The ship with more than 1,700 people on board confined on Wednesday in Bordeaux after an outbreak of gastroenteritis will leave the French port this Friday to continue its journey, which includes several Spanish ports, after confirming that it is this infection. About 80 passengers had shown symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting in recent days and it was decided to confine all passengers. The alert was given after the death of a 92-year-old cruiser due to a heart attack, initially unrelated to the outbreak.
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According to the Regional Health Agency of New Aquitaine, to which Bordeaux belongs, medical tests carried out on travelers with symptoms confirmed that “this is an episode of viral gastroenteritis,” so on Wednesday night they lifted the ban on disembarking for asymptomatic passengers. Of the sick, only one who had more severe symptoms left the ship to be treated.
Passengers who had experienced discomfort, such as diarrhea or vomiting, remain isolated in their cabins under medical supervision, according to the Gironde prefecture, the government delegation of the area. The cruise ship, named Ambition and belonging to the British company Ambassador Cruise Line, departed from the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, on May 6 and had stopped in Belfast, Liverpool, and Brest, in Brittany, before arriving in Bordeaux. The passengers are mostly British and Irish.
The cruise was scheduled to arrive at the port of Ferrol on May 16, but, according to the shipping company, “the itinerary has been modified to avoid the unstable weather conditions forecast in the Bay of Biscay,” and it will stay one more night in Bordeaux “for the comfort of the passengers,” most of whom are elderly. It will arrive in Ferrol on Saturday, according to the company.
According to the planned itinerary, it will also stop at Gijón, Getxo, and La Rochelle, in France, before returning to Liverpool on May 22. During the journey, excursions for passengers in good health “will be carried out as planned,” the shipping company notes.
The confinement of the Ambition caused concern on Wednesday, due to the possibility that it could be related to hantavirus. Authorities rushed to rule out any link and justified the confinement measure “due to the international context,” which calls for “caution.” Passengers began to experience digestive problems at the beginning of the week, when the ship arrived at the port of Brest, although what triggered the alarm was the death of the 92-year-old passenger.
