Maritime Accident News

Cruise Ship Illnesses Possibly Worse Than Reported

A recent study suggests that cruise ship illnesses may be worse than originally reported. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently conducted a study revealing that the number of people who get sick while onboard a cruise ship is generally higher than official reports.

According to the CDC, nearly 40 percent of passengers who fell ill in 2009 due to outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships failed to report their illnesses to the vessel's infirmary. As a result, illnesses were unaccounted in official tallies.

Researchers found from surveys taken during a norovirus outbreak on a January 2009 Celebrity Mercury sailing that passengers failed to report their illnesses to ship personnel because they felt their sickness was not severe enough and/or had their own medications to treat their illness symptoms. Other sick passengers failed to report their illness out of fear of being quarantined during their cruise.

The study also revealed that sick passengers said that they did not report their illness because they were afraid of having to pay for treatment. Researchers are putting an emphasis on the importance of communication between cruise lines and passengers since many cruise lines offer free treatment.

Since many cruisers board the ships sick, researchers suggest that cruise lines should offer more incentives to convince sick passengers to report their illnesses at the time they board a vessel or delay their trip.

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