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CNN Live At Daybreak

Holland America Says It's Pulling Cruise Ship Due to Contagious Stomach Virus

Aired November 21, 2002 - 06:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on the maritime mystery. The Holland America line says it's pulling the cruise ship Amsterdam from duty temporarily because a contagious stomach virus has gone through hundreds of passengers.
On the phone now, CNN's Susan Candiotti -- and the Holland has docket, right?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has, Carol -- good morning to you -- about a half hour ago.

Carol, it could not have been a very pleasant journey for many of the passengers aboard here, 76 in all, passengers and crew, who came down with, they had to suffer through nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Imagine.

And as you indicated, this is the fourth straight sailing where the Amsterdam was affected this by so-called Norwalk virus. In the past four sailings, more than 500 passengers and crew have been affected. In this last case, the ship had just docked. More than 50 passengers elected to get off the ship they were so sick in various ports of call, including St. Thomas, Curacao and Trinidad. And they all flew home from there. So about seven people are still aboard who still have the virus. Crew members also got off the ship.

Now, the plan is now that the ship is in port is that it's going to stay out of service for at least the next 10 days, until December the 1st, so that they can resanitize the ship. They've been doing this over the past four occasions. Unfortunately, it hasn't done the trick. The bug is apparently still aboard the ship. It is Holland America's opinion that someone brought it aboard the ship. But they're going to go aboard along with the CDC to try to see if they can get rid of it once and for all -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Hey, Susan, speaking of the CDC, does it have the power to ground the ship?

CANDIOTTI: It does have that authority. However, in this case, Holland America elected voluntarily to take the ship out of service. The CDC will have a team on site to go over and through the ship and make sure that the job is being done right. And so we'll see what happens. We're waiting to talk to the passengers when they disembark in about an hour or so.

COSTELLO: I hope they're getting their money back. CANDIOTTI: Well, as a matter of fact, Holland America did offer refunds to those who got sick and either refunds or free sailings next go around if they wish to return.

COSTELLO: Free sailing, I don't know, I'd have to think twice about that.

Susan Candiotti, thanks for the update.

We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Contagious Stomach Virus>


Aired November 21, 2002 - 06:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now more on the maritime mystery. The Holland America line says it's pulling the cruise ship Amsterdam from duty temporarily because a contagious stomach virus has gone through hundreds of passengers.
On the phone now, CNN's Susan Candiotti -- and the Holland has docket, right?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has, Carol -- good morning to you -- about a half hour ago.

Carol, it could not have been a very pleasant journey for many of the passengers aboard here, 76 in all, passengers and crew, who came down with, they had to suffer through nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Imagine.

And as you indicated, this is the fourth straight sailing where the Amsterdam was affected this by so-called Norwalk virus. In the past four sailings, more than 500 passengers and crew have been affected. In this last case, the ship had just docked. More than 50 passengers elected to get off the ship they were so sick in various ports of call, including St. Thomas, Curacao and Trinidad. And they all flew home from there. So about seven people are still aboard who still have the virus. Crew members also got off the ship.

Now, the plan is now that the ship is in port is that it's going to stay out of service for at least the next 10 days, until December the 1st, so that they can resanitize the ship. They've been doing this over the past four occasions. Unfortunately, it hasn't done the trick. The bug is apparently still aboard the ship. It is Holland America's opinion that someone brought it aboard the ship. But they're going to go aboard along with the CDC to try to see if they can get rid of it once and for all -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Hey, Susan, speaking of the CDC, does it have the power to ground the ship?

CANDIOTTI: It does have that authority. However, in this case, Holland America elected voluntarily to take the ship out of service. The CDC will have a team on site to go over and through the ship and make sure that the job is being done right. And so we'll see what happens. We're waiting to talk to the passengers when they disembark in about an hour or so.

COSTELLO: I hope they're getting their money back. CANDIOTTI: Well, as a matter of fact, Holland America did offer refunds to those who got sick and either refunds or free sailings next go around if they wish to return.

COSTELLO: Free sailing, I don't know, I'd have to think twice about that.

Susan Candiotti, thanks for the update.

We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Contagious Stomach Virus>