Virus ship returns to threat of legal action
Virus hit luxury liner Aurora returned to Britain today to the threat of legal action by angry passengers.
The £200m (€292m) ship was at the centre of a diplomatic incident with Spain after its passengers were earlier banned from landing in Greece because of a tummy bug which struck down passengers.
Five hundred of its 1,800 passengers came down with the highly infectious norovirus stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea.
Yesterday the ship’s owners, P&O Cruises, said two men in their 70s had died during the trip but their deaths were not related to the bug.
The flagship liner left its home port of Southampton on October 20 for a European cruise.
After the passengers were struck down by the bug it was refused permission to dock at Piraeus in Greece.
When the ship entered Gibraltar on Monday, Spain closed the border with the Rock for the first time in 18 years, fearing the bug might cross into the country.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the move “unnecessary and disproportionate”.
Passengers well enough to go ashore had to hand in their passports so they could not cross into Spain but the border remained closed until the liner left.
Some angry passengers have threatened P&O Cruises with legal action over the cruise which they said was like being in hospital.
They claim staff sprayed the ship with chemicals to contain the virus and passengers with the virus were confined to their rooms.
The ship docked at Southampton’s Mayflower Cruise Terminal at 6am with passengers due to disembark from 8.30am.
Health officials were meeting the ship to talk about the virus in a standard procedure.
A P&O Cruises spokeswoman said only one passenger was still showing signs of the illness.
