Suspected infected passenger put off ship

My wife and I booked passage on Holland America’s ms Prinsendam for a 22-day cruise, Sept. 1-Oct. 3, ’03. The ship started in San Francisco, stopped in San Diego and continued to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal, Aruba and the Bahamas, then on to Philadelphia and Boston.

At 6 a.m. on the seventh day I became ill with a sudden onset of a gastrointestinal disorder resulting in both vomiting and diarrhea. We sought help from the ship’s medical personnel. The symptoms were immediately characterized as those typically seen in persons who have contracted a Norwalk-like virus (NLV).

We were advised that the cruise line had adopted a policy that persons with NLV pose an unacceptable danger to other passengers and crew members and are required to disembark at the next port of call. Such was the action taken in our case.

On the day following the onset, when we were to be put off the ship, a letter to passengers stated that one of their fellow guests exhibited symptoms which the cruise line suspected to be NLV. This conclusion was based on a single cabin visit by the ship’s medical personnel during the morning of the day of onset. We believe that such a conclusion was premature.

There are, of course, a number of possible causes for the problem I was experiencing, including tainted food or food-born bacteria. Long before we were escorted from the vessel I believed that, whatever the cause may have been, it was not NLV.

We were told that NLV symptoms resolve themselves in 24 to 48 hours. My problem was completely resolved in less than 10 hours. By 4 p.m. on the day of onset I was feeling fine, and I had a full breakfast and a full lunch on board the ship the very next day without any ill effects. Such an experience is not typical of those with NLV.

Prior to being put ashore, members of the medical staff remarked that I was obviously well, apologized for the disembarkation action and wished that the decision could be reversed but indicated that it was made by the cruise line’s home office.

After my return home, laboratory tests directed by my primary care physician revealed no evidence of a viral infection.

Also on the day following onset, in the letter notifying the ship’s guests of the suspected NLV passenger, significant changes in life aboard ship were ordered to protect the health and safety of passengers and crew members. These included the closing of all buffets, with conversion to table-waited service, in addition to the closing of the ship’s spas and discontinuance of the dance host program.

However, a letter I later received from a fellow passenger stated that all of those changes were lifted the next day. The directive that ordered the changes stated that the danger of NLV spread would continue for a period of 72 hours following the time when symptoms were no longer present. Lifting all those precautions so quickly left me with the conclusion that NLV was probably never an issue in the first place.

We were confined to our room for 30 hours prior to being put ashore. If we posed such a health threat, what of the community into which we were to be dropped?

In a letter to us, it was stated that “Unchecked, NLV can quickly spread to dozens, if not hundreds, of passengers and crew members.” What, we wondered, was the danger to the ship’s onshore tour representative; his driver, who was to take us on the 2-hour trip from port to Guatemala City; the hotel staff and guests, and the 400 or so airline passengers on two American Airlines flights, first from Guatemala City to Miami and then to Baltimore? All of these events were scheduled within the 72-hour period wherein my suspected NLV infection was deemed to be actively contagious.

These were some of the concerns on our minds when we inquired about our status after departure from the ship. The staff officer who was explaining the disembarkation procedures said, “We just won’t say anything about it.” To us, this response was a self-serving act of reckless endangerment. The cruise line, believing us to be sick and highly contagious, dumped us in a foreign country.

I also asked, “What if my wife should become ill during the rest of our 2-day stay in Guatemala?” The ship’s staff officers made no suggestions, comments or other reply. Fortunately, my wife never suffered any illness — another indication that NLV was not the problem.

Part of the disembarkation procedure included the cruise line’s willingness to pay for our travel expenses home. However, we were taken to the Marriott Hotel in Guatemala City and left without an English-speaking escort. The hotel desk clerk asked for our voucher. We had never been given a voucher, and the documentation we showed the desk clerk was not sufficient to set up an account to accept the charges we would incur. We tried to call phone numbers supplied us to use if we needed help but to no avail.

The desk clerk then took what documentation we had and after some wait returned stating that the hotel had contacted the ship and prevailed on its staff to fax a voucher and we were cleared to spend the night.

The next day we were taken to the Guatemala City airport and again left without an escort. We were detained by Immigration officials who accused us of having entered their country illegally. The ship’s staff had failed to assure that our passports were properly documented to show entry into Guatemala. Our status was that of undocumented illegal aliens. At one point the Immigration officers took our passports and left the room. We repeatedly explained our situation, pleaded our case and were finally allowed to leave.

On the day we were put off the ship, one of our daughters tried to phone us on an unrelated matter. She was told that her parents were not on the ship and that they had been “very sick” but appeared to be better when they “left the ship.”

These remarks were completely incorrect, but our daughter could not know that. To her, they were extremely alarming. She asked for our return-home flight information so that she could pick up her “very sick” parents at the airport. Amazingly, she was told that they were not permitted to reveal that information. This daughter was the very person we had designated to the cruise line as our contact in case of an emergency.

At no time during our ordeal did anyone on the ship’s staff initiate a phone call to our designated contact or provide us an opportunity to do so. In our view, what was reported to her was indeed an emergency situation and what was withheld caused unnecessary anxiety among family members at home.

As noted, the cruise line offered to pay for our return travel expenses. As it turned out, they paid most but not all costs incurred in travel from Guatemala to our home. In addition, the cruise line offered a partial reimbursement for the curtailed portion of our cruise plus certificates for about $850 in future travel discounts to be applied to future cruises.

We requested reimbursement for all costs related to the entire trip. The cruise line denied this request, adding that their original offer is their policy in cases such as ours.

The treatment that we and our family received at the hands of this cruise company turned a needlessly ruined trip into a truly terrifying experience.

SARA & RAYMOND FULLER
Silver Spring, MD

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Holland America Line and received the following reply.

We are in receipt of your letter and a copy of Mr. and Mrs. Fuller’s letter regarding their ms Prinsendam cruise on Sept. 10, 2003.

First, please know that we understand how uncomfortable these illnesses make people feel, and we only wish that a medicine existed that could provide an immediate cure. The reality is that on any given cruise, several people always report to the infirmary with gastrointestinal illness. That is no different from saying, however, that if you put over 1,000 people together for a week in any place, some number will always report sick.

In this instance, there is no evidence there was some repository of disease on the ship (such as in the water supply) or tainted food that caused people to become sick. While they may have contracted the disease by coming into contact with another passenger on the ship who was ill, that is not something that Holland America is prepared to accept liability for.

We would like to assure the Fullers that Holland America has rigorous cleaning protocols and special operating practices designed to reduce the spread of gastrointestinal illness. Moreover, passengers can unknowingly pick up the virus on their hands, touch their nose and/or mouth and then touch another surface where someone else picks up the virus. It is a vicious cycle that even rigorous cleaning cannot completely stop. We can only encourage passengers to wash their hands often precisely because of the ease with which gastrointestinal illness spreads.

In addition, gastrointestinal illness occurs everywhere in the world. It can be picked up at a shopping center, restaurant, concert, movie theater or school or on an airplane — anywhere there is a large number of people gathered together in one area. Holland America Line stands in the same position as the operator of these other venues. We are not a guarantor of any person’s health under these circumstances.

Very much like the common cold, this virus is spread solely through people interacting with other people. And, unfortunately, the Norwalk Virus is easily transmittable from person to person. Upon becoming aware of situations such as this, we take numerous precautions to prevent the further spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control along with Health Canada work closely with Holland America Line to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and staff.

We thank you for contacting our Customer Relations Department and we hope the above information is helpful.

Ms. SYDNEY LEONOR, Special Advisor, Office of the Chairman, Holland America Line, Inc., 300 Elliott Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119