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Cruise Ship Docked by Virus
Aired November 21, 2002 - 13:47 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: An ill-fated cruise ship is no longer at sea after passengers and crew were sickened by a virus on a fourth straight voyage.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has more from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Susan, do they have any idea what's making people ill?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't. Well, they do know it was this Norwalk virus, Martin, but the question is exactly how it was spread. Certainly, person to person and also from touching door handles, railings, anything in sight. The question now of course is whether they will be able to get rid of it. We do know that cleaning is already underway aboard the Holland America's Amsterdam. Now that 1,200 passengers have disembarked, they are now sanitizing everything from linens to carpets, poker chips in the casinos, even Bibles that are in each cabin.
Sixty-seven passengers and crew were not among those who left the ship this day. Holland America asked those people to leave the ship early at three Caribbean ports and paid for their flights home because they didn't want anyone else to get sick from those passengers.
Now, from one other passenger, one souvenir cruise ship video that shows how much the routine has changed aboard the ship. They are not allowing any more handshaking to go on, for example, between the crew members and the passengers because of the virus. So you see people bumping elbows instead.
Now, more than 500 passengers in the last four sailings involving this exact ship have gotten sick with this Norwalk virus and they have cleaned the ship each time. Nevertheless, people were still becoming ill. And that naturally puts some passengers on this cruise on edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At dinnertime, you looked around and you saw empty tables, and you kind of moved your chair a little bit away from it. You were hoping you weren't going to be sick. .
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: They cleaned the ship each time, but people were still becoming sick. Holland America says this time they're taking the ship out of service for at least 10 days to try to get rid of the virus once and for all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ELVEJORD, SPOKESMAN, HOLLAND AMERICA: The CDC has said that four or five days will break the cycling of something like this. Those are the historical patterns that show that four or five days will break the cycle. So we have a great confidence in that that that's going to help us break the cycle. In addition to that, we do want to make sure that the ship is as sanitized and as clean as possible for the next sailing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Again, the Centers for Disease Control is participating in this cleaning, at least overseeing it. Holland America is in charge of the cleaning that is going on here. And the cruise line estimates it will take about 10 days to get the job done. So of course, they will be losing revenue from at least one sailing, plus the cost of all this cleaning and all the extra people they had to bring in. They won't say exactly how much money they lost. The hope is they will not have lost the good will of passengers, some of whom said they had a good time despite it all. And others say they wonder whether they will sail again -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Susan Candiotti, I guess we'll see eventually on that one. Thank you very much.
CANDIOTTI: Yes, we will.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 21, 2002 - 13:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: An ill-fated cruise ship is no longer at sea after passengers and crew were sickened by a virus on a fourth straight voyage.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has more from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Susan, do they have any idea what's making people ill?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't. Well, they do know it was this Norwalk virus, Martin, but the question is exactly how it was spread. Certainly, person to person and also from touching door handles, railings, anything in sight. The question now of course is whether they will be able to get rid of it. We do know that cleaning is already underway aboard the Holland America's Amsterdam. Now that 1,200 passengers have disembarked, they are now sanitizing everything from linens to carpets, poker chips in the casinos, even Bibles that are in each cabin.
Sixty-seven passengers and crew were not among those who left the ship this day. Holland America asked those people to leave the ship early at three Caribbean ports and paid for their flights home because they didn't want anyone else to get sick from those passengers.
Now, from one other passenger, one souvenir cruise ship video that shows how much the routine has changed aboard the ship. They are not allowing any more handshaking to go on, for example, between the crew members and the passengers because of the virus. So you see people bumping elbows instead.
Now, more than 500 passengers in the last four sailings involving this exact ship have gotten sick with this Norwalk virus and they have cleaned the ship each time. Nevertheless, people were still becoming ill. And that naturally puts some passengers on this cruise on edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At dinnertime, you looked around and you saw empty tables, and you kind of moved your chair a little bit away from it. You were hoping you weren't going to be sick. .
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: They cleaned the ship each time, but people were still becoming sick. Holland America says this time they're taking the ship out of service for at least 10 days to try to get rid of the virus once and for all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ELVEJORD, SPOKESMAN, HOLLAND AMERICA: The CDC has said that four or five days will break the cycling of something like this. Those are the historical patterns that show that four or five days will break the cycle. So we have a great confidence in that that that's going to help us break the cycle. In addition to that, we do want to make sure that the ship is as sanitized and as clean as possible for the next sailing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Again, the Centers for Disease Control is participating in this cleaning, at least overseeing it. Holland America is in charge of the cleaning that is going on here. And the cruise line estimates it will take about 10 days to get the job done. So of course, they will be losing revenue from at least one sailing, plus the cost of all this cleaning and all the extra people they had to bring in. They won't say exactly how much money they lost. The hope is they will not have lost the good will of passengers, some of whom said they had a good time despite it all. And others say they wonder whether they will sail again -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Susan Candiotti, I guess we'll see eventually on that one. Thank you very much.
CANDIOTTI: Yes, we will.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
