A CRUISE company has confirmed today that there has been a suspected outbreak of a vomiting bug among passengers on a 11 night cruise from Southampton to Scandinavia. 

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines have told the Daily Echo that a number of passengers aboard its vessel Balmora have fallen ill with what is believed to be norovirus.

As previously reported, passengers on the same ship were struck down with the bug during an eight-day cruise to Norway last month. 

Now the ship is at the heart of yet another outbreak - which has forced the firm to cancel a three night Belgium & France cruise scheduled to leave Southampton on Saturday to allow a deep clean of the ship. 

A Fred Olsen Cruise Lines spokeswoman said: "There has been a high incidence of the gastro-type illness, Norovirus, in the UK over the past few weeks and sadly this has meant some guests have brought this virus onto the ship.

"Norovirus is a very common virus, second only to the common cold.

"Fred Olsen believes that cancelling this ‘mini-cruise’ is the best course of action in order to ensure that all guests leave the ship and to give the ship a clear ‘fire break’, when the virus cannot pass from human-to-human contact, thereby providing the greatest opportunity for the virus to be removed from any surfaces."

To compensate guests that were booked onto the mini cruise, Fred Olsen said it was offering the chance to transfer to a selection of alternative sailings in 2015, something that a number of guests have already done.