A large one family from Connecticut, United States, addressed cruise heading to Caribbean to celebrate the 50 years of marriage of their parents. They agreed and 16 relatives traveled, including children, brothers and grandchildren. But the dream vacation turned into a nightmare just 24 hours later.
After celebrating Christmas all together, Ellie Doyle34 years old, her husband Michael41, and his three children, Maisieof six, and the twins Norah and Porterof 2, boarded the imposing ship Independence of the Seas of Royal Caribbean.
Ellie’s parents, the couple who fulfilled their golden weddingalong with four more children and all their grandchildren, completed the members of the trip that promised to be unforgettable.
The Doyle family boarded a Royal Caribbean ship to celebrate their parents’ golden wedding anniversary. Photo: royalcaribbean.comDuring the first week of January, they would be at sea for seven days, with several stops on the paradisiacal beaches of Nassau, Saint John y St. Thomas.
In dialogue with the Daily Mailthey recounted their fateful experience. «We all entered healthy, and we all left almost dying»Ellie summarized. One day after boarding, two-year-old Norah picked up fever of 40 degrees.
«As she suffers asma childish we get scared when we hear it gaspand my husband Michael went to ask where the ship’s infirmary to take her as soon as possible,» he said. However, he spent more than half an hour trying to find medical personnel.
Ellie and Michael Doyle with their first-born daughter, Maisie. (Photo: FB @ellie.mercado.3)«There are 15 covers, and they kept sending us on a useless search: ‘Deck five, no, cover one, no, it turns out that it is closed but now it will open, so on until finally the only one attended to us doctor on board for more than 4000 passengers«Ellie detailed.
There they nebulized her and checked her blood saturation. oxygenbut at the same time his twin got sick Portertwo years old, with the same symptoms. In addition to the increase in body temperature and intestinal discomfort, the sore throat, body aches and congestion. Soon his sister also became ill. Maisie 6 years old.
In a matter of hours marriage -who traveled about 12 times on different cruises before becoming parents- He had his three young children sick at sea. As if that weren’t stressful and worrying enough, Ellie’s father, 77, and mother, 73, also They were forced to stay in bed in the room because they began to feel sick.
The couple with their three children and Ellie’s parents on the deck of the cruise ship. (Photo: FB @ellie.mercado.3)Two brothers of Ellie They joined the list of sick passengers, then his two nephews, children of his sister Kora Stoll, and another of his brother’s two sons.
Later all those who reported any of the symptoms mentioned, tested positive for “supergripe” H3N2. «My father is a kidney donor-recipient and recently had his gallbladder removed, so he is already immunocompromised and having the flu is dangerous for him,» he revealed.
H3N2 «super flu» outbreak on Royal Caribbean cruise ship
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Doyle gave first-person testimony once he finally set foot on solid ground again. «If you saw the Netflix documentary about ‘The Poop Cruise‘, this was very similar,» said the mother of three and content creator who has more than 50,000 followers on her personal Instagram profile.
«It’s very scary when you’re at sea and your children get sick, especially when they can’t tell you what’s wrong with them,» Ellie described the most desperate moments they endured.
«The infirmary was packed. Everyone on the ship was very, very sick»he assured. And he added: «When we first entered the infirmary it seemed to us that our presence and the chaos around us bothered them.» super flu outbreakas if they wanted to convey to us that it was not an emergency, that they had the necessary tools on board, but they seemed more concerned about the reputation of Royal Caribbean and the cruise itinerary than about the passenger health«.
He also indicated that several areas of the ship were closed at different times of the day, including many of the bathrooms. «The solarium was closed because the toilets were clogged with fecal matter or vomit,» he said.
Michael Doyle in the Royal Caribbean infirmary with one of the twins. (Photo: FB @ellie.mercado.3)«Although We didn’t have much information about what was happening.you could feel the worry and uncertainty, and in every hallway we passed you heard people telling the cleaning staff: «Don’t come today, we are very sick,» he remarked.
During the trip the cruise ship deviated from its route twice. «We were leaving Nassau heading to San Juan and we had to make a stopover in the Turks and Caicos Islands to get an ambulance to treat someone because they didn’t have the necessary equipment on the boat,» he said.
The Doyle family: Ellie and Michael married in 2018 and are parents to three children. (Photo: Facebook Ellie Doyle)«They didn’t tell us what the passenger medical emergency» he said, clarifying that he was not a member of his family. On Sunday, January 4, the Doyle and Stoll families returned to Miami, drove in a rental car back to West Hartford, Connecticut, and still felt as if they were still on the ship.
«My children were vomiting the entire trip,» he lamented. «I wouldn’t recommend anyone travel on a cruise with small children, especially during flu season, because of the risk of them getting sick in the middle of the ocean, where you don’t have your comforts and have no way to leave until you reach a port or return,» he advised.
As soon as they got home, her husband tested positive for the flu, and 48 hours later Ellie did too.. Ten days later, both have recovered and resumed their activities. «It was very stressful, now I need a vacation from my vacation,» the young woman joked.
