WASHINGTON — More than 200 people who became ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship are back in Baltimore, after a stomach-turning bout with norovirus.
Royal Caribbean cut short the Grandeur of the Sea’s scheduled 9-day cruise trip to Jamaica, after 193 passengers and 9 crew members became ill, apparently with norovirus.
“Those affected by the short-lived illness are responding well to over-the-counter medication administered on board the ship,” says Royal Caribbean spokesperson Cynthia Martinez, in a statement reported by WJZ-TV.
A passenger, identified by WJZ as Krisa, says the experience wasn’t pleasant.
“High fever, extreme stomach flu, I guess you could call it. You’re in your room for more than a day,” she said.
According to the cruise line, when the ship was in Jamaica, CDC health officers boarded to collect samples and evaluate the outbreak.
This not the Grandeur of the Sea’s first battle with norovirus.
Last April, more than 100 passengers on the same ship came down with the gastrointestinal virus.
In May of 2013, the ship caught fire at sea. Nobody was injured.
The ship is being cleaned and disinfected, and the terminal is being cleaned.
