Brits confronted illness and theft throughout ‘nightmare’ cruise vacation

A British vacationer has described how she was mugged, stranded on a ship and put into quarantine with extreme illness throughout a ‘nightmare’ cruise vacation.

Melanie Mann, 67, and her associate Richard Bartlam, 77, sailed on the Norwegian Dawn ship from South Africa to Mauritius final month.

The couple from Leicestershire forked out £8,200 for the dream vacation, nevertheless it ended up being marred by sickness, a violent theft and delays, with Melanie saying it was ‘the worst vacation I’ve ever had’.

They had been set to spend two nights in a luxurious lodge on the Indian Ocean island earlier than their ship was barred from docking by Mauritian authorities, who examined passengers for cholera earlier than they gave the ship the all-clear.

When the vessel was ultimately allowed to dock, the holidaymakers had simply six hours at their resort earlier than they had been rushed to the airport to fly house.

The journey started in Cape Town, the place the couple stayed for 2 days earlier than embarking on their cruise.

After leaving their lodge, a gang of thieves attacked Melanie, who’s disabled and makes use of a wheelchair among the time. 

‘Just 100 yards from the lodge I used to be mugged and my gold chain with citrine pendant pulled from my neck, and I fell over,’ Melanie stated, including: ‘My associate, in attempting to seize the person, fell over too.’

The traumatised couple had been helped by locals earlier than calling the police. They spent the following two hours on the police station. 

While they hoped that embarking on the cruise would see their vacation enhance, issues continued to go downhill for the couple.

Melanie got here down with diarrhoea from the third day of the voyage and remained sick all through the journey.

She stated that she and Richard had been confined to their cabin for 48 hours and had their key playing cards taken away from them.

While she shouldn’t be sure what the sickness was, Mary stated she suspects it was both gastroenteritis or meals poisoning.

‘The remaining catastrophe,’ Melanie stated, was that they missed out on the final a part of their vacation as a result of they had been prevented from disembarking on the scheduled day.

She stated that a lot of these on board had been ‘fed up’ and that there had been lengthy queues at buyer companies as folks tried to work out ‘what was happening’.

‘We could not keep for the deliberate two days in Mauritius and as an alternative had simply six hours on the resort earlier than we had been taken to the airport for our flight house,’ Melanie stated.

Melanie and Richard had been amongst 2,200 passengers and 1,000 crew on the cruise liner which Mauritian authorities briefly barred from docking ‘to keep away from any well being dangers’.

At least 15 folks on the ship had been reported to have been put into isolation with a abdomen sickness, which authorities initially feared was cholera however later confirmed was gastroenteritis.

The ship’s operator NCL stated in a press release on the time: ‘Upon Norwegian Dawn’s arrival to Port Louis Mauritius on Feb. 25, 2024, there have been a small variety of company experiencing delicate signs of a stomach-related sickness. 

‘Despite earlier studies and speculations, there have been no confirmed instances nor any proof of cholera on board the vessel. 

‘Although solely six company had been being monitored as a result of delicate signs of a stomach-related sickness, the federal government of Mauritius required testing in an overabundance of warning, thereby delaying the ship’s authentic disembarkation.’

The firm has been contacted for remark.