U.K. and Australian newspapers don’t mince words. Unlike the U. S. media which may politely refer to nasty norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship as a "stomach bug," the U.K. press and an Australian newspaper are using some choice words to describe a vomiting virus which has swept through P&O’s Oriana cruise ship, sickening many hundreds of passengers.

The P&O crew taped off areas of the ship "like a crime scene" while passengers said the liner reeked of vomit, the British tabloid The Sun reports.  Reports of 300 to 400 ill passengers have come from on board the cruise ship. "There might be a riot because the captain and crew refuse to listen. We’ll refuse to disembark unless we get some answers. It’s been a cruise to hell," British passenger Dave Stringer, 57, told The Sun as mentions in its article Fury Over Cruise Ship Vomit Hell.

P&O Oriana Cruise Ship NorovirusIt seems that P&O is blaming the passengers for allegedly bringing the virus aboard and then spreading it by not washing their hands – which is the cruise industry’s usual defense to a sick ship.

The London Evening Standard reports that the cruise line appears to be involved in a cover-up:

"A spokeswoman for P&O’s parent company Carnival said there had been ‘an incidence of a mild gastrointestinal illness’ among the passengers.

She added that as of today, of 1,843 passengers, ‘the number of passengers with active symptoms is six.’

But passenger Paul Gilman, 62, told the Daily Mail: "It has been outrageous from start to finish. People were falling like flies, yet the crew were trying to insist everything was fine.

‘Everyone is saying, this is a plague ship. It’s a living nightmare.’"

The Oriana returns to Southampton today where, after "enhanced cleaning" takes place, the ship will re-rack with another 1,800 passengers for a holiday cruise.  Stay tuned for more vomit-cruise-from-hell stories.

 

Photo Credit: News Tank