Passengers suffer sickness on cruise liner

A significant number of tourists on board a cruise liner travelling from Southhampton to New York were struck down with sickness recently.

Over 160 of the people on board the Queen Victoria were afflicted by norovirus, which is part of a group of viruses that are the most common cause of gastroenteritis in the UK.

Between 600,000 and one million indivuals contract the condition in Britain each year and the illness spreads easily from person to person.

The Queen Victoria, which is operated by Cunard Line, was on an eight-night voyage when holidaymakers began to become ill.

It was feared that the ship would be stopped from docking in the US because the country has a policy that prevents vessels from unloading if the proportion of passengers with norovirus is over 15 per cent.

However, this was not the case as fewer than this figure had contracted the condition.

As a result of their suffering, some of the passengers may decide to take forward claims for compensation.