Strife on the Ocean Wave - Cruise ship illness

Your holiday of a lifetime, floating in luxury on the ocean waves, can quickly turn into a nightmare if you are struck down with food poisoning. Unforgettable it may be, but for all the wrong reasons.Most passengers who suffer illness or personal injury onboard a holiday cruise ship can find themselves feeling isolated and afraid. You won´t have the familiarity of a local doctor or hospital, and you are likely to be thousands of miles from home. You are also unlikely to be able to contact a personal injury solicitor while onboard the ship, which can add to your stress. By contacting a personal injury solicitor as soon as possible, and if the illness or personal injury was somebody else´s fault, you will be able to claim compensation.

For more information how to make a no win no fee no obligation compensation claims phone 08000 154321 or click here for www.roseclaims.co.uk


Unfortunately, for every reputable cruise line company, there are some who still put profits over passengers. With an increased number of people taking holiday cruises each year, it is vital that holiday cruise companies ensure their safety and wellbeing while onboard.Bad sanitation and bad hygiene have been covered up in the past by tour operators of cruise ships, and safety precautions have been found lacking. Some crew members are unqualified to carry out their jobs onboard and lack training and education. Poor maintenance and bad management also account for many personal injuries and illness suffered onboard.

Increased media attention is forcing many unscrupulous tour operators to clean up their acts, but there are always those who will slip through the net and refuse to accept any responsibility for illness and accidents onboard. International laws are relatively weak, and the small print on passenger tickets is often unclear and confusing.Fact: Accidents happen at sea. But before booking your cruise after skimming through a glossy brochure, do some research. Go online and view consumer reports or reviews of particular cruises, and always note what other passengers have said. Make sure the company who is running the cruise is reputable and well-known. Ask about medical facilities onboard, and don´t be fobbed off with vague answers.

Some of the most common injuries that happen on cruise ships result from:

Trips or slips on steps and decks.
Accidents while ashore on excursions.
Food poisoning.
Personal injury from lack of security,
mechanical defects or even fires

If you have been hurt onboard a cruise ship, the first thing to do is read the passage contract. This outlines, albeit often in small print, the tour operator´s duty and obligations to you, the passenger.The next thing to do is contact a personal injury solicitor, with an expert solicitor who specialises in claiming compensation for holiday illness and personal injury. You can then claim the compensation you deserve and your rights regarding holiday illness or personal injury compensation will be fully explained. Holiday illness and personal injury can ruin your holiday, but don´t let it ruin your life. Claim the compensation that is due to you.

Food poisoning outbreaks on cruise ships – are we right to be worried?

Being struck down with food poisoning on board a cruise ship, can ruin your holiday, and cause lasting illness and trauma. Some of the most prevalent cases of illness aboard cruise ships happened last year, and were reported widely in the media.

So is cruise ship sickness something we need to be worried about, or is it blown out of all proportion by a sensationalist media? Personally, having suffered food poisoning on land, I can´t think of anything worse than being struck down with norovirus onboard ship. With serious illnesses, such as MRSA, striking fear into the hearts people attending hospital in the UK, the last thing they need is to be worried about illness on holiday.

Passengers from the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined in Shanghai late last year, allege that the crew on board the ship were unprepared for the norovirus outbreak, and subsequently failed to prevent the spread of the illness. So can illness aboard a cruise ship be prevented? The truth is that often people contract the illness on land, and bring it onboard , but as many passengers are crammed into a fairly confined space, the illness spreads quickly. Sixty people were confined to their cabins on the Diamond Princess, after being struck down with the highly-contagious virus, and it was reported that another 400 people fell ill.

Many passengers fell ill during the second week of the trip, after visiting some of the specialist restaurants onboard. Norovirus strikes quickly and by the time you realise you are ill, you will probably be suffering severe symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting. Problems can arise onboard cruise ships when an illness breaks out and affects many of the passengers, as there are only so many doctors onboard, which can cause delay in receiving treatment. It is common for single people to take holidays on cruise ships, and is all the more stressful for them when they become ill, and have to cope alone.

Passengers who became ill aboard the Diamond Princess also allege that nobody contacted them from the tour company on their return to the UK. If you have suffered holiday illness or injury onboard a cruise ship, through no fault of your own, it is vital you contact a personal injury solicitor as soon as you can. You will be advised of your rights and guided through the complicated personal illness and injury compensation claims process from start to finish.
If sanitisation and bad hygiene was to blame for the outbreak onboard the Diamond Princess, then the passengers were due to compensation from the tour company. Holidays, costing between £2,000 and £4,000, were completely ruined for many passengers.
Norovirus, which causes gastroenteritis, is spread by faecal contamination of food or water or person-to-person contact. It can spread quickly in enclosed spaces, especially if particular attention is not paid to personal hygiene. It causes vomiting and diarrhoea for up to three days, and usually resolves itself without treatment or long-term complications. Norovirus-related illnesses have been known, however to last for many months.

The Diamond Princess belongs to Princess Cruises, which is part of Carnival Corporation & PLC, the British-American global cruise company that owns P & O Cruises. A Princess Cruises spokesman said at the time: “We have worked extensively with both international and local Public Health Authorities to develop comprehensive outbreak prevention and control policies and we do everything we can to protect the safety, health and comfort of our passengers.
“Unfortunately, norovirus is currently circulating widely throughout the Far East and we regret that an outbreak occurred on this occasion. Our investigation into the circumstances of the outbreak is ongoing and so we are unable to comment further at this time. We have received no formal legal claims in relation to this matter but any communication received will be dealt with as a priority.” The major problem with suffering illness onboard a cruise ship is that it only takes one person to spread a virus to the rest of the ship. Whether the virus was contracted onboard or on land, it is of little consolation to sufferers. With so much negative publicity about norovirus and food poisoning onboard cruise ships, it would be hard to excuse any company or tour operator who did not ensure the thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the ship when an outbreak takes place. All crew should be thoroughly trained in how to deal with an outbreak of norovirus. The Health Protection Agency bought out guidelines for crew aboard cruise ships, detailing the actions they need to take should there be such an outbreak. There is no longer any excuse for staff onboard cruise ships to be ignorant of the norovirus facts.Unfortunately, these outbreaks of norovirus show no signs of abating.

If you have suffered an illness or personal injury onboard a cruise ship, that was not your fault, contact Farnworth Rose Personal Injury Solicitors as soon as possible.

By claiming with Farnworth Rose Personal Injury Solicitors:

You receive 100% of the compensation.
You receive £100.00 when we take your claim.
No win, no fee and no risk to you

If you think you have a claim for illness, accidents or injury which happened abroad, we can help you claim compensation. Holiday claims are complex and you need to contact Anne Thomson at Farnworth Rose Solicitors if you think you have a claim. Anne has worked for over 20 years in the field of holiday compensation claims, and has a sound knowledge of travel law and how it works. Many tour operators offer clients much less money than they deserve after suffering an illness, injury or accident on holiday. Contact Anne and her team before you accept any payment – we may well be able to get you more! For more information or to make a claim, call FREE on 080001 54321 or fill in