Royal Caribbean is sued by a group of passengers for £500,000 because they failed to stop them becoming ill on their cruise vacation.
The passengers claim that a waiter in the dining room was blowing his nose on a dinner napkin that was then placed on a table, there were flies in their restrooms and a severe outbreak of illness.
The group of 25 passengers sailed on Independence of the Seas on a number of cruises between December 10, 2010 and June 25, 2011. They thought that Royal Caribbean is committed to excellence. In the brochures, the both companies promised that passengers could “look forward to an experience unlike any other” on “an amazing holiday”.

But instead of an amazing holiday, the passengers got GI on the ship because the hygiene was not on a high level. They claim that the restaurants on the ship failed to provide clean dinner service and the served food that was undercooked, not properly refrigerated or that had been reheated and re-served.

Although there were a lot of ill guests on the previous cruises, the cruise line failed to effectively remedy the situation with adequate cleaning and sanitation, or greater control in the preparation of the food and drink. There were complains from the guests that the cabins were not adequately clean. Also those who became ill complained that there was not enough medical staff to help those in isolation and the medical staff failed to follow hygiene procedure such as washing hands and wearing gloves.

Royal Caribbean responded to these accusations and stated that the cruise line welcomes more than three million guests on-board each year and works hard to ensure they all have an enjoyable holiday. Not all of the 25 passengers experienced illness of their cruise. The 25 guests were on five different cruises within a seven-month period from December 2010 – June 2011. In this time period, the ship, Independence of the Seas, sailed on 15 cruises, with over 67,000 guests. Those who had short-lived illness responded well to over-the-counter medication and therefore were not referred for additional treatment by the on-board medical teams.

The hygiene level was kept on a high level, the crew conducted extensive cleaning on-board the ship and guests were kept up to date on these additional measures prior to embarkation and throughout their cruise.
Guests were also provided with advice and information on preventative steps and good hygiene, including hand washing and making use of hand sanitizers that we provided throughout the ship.