Princess Cruises cancels remainder of trip
By Kelly Yamanouchi and Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writers
Princess Cruises is canceling the remainder of its cruise to Hawai'i after nearly 300 passengers and crew members reported symptoms of the Norwalk virus.
Officials with the cruise line in Honolulu on Saturday reported 247 aboard had fallen ill, but that number has climbed as others have reported symptoms of the gastrointestinal virus while the ship sailed to Kaua'i and Maui.
The illnesses aboard the Princess ship Sun Princess, which arrived from Los Angeles last week, is the latest in a string of Norwalk virus outbreaks since late last year.
Similar problems were reported last November and December on Holland America Line's Amsterdam, Disney Cruise Line's Disney Magic, Carnival Cruise Line's Fascination and P&O Cruises' Oceana. P&O is Princess Cruises' sister company based in England.
Princess spokesman Thomas Dow said the decision to end the cruise early was based on consultation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Hawai'i state health officials.
"It's an extremely difficult decision," Dow said. "After talking with our medical staff and with the public health authorities, everyone's in agreement that this is the right thing to do."
The ship's original itinerary was to spend the next five days sailing the Pacific on the way back to Los Angeles, where the 15-day cruise would have ended.
"We're concerned that we'll have another increase if we have all the passengers together 24 hours a day on the ship," Dow said. "I think we know more about this virus now than we used to and we understand if it comes aboard it is very infectious, that if we're not able to jump right on it and eradicate it in the first couple of days it's a very difficult thing to overcome."
A total of 265 passengers reported illnesses, amounting to 13 percent of the 2,029 passengers aboard. Another 29 crew members fell ill.
About 30 passengers were still ill with the virus yesterday, with four new cases that day.
Frank Haas, marketing director of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, said he was not concerned that tourists would shy away from Hawai'i because of the outbreak.
"It's a cruise-line problem more than a destination problem," Haas said.
Passengers were told of the cancellation after they reboarded the ship late yesterday afternoon. Waiting at Lahaina Harbor to take a tender back to the ship with his wife, retired college professor Roy K. Boutwell of Pagosa Springs, Colo., said the cruise had been going "fabulously" well, and that he was upset that it was being cut short.
"You save and spend $7,000 for a cruise and then you get screwed up. If they do (cancel) they'd better refund part of the cruise," he said.
The Sun Princess will return to Honolulu from Lahaina this morning. Princess will pay for passengers to fly back to the Mainland or stay at a hotel in Honolulu until a flight is available. Passengers are also receiving a refund of one-third of the price they paid for the cruise plus $500 in credit toward a future cruise. Dow said there were no estimates available yesterday on how much the ordeal would cost Princess.
Princess will sanitize the ship during the five-day trip back to Los Angeles, which the CDC recommends to break the cycle of transmission, Dow said.
Princess Cruises had a smaller illness outbreak aboard a cruise ship in May and a case where hundreds fell ill on three cruises of the Regal Princess in Alaska, which led Princess to cancel a cruise.
Cruise line officials say they have had difficulty controlling the spread of the virus because passengers are often reluctant to spend their vacation quarantined in their ship cabins.
"When passengers begin to feel better after a day or two they feel like they're ready to get back into the swing of things on the ship and they may still be contagious," Dow said.
The next time Princess will sail its Los Angeles-to-Hawai'i itinerary is in March, Dow said.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470 or kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
