Bug hits passengers on £300m liner

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The £300 million ship, which was officially launched three weeks ago by the Duchess of Cornwall, has seen 78 passengers taken ill with the norovirus-type vomiting bug since the liner set sail.

It left Southampton for a 16-day Christmas cruise around the Canary Islands on December 21.

Traditional omens of bad luck seem to have come true for the liner because Camilla failed to smash the bottle of champagne when the vessel was launched in Southampton.

A spokesman for Cunard said that presently only 25 guests were ill on board out of a total of 3,000 passengers and crew.

He said the bug, which was likely to be norovirus, was not on the maiden voyage of the 90,000-tonne liner and so it was thought a passenger could have brought it aboard.

Those taken ill have been isolated and the crew have stepped up disinfecting public areas to combat any spread.

The bug is highly contagious and needs "meticulous" personal hygiene regimes if it is not to spread, he explained.

Passengers paid between £1,100 and £24,400 each for the cruise and some told the Mail on Sunday they would be seeking compensation over the outbreak.

Jean Trainor, 49, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said: "No hygiene rules were implemented until people fell ill. If they had been, maybe this could have been avoided."