WASHINGTON — Passengers sailing on the Grandeur of the Seas from the Port of Baltimore have been sickened on two consecutive trips, and passengers who weren’t sick were well aware there was a problem on board, according to a local Virginia woman.
Pegah Fowler of Round Hill,Va., who was on the Grandeur of the Seas, says it wasn’t the trip she and her family expected when they set sail on April 5.
“Literally, people standing there making sure you get your hands clean before you go into any of the restaurants,” she told WTOP in a phone interview. “It was evident there was a problem, so they were doing what they could.”
Staff would use tongs to hand out condiments, and plastic gloves were in abundance. Hand sanitizer was being handed out everywhere, and housekeepers wouldn’t vacuum the rooms because they feared kicking up anything that would start another outbreak, she said.
She called it a week of vacation she wants back.
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The CDC said more than 100 passengers and crew members got sick on the Grandeur’s last cruise from Baltimore from March 28 to April 5. The agency said the cause was a norovirus.
The Royal Carribean, which runs the Grandeur on the Seas, did not returned WTOP’s calls for comment.
The Grandeur is scheduled to leave again for the Bahamas on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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