As P&O Cruises faces a lawsuit from former passengers who claim its cleaning practices aren’t up to par, it looks like it has another outbreak affecting passengers on a cruise off the coast of Northern France near the Channel Islands.
Passengers currently sailing on the cruise line’s 3,200-passenger Ventura on December 4, 2024, claim there is a gastroenteritis outbreak aboard the ship.
The 116,017-gross-ton vessel, which departed Southampton, England, on November 23, 2024, is returning from a 12-night roundtrip voyage to the Canary Islands on December 5, but not before a passenger leaked news of the outbreak to an English media outlet.
According to The Echo, a passenger claims the ship’s crew made an announcement to passengers, advising them not to gather in large groups and to stay in their cabins if they felt ill.
The unnamed passenger said the crew admitted the reason behind the notice is an outbreak of gastroenteritis or norovirus, which, according to the Centers for Disease and Control, is a condition that causes inflammation of the stomach and intestines.
This stomach bug leads to unpleasant side effects, including abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and sometime fever.
The cause of gastroenteritis is an infection from bacteria, which can often be found in contaminated food or water.
A P&O Spokesperson told The Echo, “We work closely with relevant global and regional health authorities, and we have recognized and proven protocols that are in place throughout every cruise to uphold the health and wellbeing of all guests and crew onboard.”
Standard protocols for cruise ships generally involve increasing the cleaning frequency in high-traffic public areas, isolating affected passengers, onboard announcements to encourage good hygiene and prompt reporting of symptoms, and modifying buffets to being crew-served to help avoid the spread of bacteria.
Cruise ships also perform deep cleanings between voyages to avoid the spread of an outbreak to the next group of passengers.
In fact, a guest expecting to sail on Ventura’s next voyage to the Canary Islands on December 5, shared word that the ship pushed back its departure time by two hours in order to conduct a deep clean of the vessel.
She did not indicate if the crew shared the gastroenteritis outbreak.
Reoccurring Outbreaks on Ventura
Unfortunately, this outbreak aboard the Ventura comes on the heels of a recent lawsuit on behalf of P&O Cruises against Carnival Corporation, its parent company.
On November 15, 2024, 115 passengers alleged cruise line negligence following multiple norovirus outbreaks aboard the Ventura in the beginning of 2024.
The plaintiffs claim inadequate sanitation measures contributed to the spread of the highly contagious virus, which impacted hundreds of passengers over several sailings between April and June.
One significant outbreak occurred during a voyage departing from Southampton on May 11, 2024, affecting over 500 passengers.
According to the lawsuit, guests felt P&O Cruises implemented insufficient cleaning measures during the outbreaks and provided poor communication.
Passengers also alleged they were left to manage their symptoms without proper support from the crew, with some claiming they were not notified of health risks before boarding following voyages where outbreaks occurred and subsequently continued.
Other P&O ships have faced similar issues, with Coral Princess recently experiencing a norovirus outbreak during a transpacific cruise just last month.
While P&O Cruises emphasizes its commitment to guest safety and cleanliness, the recurring incidents on Ventura suggest potential gaps.
