More than 500 people fell ill with norovirus on a Canary Islands cruise

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A norovirus outbreak on the P&O cruise ship Ventura affected over 500 passengers during a May 2024 voyage from Southampton to the Canary Islands.

The outbreak of the highly contagious gastrointestinal illness was so severe that the ship had to be deep cleaned when it arrived back in the UK.

At the time, P&O Cruises said that 0.64 per cent of passengers were symptomatic on Wednesday 22 May, but failed to confirm how many suffered at the virus’s peak.

It has now been revealed that the illness spread so fast that the height of the outbreak saw 519 cases among about 4,200 total passengers and crew, or about 12.3 per cent, according to a BBC Freedom of Information request.

Ventura has a capacity for 3,078 passengers, but under 3,000 were reported to be on board alongside around 1,200 crew members.

In a bid to prevent the illness spreading on the 14-night cruise around the Canary Islands, including stops in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, passengers that were affected by sickness and diarhoea were asked to isolate in their cabins.

While docked in Tenerife on 17 May, six nights into the fortnight trip, an “enhanced sanitation” of the ship was carried out but it failed to completely halt the highly contagious virus.

Back in Southampton at the end of the cruise on 25 May, the Ventura underwent “fogging” where disinfectant is sprayed into sealed rooms, specifically targeting bathrooms and food preparation areas.

It had been due to depart for a cruise around Spain and Portugal later that day, but passengers were asked to arrive four hours later to allow for more cleaning time.

The Ventura’s outbreak came just one month after two separate norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships in April 2024. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 150 passengers on board US cruises ships suffered diarrhoea and vomiting as a result.

The health agency said that 94 of 2,532 passengers on a Princess Cruises ship and 67 of 1,993 passengers onboard a Royal Caribbean ship reported sickness during those voyages.