A FIXBY couple were looking forward to a dream cruise around the Med.

But instead Mr George Nash found himself confined to bed with severe vomiting and diarrhoea as norovirus swept the liner.

And both he and his wife Marion had their holiday cut short, leaving them missing out on a much-anticipated visit to Malta.

Now the couple, of Kennedy Avenue, are among 134 claimants in a massive High Court action against cruise giants, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, which could potentially cost the company millions of pounds in compensation.

In a joint writ issued at London’s High Court and just made publicly available, the claimants alleged they picked up the deadly sickness bug, norovirus.

The test case for which no court date has yet been fixed, is potentially worth easily in excess of £1m and could run to much more.

One claim is by a woman who says her husband died as a result. The other claimants allege they were victims during nine outbreaks of norovirus on the 880-passenger luxury cruise liner Boudicca, between October 2009 and April 2010.

Mr Nash – who also suffered a badly-injured foot on board – said: “It was far from the holiday cruise we expected.

“We had cruised before and knew what to expect but this was totally different.

“I guess at one point some 50% of the passengers were ill with nororvirus. I was in bed for two days and unable to get off the ship.

“They told us they had to clean the cabin but all we had was one man coming round with a cloth, wiping down surfaces.

“The cruise was cut short and we did not stop at Malta which was one of the reasons for our trip. And when the ship got back, it was placed in quarantine for two weeks for a proper deep clean.”

Cruises can cost thousands of pounds a head on the liner.

The passengers claim to have suffered a variety of symptoms which include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, wind, lethargy, fever, faecal incontinence, weight loss, and bloating, and some passengers still suffer from post infective irritable bowel syndrome.

The writ accuses the cruise line of putting profits before the health and safety of its passengers. It says the company acted with view to commercial gain rather than safeguarding the safety and well being of the passengers.

Other passengers from Yorkshire named in the writ include Doris Jones, of Denby Dale.

The writ claims the company failed to warn passengers before or during their stay of a norovirus outbreak and allowed them to stay on board knowing they were at risk of contracting the virus.

It alleges that the company failed to provide specialist training to cleaning staff, failed to clean all infected rooms and communal areas enough, including TV remotes, and door handles, failed to clear public areas, failed to disinfect all public areas with virus-killing disinfectant, and failed to isolate infected guests from new guests, the writ says.

And it claims that there was a failure to deep clean the ship properly between voyages, with the result that the virus remained present.

In addition to the physical symptoms suffered by passengers the writ says they also suffered distress and anxiety for themselves, and from watching each other fall ill, and lost the enjoyment of their holidays, which were of little or no benefit to them.