DURING a “pleasure cruise” from Liverpool to Norway (May 14 to 23) more than 200 passengers were struck down by norovirus or gastroenteritis.

Some 160 people remained confined to their cabins until disembarkation including, unfortunately, my wife and I.

The virus has become more prevalent on cruise liners in the last few years. Notices greeting passengers on this voyage advise that “norovirus is rife in the UK community”. When an outbreak occurs, where vomiting is a commonplace spectacle and facilities onboard are either closed or restricted, a cruise of a lifetime can be turned into a cruise into hell.

It beggars belief why a contaminated ship is allowed to sail and not quarantined before its next cruise with another 900 unsuspecting passengers onboard.

To be offered a discount towards another cruise for one’s pain and suffering is not only derisory compensation but an invitation to another bout of the illness.

If norovirus is rife in the UK community then cruise lines should share the blame for returning more individuals home with the illness than those that actually left. Carry on Cruising? Not for me.

John Harrison, Bishop Auckland