What was meant to be a dream cruise quickly descended into horror when nearly a dozen family members fell ill.
Passengers were struck with high fevers, severe body aches, vomiting and breathing difficulties, leaving many bedridden and requiring oxygen as the illness spread across the ship within hours.
They later tested positive for ‘super-flu’, described by doctors as a highly contagious and unusually aggressive strain of influenza.
The first to fall ill was two-year-old Norah Doyle, who has childhood asthma. Her father, Michael, rushed her to the ship’s infirmary – but navigating the 15-deck Independence of the Seas turned into a nightmare.
‘It took my husband 20 minutes to actually find it,’ her mother, Ellen, who also goes by Ellie, told the Daily Mail.
‘They kept sending us on a wild goose chase – “deck five, no, deck one, oh, deck one is closed… oh, it’s actually open.”’
Ellie, 34, her husband Michael, 41, and their three children, six-year-old Maisie and twins Norah and Porter, were sailing with Ellie’s parents, her four siblings and their children.
The Connecticut family had been celebrating her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and looking forward to a seven-day cruise to Nassau, San Juan and St Thomas just after Christmas.
‘We all went in healthy,’ Ellie said. ‘We all left, like, dying.’
Ellie with her family and parents on the last day of their trip aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas
Ellie’s husband, Michael Doyle, 41, holds their two-year-old daughter Norah, as she gets a nebulizer treatment in the ship’s infirmary
Royal Caribbean’s International Independence of the Seas, which launched in 2008, has a capacity for 4,375 passengers and has 15 decks
Next to fall ill was their son, Porter, who caught the bug. He started throwing up, had a fever, sore throat, body aches and congestion. Soon, it was Maisie’s turn.
Then, Ellie’s 77-year-old dad and 73-year-old mom got sick. Her sister Kora Stoll’s two sons, and then one of her brother’s two children, and two of her siblings all followed.
Everyone who got sick presented with varying symptoms, from mild to moderate. Ellie’s nephews also came down with strep and running fevers of 104.
She said her father, who is a donor-kidney recipient and recently had his gall bladder removed, barely left his room.
‘He is already immunocompromised, so having the flu is really dangerous for him,’ she said.
In less than 24 hours, Ellie went from a ‘relaxed’ mom, excited to cruise with her favorite people, to a ‘stressed out’ mom, counting down the days until she would be home.
‘It’s really scary when you are at sea, and your kids get sick, especially when they can’t tell you what’s wrong,’ she said. ‘And you don’t have your doctor, and they don’t take your insurance.
‘It was very stressful. I need a vacation from my vacation.’
What was happening in Ellie’s family appeared to be just the start of their nightmare trip.
She told the Daily Mail that an unrelated passenger was medically evacuated, and the ship had to change course twice.
Royal Caribbean International did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
‘The ship completely went off path,’ she claimed. ‘We were leaving Nassau on the way to San Juan and had to stop at Turks and Caicos to medically get someone an ambulance because they didn’t have the stuff needed to care for them on the boat.
Michael comforting Norah who Ellie said was vaccinated for flu but still caught a nasty bug
‘They didn’t tell you what the medical emergency was, but everyone on the boat – every hallway you passed – you heard people tell housekeeping, “Don’t come in today, we are really, really sick.”
‘The infirmary was packed. Everyone on this boat was so, so sick.’
Ellie, a digital content creator, said she had no idea how the one doctor working in the ship’s sole infirmary could care for the 4,000-plus people on board.
She observed that many of the crew members seemed bothered by the chaos, particularly the staff in the infirmary.
One of the major issues she noticed was a lack of communication between departments.
‘When we were first checking into the infirmary, we felt like they were annoyed that we were there, muttering things under their breath. It was uncomfortable,’ she said.
Ellie added that while the doctor seemed neutral, she found the person checking them in to be sour and unsympathetic.
‘It felt like the point they wanted to get across to us was that it wasn’t an emergency that merited the boat to turn around and that they had the necessary tools to treat us on board,’ she said.
‘They seemed more concerned with Royal Caribbean’s reputation and the cruise itinerary.’
Certain areas of the ship were closed at different times throughout the day, including many of the restrooms and the large water slides.
‘The solarium was closed because the bathrooms were backed up with either poop or puke,’ she said.
Ellie’s two-year-old twins, Norah (right) and Porter, were suffering from intestinal symptoms, a cough, body aches, congestion and low-grade fever
Ellie’s 77-year-old father and 73-year-old mother had taken the cruise with all their children and grandchildren to celebrate their 50th anniversary but they too contracted the super-flu
When the boat turned around a second time, she said she and her family, along with many other passengers she had spoken to, also felt left in the dark.
‘We didn’t have much information about what was going on. Everyone had a weirded-out, worried vibe.’
Ellie said that all three of her children got vaccinated against the flu, but those who did not get the flu shot got the sickest.
On Sunday, January 4, when the Doyle and Stoll families hit land and were back in Miami, Ellie said they drove their rental car back to West Hartford, Connecticut – but, in some ways, it felt like they were still on the ship.
‘We did the drive back in two days, and my kids were puking the entire car ride,’ she said.
Now that they are home, Ellie said they are going to the pediatrician.
This trip marked her 12th or 13th cruise, but she said she had never had this bizarre experience.
‘I’ve never had a cruise once, turnaround for a medical emergency, and our boat turned around twice.’
If she does cruise again, it will be on Disney. ‘Their standard is much, much higher, and I heard really good stories about their care, and they have pediatric doctors on board.’
She chalked it up as a ‘lesson learned:’ ‘I will not ever be cruising with young children, ever again.’
‘I wouldn’t suggest anyone traveling by cruise with young children, especially during flu season, in the off chance that they could get sick, and then you’re in the middle of the ocean.
‘You can’t leave. You don’t have your creature comforts, and there’s no way to go.’
The couple trying to get at least one good picture on the ship during their disaster trip
Now home, she said both she and her husband are coughing, have a headache, and are very fatigued.
She is managing, but her husband, she said, tested positive for the flu, and one of her brothers. She has not… yet.
‘He [My husband] is pretty sick,’ she said. I’m a mom, I don’t have time to be sick.’
Safe and back on land, she laughed: ‘It was my sign to never leave Connecticut again.’
According to the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), there are four types of influenza viruses: A, B, C and D.
Every winter in the United States, the A and B Influenza – H3N2 and H1N1 – are the most prevalent during flu season; however, this year, there is a new version of Influenza A – H3N2 variant called ‘subclade K’.
Infectious disease experts told CNN that those who have not received the flu vaccination should get one due to the increased severity of this year’s virus.
Children who aren’t vaccinated seem to be hit the hardest, along with the elderly and immunocompromised, Today reported.
This new super-flu that emerged in November has a number of different mutations, causing a surge in hospitalizations and deaths, as per the CDC.
The Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database estimates that this class accounts for an estimated 90 percent of cases nationwide.
The super-flu finally caught up with Ellie, who came down with the miserable virus less than 48 hours after returning home.
She told the Daily Mail that her entire family had taken the flu vaccination and added: ‘We all would have gotten much sicker if we didn’t.
