Cruise line P&O Cruises has apologised to passengers who are claiming compensation after falling ill onboard Ventura earlier this year.
Law firm Hudgell Solicitors is currently representing 115 passengers who travelled on the ship and said there had been ‘repeated outbreaks’ of illness between April and June 2024.
During one sailing, on 11 May from Southampton, it was reported that 519 people were taken ill.
A spokesperson for P&O Cruises acknowledged the claim and said: “We are sorry some of our guests may have been affected and we will be responding to the letter of claim in due course.”
Hudgell Solicitors has submitted the claims to P&O Cruises’ parent company Carnival Corporation seeking compensation for illness, pain and loss of amenity, diminished value of holidays, loss of enjoyment, and any other losses suffered.
Senior Litigation Executive Anne Thomson said: “Illness was rife on board during many cruises, ruining hundreds of holidays.
“Let’s not forget, it’s not just the time people are confined to the cabin and are too ill to leave, but also the impact it has on the rest of their holiday, as it takes some time to recover from feeling so unwell to again fully enjoy the facilities, restaurants, and locations and days out.
“Of course, we understand and accept that illness outbreaks can happen on individual cruise sailings, but here we had a situation where it happened on consecutive sailings over a number of months.
“We even had the situation where holidaymakers were being contacted the night before their holidays to warn them that there had been illness outbreaks on the previous cruise, only for the same thing to happen again, with hundreds taken ill and confined to their cabins.
“Given there were repeated outbreaks onboard over consecutive months, we hope Carnival come back to us pretty quickly and take a sensible and collaborative approach to resolving these claims in a way which reflects the fact that so many people had their holidays ruined by illness.”
Carnival Corporation has six weeks to acknowledge the claims and then a further six months to investigate matters and respond.
Another firm of solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, is representing 30 passengers who claim they also fell ill during the sailings on Ventura. Carnival has until March 2025 to respond to Irwin Mitchell’s claims. Partner Jatinder Paul said: “Such cases can be very serious and lead to lasting complications which should never be downplayed. We’re now investigating on behalf of 30 clients and it’s vital that if issues are identified, these are acted upon to reduce the risk to future passengers.”
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