Cruise Line: Fred Olsen Cruise Line

Ship: The Balmoral

Illness: Norovirus

Voyage Dates: World Cruise: Jan. 5 to Feb. 4 2010, end of cruise: April 21

Event:

More than 25 percent of passengers and 3 percent of crew members have reported gastrointestinal illness with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting aboard the Balmoral ship during a world cruise that departed Jan. 5 from Dover, England.

The reports of illness have been ongoing since the beginning of the cruise, but by the time the ship arrived at a Los Angeles port on Feb. 1, only 16 passengers of the original 293 still reported being ill. No additional passenger or crew illness cases were reported since Jan. 27, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On a Balmoral cruise from Dec. 21, 2009 to Jan. 5 to Spain’s Canary Islands, 342 passengers and nine crew members fell ill with norovirus. Despite the outbreak, the ship departed Dover, England for the current 106-night world cruise Jan. 5, amid reports it was on the verge of being impounded by maritime authorities.

The Balmoral norovirus outbreak is the forth Fred Olsen Cruise Line outbreak in less than a year.

To read the full Vessel Sanitation Program report, visit the CDC.

Source:

CDC. Vessel Sanitation Program “Investigation Update on the Balmoral,” http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2010/february04balmoral.htm; 27 Jan. 2010.