Covid, gastro cruise ship, Grand Princess, docks in Adelaide

A cruise ship affected by twin Covid and gastro outbreaks has docked in Adelaide as disembarking passengers described a “toilet-y smell” and plumbing problems during their stay.

Bus drivers await as the cruise ship Grand Princess arrives in Adelaide with passengers suffering Covid aboard. Picture: Eva Blandis

A cruise ship in the midst of twin Covid and gastro outbreaks has docked in Adelaide on Monday morning with passengers standing on their balconies waiting to disembark after the 18-day cruise.

A passenger confirmed to The Advertiser on Saturday the Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess ship, which has returned from Queensland, is filled with patients suffering from the highly contagious diseases.

The 57-year-old who asked to remain anonymous said they believed several hundred people could be affected.

Passenger said on Monday that it had ruined their holiday.

“They didn’t tell us straightaway,” one passenger told the Today Show.

“We had a man two doors down from us who had Covid and gastro, and we didn’t know about it and you could smell it down the hallway.”

Di Lines, 71, and Geoff Lines, 77, said they noticed a “strong toilet-y smell” on the ship in the theatre.

“There were a couple of times we smelt a sewerage type smell,” Mr Lines said.

Di and Geoff Lines said they noticed a “strong toilet-y smell”. Picture: Eva Blandis

“Whether that was because of the dramas, I don’t know.

“It’s a very, very old ship.”

The couple said they also had a few issues with their cabin and the airconditioning wasn’t working.

“There were plumbing problems,” Ms Lines said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said there was likely “a lot” of Covid in the community.

“When we see a spike of the number Covid cases in an environment when people aren’t testing themselves anymore you know there’s a lot in the community,” he told the Today show.

However he said only 0.9 per cent of passengers were now affected by one of those illness.

“When the boat was in Melbourne, the passengers were made to disembark and then there was a thorough deep clean of the cruise ship undertaken before passengers were reloaded again.”

Bus drivers await as the cruise ship Grand Princess arrives in Adelaide with passengers suffering Covid aboard. Picture: Eva Blandis

“The spikes seemed to be happening prior to them arriving in Melbourne,” he added when talking on 5AA.

The Advertiser understands that those who have tested positive will be disembarking separately from those who don’t have symptoms.

Paramedics were onsite at Outer Harbor for the ship’s arrival, however SA Health said their presence was unrelated to any passengers with Covid or gastro symptoms.

An SA Health spokesman said the department had been in contact with the ship’s doctor on Monday morning.

“SA Health has been informed that the outbreaks have been declared over and the few remaining cases are consistent with numbers you would expect on any cruise,” they said.

Taxis and coaches lined the carpark waiting to pick up passengers while signs also pointed toward the Outer Harbor train line. Bus drivers were seen wearing masks as they waited patiently for passengers to disembark.

“They’ve stepped up the whole sanitisation, wash your hands,” a passenger said.

“But we’ve just got people coughing and sneezing all over the place.”

They said affected passengers had been contained to their cabins and provided room service while other guests had been given $25 vouchers to spend at stopovers to encourage them to leave the ship during deep cleans.

Peter McElligott, 74, from South Australia, said he was “quite sick for about four days with the norovirus.”

“There were seven of us in a group and four of us were sick.”

“They were quite clean and made everyone wash their hands before and after meals,” he said.

“They cleaned the whole ship about twice.”

David Weeder, 79, and his wife Elizabeth Weeder, 77, of West Beach, said people started getting sick when they left Melbourne.

Pauline Kane, 69, and husband Peter Kane, 73, from Lakes Entrance in Victoria, said they were notified of the gastro outbreak before embarking but was told that the ship was going to be disinfected.

“We haven’t had any issues whatsoever,” Ms Kane said.

Passengers Kay and Tony Forder disembarking from the ship on Monday. Picture: Dean Martin

An ambulance waits at the dock on Monday morning. Picture: Dean Martin

Kay Forder, 66, and husband Tony Forder, 68, of Blakeview, were on the cruise for the entire round trip.

Ms Ford said she fell ill with gastro on November 5 and was in quarantine for a few days.

“It was fine because my husband didn’t have the virus so he was able to get out and about and get me food and things like that,” she said.

“I could’ve ordered food in too.”

Ms Ford said medication was sent almost immediately to her room and staff came in to deep clean.

“I felt quite well looked after,” she said.

Ms Ford, who is immunocompromised, said despite taking the appropriate cautions she still got sick.

“We washed our hands until the cows were coming home basically,” she said.

“I can’t fault the staff … they were really lovely.”

A Princess Cruises spokesman said there was no current dual outbreak as the number of guests with symptoms was now in the single digits.

“On the previous voyage, a 14-day round trip cruise from Melbourne to Queensland, a number of people reported to the medical centre with symptoms of respiratory illness and acute gastrointestinal illness,” he said.

“While most guests were unaffected by illness on that voyage, we proactively launched a comprehensive disinfection program, developed in co-ordination with international health authorities to prevent further spread.

A line of taxis await as the cruise ship Grand Princess arrives in Adelaide with passengers suffering Covid aboard. Picture: Eva Blandis

“In an abundance of caution, there will be another disinfection program carried out on board the ship in Adelaide today before Grand Princess returns to Melbourne on Wednesday November 15.”

The cruise ship, with a guest capacity of 2600 and 1150 staff, stopped at Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Brisbane and Melbourne on its 18 day round trip from Port Adelaide.