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American Morning
Ill-Fated Journey
Aired November 21, 2002 - 08:18 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take you live to Florida right now. That cruise ship you see right here just returning to port in Fort Lauderdale, and not a moment too soon for many folks on board. Dozens became sickened with a contagious stomach virus that struck hundreds of passengers on previous voyages. The ship is out of commission right now.
Susan Candiotti talked with some of the passengers about their ill fated journeys and what happened on board.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After four straight outbreaks in as many sailings aboard the same ship and more than 500 sick passengers and crew, Holland America is anchoring the Amsterdam. Virginia Steinweg and her husband fell ill on the cruise that returned last week.
VIRGINIA STEINWEG, PASSENGER: You just sit in the bathroom for 12 hours. I mean you can't leave. Then the next day you can't, anything, you can't keep anything down. And then, you know, the third day you're weak.
CANDIOTTI: The culprit, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is the common Norwalk virus, in this case not believed to be transmitted by food or water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is our belief that an individual brought this virus onto the ship.
CANDIOTTI: No matter how it got there, despite sanitizing the ship, the virus kept attacking. Sick passengers were quarantined, suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.
PAUL ROSENFELD, PASSENGER: Nobody shook hands. You couldn't touch anything on the tables. There wasn't even salt and paper on the tables. The buffet line, they all served you.
CANDIOTTI: Holland America paid for flights home from Caribbean ports of call for passengers who fell ill during cruises. However, some passengers said they did not learn about the repeated outbreaks until they boarded the ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should have told us not 20 minutes before we boarded.
CANDIOTTI: Holland America defended its decision to keep sailing, insisting it was doing all it could to prevent further infections.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we're cleaning every poker chip.
CANDIOTTI: On its current sailing, more than 70 passengers and crew caught the virus. Before leaving on that cruise, some passengers were not at all worried and joked about what they do to stay well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to drink the water or breathe the air then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Joining you now live in front of the Holland America Amsterdam, which pulled into port just a couple of hours ago, we can tell you that 67 passengers and crew were so sick they elected to get off the ship at three Caribbean ports before the ship arrived back here in south Florida.
Joining us now is Holland America's Eric Elvejord, joining us now live.
Tell us what, why did you, how did you take care of the people that got off the ship early?
ERIC ELVEJORD, PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR, HOLLAND AMERICA: Well, the people that got off the ship early, we either put them up in a hotel or flew them home. But they got a hundred percent refund of their cruise, future cruise credit, as well as we paid their expenses, so.
CANDIOTTI: You're going to start cleaning the ship now that it's back in port. You're pulling it out of service. Why are you so sure that this time you'll be able to knock out the virus?
ELVEJORD: Well, it's, actually, it breaks the cycle. Four to five days will break the cycle of the VNLB. In addition to that, we'll do everything we can to scrub it from top to bottom, everything that people can touch, exchange the pillows, launder the bed linens and the curtains and really make sure it's a cleaner ship afloat.
CANDIOTTI: How bad of a hit do you expect the company to take for the loss of business, because you're losing at least one sailing and then you've got, frankly, bad P.R. from this?
ELVEJORD: Well, it's actually, it's not so much that it's a bad hit. We want passengers to have confidence in future sailings and I think that's going to be really the good P.R. with all of this.
CANDIOTTI: Eric, thank you very much for joining us.
ELVEJORD: You're welcome.
Thank you.
CANDIOTTI: And, again, the ship will be out of service. They hope to put it back on line in time for a December 1 sailing. Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Susan.
Susan Candiotti there live in Fort Lauderdale.
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 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take you live to Florida right now. That cruise ship you see right here just returning to port in Fort Lauderdale, and not a moment too soon for many folks on board. Dozens became sickened with a contagious stomach virus that struck hundreds of passengers on previous voyages. The ship is out of commission right now.
Susan Candiotti talked with some of the passengers about their ill fated journeys and what happened on board.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After four straight outbreaks in as many sailings aboard the same ship and more than 500 sick passengers and crew, Holland America is anchoring the Amsterdam. Virginia Steinweg and her husband fell ill on the cruise that returned last week.
VIRGINIA STEINWEG, PASSENGER: You just sit in the bathroom for 12 hours. I mean you can't leave. Then the next day you can't, anything, you can't keep anything down. And then, you know, the third day you're weak.
CANDIOTTI: The culprit, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is the common Norwalk virus, in this case not believed to be transmitted by food or water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is our belief that an individual brought this virus onto the ship.
CANDIOTTI: No matter how it got there, despite sanitizing the ship, the virus kept attacking. Sick passengers were quarantined, suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.
PAUL ROSENFELD, PASSENGER: Nobody shook hands. You couldn't touch anything on the tables. There wasn't even salt and paper on the tables. The buffet line, they all served you.
CANDIOTTI: Holland America paid for flights home from Caribbean ports of call for passengers who fell ill during cruises. However, some passengers said they did not learn about the repeated outbreaks until they boarded the ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should have told us not 20 minutes before we boarded.
CANDIOTTI: Holland America defended its decision to keep sailing, insisting it was doing all it could to prevent further infections.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we're cleaning every poker chip.
CANDIOTTI: On its current sailing, more than 70 passengers and crew caught the virus. Before leaving on that cruise, some passengers were not at all worried and joked about what they do to stay well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to drink the water or breathe the air then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Joining you now live in front of the Holland America Amsterdam, which pulled into port just a couple of hours ago, we can tell you that 67 passengers and crew were so sick they elected to get off the ship at three Caribbean ports before the ship arrived back here in south Florida.
Joining us now is Holland America's Eric Elvejord, joining us now live.
Tell us what, why did you, how did you take care of the people that got off the ship early?
ERIC ELVEJORD, PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR, HOLLAND AMERICA: Well, the people that got off the ship early, we either put them up in a hotel or flew them home. But they got a hundred percent refund of their cruise, future cruise credit, as well as we paid their expenses, so.
CANDIOTTI: You're going to start cleaning the ship now that it's back in port. You're pulling it out of service. Why are you so sure that this time you'll be able to knock out the virus?
ELVEJORD: Well, it's, actually, it breaks the cycle. Four to five days will break the cycle of the VNLB. In addition to that, we'll do everything we can to scrub it from top to bottom, everything that people can touch, exchange the pillows, launder the bed linens and the curtains and really make sure it's a cleaner ship afloat.
CANDIOTTI: How bad of a hit do you expect the company to take for the loss of business, because you're losing at least one sailing and then you've got, frankly, bad P.R. from this?
ELVEJORD: Well, it's actually, it's not so much that it's a bad hit. We want passengers to have confidence in future sailings and I think that's going to be really the good P.R. with all of this.
CANDIOTTI: Eric, thank you very much for joining us.
ELVEJORD: You're welcome.
Thank you.
CANDIOTTI: And, again, the ship will be out of service. They hope to put it back on line in time for a December 1 sailing. Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Susan.
Susan Candiotti there live in Fort Lauderdale.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
