Stomach virus sickens more than 500 on two Royal Caribbean cruise ships
Passengers on world’s largest cruise ship, Independence of the Seas, sickened by norovirus after outbreak of gastrointestinal illness aboard Ovation of the Seas earlier this month
It was supposed to be a relaxing five-day jaunt aboard the world’s largest cruise ship, Independence of the Seas – travel, adventures and good food in the Caribbean while most of the country was shivering through “extremely frigid air, straight from the Arctic”.
But the cruise quickly morphed into a gastrointestinal nightmare, with 332 passengers sickened by a quickly spreading norovirus outbreak and the remaining 5,000 or so people worried they’d be next.
As The Miami Herald wrote, by the time the cruise ship returned, most passengers “couldn’t wait to disembark”.
The cruise left Port Everglades in Miami on Monday, and passengers began reporting symptoms of norovirus two days later.
By Thursday, it was official: Royal Caribbean distributed a letter to passengers about the outbreak, which had overwhelmed the ship’s medical personnel.
“In an abundance of caution, we have implemented enhanced sanitising procedures on-board, as recommended by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and Public Health Agencies worldwide,” part of the letter said.