Passengers Take ‘Trip From Hell’ On Cruise Ship Struck By Influenza A

The cruise ship Westerdam with 1,500 people aboard docked in New York City on Saturday, unloading about 100 wheezing, coughing and feverish passengers and crew members as federal health officials looked on.

One passenger, Margaret Bailey of Syracuse, N.Y., called it “the trip from hell” and said she had spent most of the time in bed with the chills.

The ship’s doctor, Gary Howerton, first saw flu symptoms when 60 Australian tourists boarded the ship in New York on Sept. 1. When the ship reached Montreal, lab tests confirmed an outbreak of influenza A.

“The tests showed that it was a strain from the southern hemisphere, probably Australia,” Howerton said. In Nova Scotia, another doctor and two nurses joined his staff of three nurses.

The company that runs the cruise ship, Holland America Westours, offered passengers full refunds. About 50 took it and stayed in Montreal. But 1,400 other passengers and 625 crew members continued the trip.

On the trip back to New York, 53 passengers and 43 crew members became infected. But most passengers said that although they knew some passengers were sick, they very much enjoyed the trip.

Representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded in Portland, Maine, on Wednesday and dispensed medicines to stem the contagion.