More than 100 passengers who sailed on P&O Cruises’ P&O Ventura are suing the cruise line and its parent company, Carnival Corporation.
The claims, submitted Hudgell Solicitors on behalf of 115 affected guests, allege the passengers suffered illnesses, loss of enjoyment, and financial setbacks during cruises aboard the ship between April and June of 2024.
The illnesses reportedly peaked during a voyage departing from Southampton, England, on May 11, 2024, when 519 passengers were confirmed to have taken ill.
According to Anne Thomson, senior litigation executive at Hudgell Solicitors based in England, the claims seek compensation for a range of damages, including medical expenses, diminished vacation value, and time off from work required to recover after returning home.
“This legal action should come as no surprise to Carnival as the problems with illness outbreaks on the Ventura over the past year have been well documented and extensively covered in the media,” said Thomson. “They are undeniable.”
Thomson added that guests were even warned the night before their cruise about previous outbreaks, yet illnesses continued to affect large numbers of travelers on consecutive sailings.
She expressed hope that Carnival Corporation would address the claims quickly, describing the situation as an opportunity for the company to demonstrate its commitment to customer care.
Carnival has six weeks to acknowledge the claims and an additional six months to investigate and respond.
Norovirus Outbreaks Aboard P&O Ships
The illnesses aboard P&O Ventura included a large-scale outbreak of norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness that disrupted a 14-night cruise that departed from Southampton on May 11, 2024, to Portugal, Spain, and the Canary Islands.
P&O Cruises reported approximately 100 guests onboard the 3,597-passenger ship with 1,200 crew members experienced symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.
Ill cruisers were asked to isolate in their rooms to avoid further spread, with some passengers reporting delays in receiving medical assistance and others opting to cut their trips short and return home early.
While docked in Tenerife in the Canary Islands on May 17, the crew conducted an intensive cleaning session, during which passengers were required to disembark for several hours.
While the cruise line claimed less than 1 percent of its passengers were sick, Southampton’s port health authority, which reviewed the outbreak, found the number was actually higher than 12 percent.
In fact, interviews with passengers who had sailed on P&O Ventura weeks prior to the outbreak revealed many had experienced stomach illnesses, with an outbreak affecting 92 passengers on a 10-day cruise from Southampton to Spain and Portugal that departed on April 20, 2024.
Upon completion of the May 11 voyage, the following cruise from Southampton scheduled to depart on May 25 was delayed so the crew could further conduct a thorough deep clean to sanitize the ship.
At that time, the cruise line warned passengers of the previous outbreak via email, stating “We wanted to advise you that during the last cruise we saw symptoms of gastrointestinal illness.”
Hudgell Solicitors claim that guests got sick on the subsequent journey, despite the cleanup efforts.
P&O released a statement to the BBC that read, “We are sorry some of our guests may have been affected and we will be responding to the letter of claim in due course.”
P&O Ventura was not the only ship experiencing a gastrointestinal outbreak at the time. Sixteen percent of passengers on an April 26 voyage and 12 percent on a May 15 sailing aboard P&O Aurora also experienced related symptoms.
The cruise line also witnessed an outbreak in September on P&O Arcadia. Each ship originally departed from Southampton.
