A Grand Princess cruise ship heading for Adelaide, Australia, has been struck with a double-whammy of illnesses, sparking fears of a potential outbreak when it hits the dock on Monday morning.
The cruise liner is currently heading to Adelaide from Queensland, and health officials say that there’s been an outbreak of both COVID-19 and gastroenteritis aboard the ship.
Unfortunately, however, passengers aboard the ship have reported that there’s been no proper communication from ship officials to the passengers, leaving them in the dark as to what to do next.
READ MORE: Deadly garbage so dense it’s blocking traffic is piling up in Mexico vacation hot spots
“The communication was not there at all, none of the guests really knew what was going on,” said one passenger to ABC News.
The passenger went on to say that she began to notice passengers weren’t feeling well by the second day of the trip, with many of them taking all three of their meals inside their cabins by the third day.
“The first two days there was nothing in place … we took it upon ourselves to sanitize, which a lot of people weren’t doing,” the passenger said.
Things got so bad, according to the passenger, that crew members began handing out food and started adding hand sanitizing stations to stave off the illness.
The Grand Princess cruise line, which is owned and operated by Princess Cruises, has a capacity of about 4,000, including passengers and crew.
Authorities would not confirm how many were infected with COVID-19, nor would they confirm how many were infected with gastrointestinal issues.
However, Australia’s premier has confirmed that there’s been a spike in such cases within the country.
“There’s a significant COVID spike underway and that’s having an impact in the community,” South Australia’s Premier Peter Malinauskas said to the outlet.