Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises are being sued for £500,000 in compensation after claims that poor hygiene led to passengers falling ill.
A group of 25 passengers have issued a group action against the cruise line, with complaints such as poorly-cleaned cabins with flies in the bathroom, undercooked food and a waiter blowing their nose on a napkin that was then placed on a table among the failings they claim led to guests becoming ill with gastro-enteritis on board the Independence of the Seas ship.
The passengers travelled from Southampton on five different sailings on the Independence of the Seas ship between December 10, 2010 and June 25, 2011.
However, Royal Caribbean International has said that of the 25 guests in the group action, not all of these guests experienced illness, as some of those named in the legal document are couples where one partner fell ill, not both.
The cruise line also emphasised the small number of people launching the legal action compared to the overall number of passengers who sailed on Independence of the Seas during the seven-month period, with 15 cruises welcoming more than 67,000 guests.
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.
Wales Online reported that those who became ill complained there were not enough medical staff to help those in isolation, meaning long waits for visits, and that medical staff failed to follow hygiene practices such as washing hands and wearing gloves.
The newspaper said that the passengers claimed restaurants on the ship failed to provide cutlery and glasses, and served food that was undercooked, not properly refrigerated or that had been reheated and re-served.
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”.
“Our hygiene procedures onboard are comprehensive and always strictly adhered to,” added the cruise line.