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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
Travel news, opinion and analysis

June 4, 2004

Norwalk Virus Strikes Alaskan Cruise
Nearly 350 passengers and crew aboard a Princess Cruises ship in southeast Alaska fell ill with a virus this week, cruise line officials said. As of Wednesday, 308 passengers and 40 crew members aboard the Island Princess complained of Norwalk virus-like symptoms. Altogether, 2,018 passengers and 896 crew members were making the weeklong voyage from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Whittier. The vessel was in Skagway Wednesday and will probably continue on schedule, said Dean Brown, CEO of Princess Tours Division, which oversees Alaska operations. He said ill passengers and crews were recovering in isolated rooms. Onboard testing confirmed the presence of the norovirus - which includes Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses. The virus can cause diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting for 24 to 48 hours. It is spread through food and water and close contact with infected people or the items they have touched. AP | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- CP: Norwalk virus hits Canadian lodge
-- Channel 3000: Norwalk hits elementary school

• Expect more outbreaks this summer, as a record travel season unfolds. Why? Because the travel industry likes to cut corners in order to maximize profits, and unfortunately that philosophy often extends to the kitchen, where Norwalk is transmitted. Send us your comments.

UK Air Travelers Face Long Delays
Thousands of travelers endured flight chaos after a national air traffic control system failed. Waiting game: Delays at Stansted Stansted and other airports across the country were hit by cancellations and long delays on Thursday after the early-morning glitch in a National Air Traffic Services computer system at West Drayton in west London. There were severe delays at Stansted Airport and many disgruntled passengers slept on seats as they awaited news of their flights. Rosie and Paul Cox from Leicester were due to travel to Oslo at 10am today for a five-day cruise around the Arctic Circle, but were told their flight was unlikely to go today. Cambridge Evening News | Posted 6:45 a.m.
-- BBC: Delays of 2 1/2 hours on some flights

Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Scam
A former travel agent has admitted to charges he kept the money of dozens of travelers without booking their trips and has paid restitution of more than $160,000 to his victims, the attorney general's office said Thursday. John Cassidy, 75, of Fall River, who ran the now-defunct Cassidy/Oliveira Travel Agency in Fall River, allegedly stole from about 70 consumers who gave him money for travel arrangements. From October 2002 to September 2003, Cassidy took the money, payments ranging from $149 to $10,000, but often never forwarded the money to actually pay for the trips. In some instances, Cassidy also used customers' credit card numbers without their authorization to pay for other customers' trips, prosecutors said. AP | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index was released yesterday, and although it showed that satisfaction increased overall, the trend didn't hold for travel. American travelers are only marginally satisfied with hotels, in general, and not too satisfied with airlines, it found. In fact, Americans are apparently happier to stay in hospitals. By contrast to hotels' 73 average score, patient satisfaction increased three points in the new Index and stands at a respectable 76. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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