Royal Caribbean Sued Over Claims of Poor Hygiene

Royal Caribbean are being sued by a group 0f 25 passengers after claims that poor hygiene led to them becoming ill.

The complaints from the group include undercooked food and poorly cleaned cabins. They insist these played a huge part in guests becoming ill with gastro-enteritis onboard Independence of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean commented that not all of the guests in the group in fact fell ill. Some of the people named in the legal document are partners of those that experienced the bug. They also noted that the overall number of passengers that have launched legal action is small in comparison to the total number of 67,000 guests who sailed during the seven month period.

According to the legal claim, passengers became ill with gastro-enteritis on the ship, and despite multiple cases of illness on previous cruises, the complainants say the cruise line failed to effectively remedy the situation by adopting adequate cleaning and sanitation, or greater control in the preparation of food and drink.

It was also noted that those who became ill also complained that there were not enough medical staff onboard to help those who had been put into isolation. They also said medical staff failed to wash their hands or even wear gloves during visits.A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman said: “Those affected by the short-lived illness responded well to over-the-counter medication which was administered onboard the ship and therefore were not referred for additional treatment by the onboard medical teams.

“Regarding the instances referred to, our crew conducted extensive cleaning on-board the ship and guests were kept up to date on these additional measures prior to embarkation and throughout their cruise. Guests were also provided with advice and information on preventative steps and good hygiene, including hand washing and making use of hand sanitizers that we provided throughout the ship.”

The spokeswoman said that Royal Caribbean International works hard “to ensure all our guests have an enjoyable holiday and this includes maintaining extremely high health standards for all our guests and crew”.