dave Stringer, a 57-year-old from West Mids, England, said passengers will refuse to disembark until they receive answers.
“This hasn’t been a holiday — it’s been a cruise to Hell,” he told the newspaper.
Southampton Port Authority, which said it will inspect the ship when it returns to port Friday, said 160 outbreaks of norovirus were reported on one day, BBC reported.
P&O, which is owned by cruise giant Carnival, pegs the figure as much lower.
“There are 1,843 passengers on board, the number of passengers with active symptoms today is six (0.3 percent),” a statement from the company read Wednesday.
The company said it is working to help minimize the outbreaks.
“As is currently standard procedure across our fleet, all the ship's passengers were provided with a precautionary health notice advising of widespread norovirus activity and the health measures to avoid contraction and spread, both on board and whilst ashore.”
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