A MELBOURNE family had their European holiday shipwrecked after two of their children were not allowed to board a cruise ship.

The Wu family, of Box Hill South, in Melbourne’s east, had been booked on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas cruise ship travelling from Stockholm to St Petersburg via Finland on July 9, but were left furious after two of their children were not allowed on board after being deemed too sick to travel.

Dr Debra Dettman-Wu and her family had flown to Europe to visit relatives in Norway, and had been travelling together in a group of 13.

She said the trouble started when her husband had ticked a box on a form asking whether any of their travelling party had had a cough and a fever in the past week.

As their daughter had flu-like symptoms six days before and their son had been coughing with chronic asthma, he did so, however upon boarding the Serenade of the Seas, Dr Dettman-Wu was horrified to learn her two children would not be allowed on board.

“It was really distressing, the children were in tears — I was almost in tears,” she said.

“There were three doctors in our group and we’re adamant the children were not a risk, but there were still not allowed on-board.”

This meant Dr Dettman-Wu’s husband and children had to rush from the Stockholm port to the airport and book a flight to Helsinki, find accommodation, an English-speaking doctor, and get clearance to travel before linking up with the cruise ship the next evening.

No compensation was offered when the family was finally reunited.

In an email seen by the Whitehorse Leader, Royal Caribbean told Dr Dettman-Wu “the decision made was given in an effort to prevent the spread of any possible virus among our guests and crew on-board ... we respect and stand behind the physician’s decision.”

Dr Dettman-Wu said she believed Royal Caribbean’s sick passenger policy was “ridiculous”.

“The policy really makes no sense, as the average child suffers six to eight viral illnesses per year,” she said.

“If they are excluded for the duration of the illness, and seven days after being completely well, that would mean each child could be expected to be banned for at least 60 days per year — or have a one in six chance of not being allowed to board.

“There were six children travelling in our group giving close to 100 per cent likelihood at least one child would either have a virus or be in the seven day mandatory post-viral exclusion period on any given day.

“Of course precautions should be taken if people are acutely unwell, but there is no basis for this policy.”

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Dr Dettman-Wu said she urged families travelling on cruises to obtain a fit-to-travel medical certificate for children before boarding.

Royal Caribbean had not responded to the Whitehorse Leader’s questions for comment before publication.