Over 300 fall ill on Caribbean cruise
Royal Caribbean Cruises said one of its ships will cut short a trip two days early and return to port in the US after hundreds of passengers became sick.
Investigators for the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday boarded the Explorer of the Seas in the Virgin Islands where over 300 passengers and crew came down with a gastrointestinal illness.
The Norovirus strain is suspected as the cause of the widespread illness but CDC officials or the cruise line have yet to confirm this.
The ship, which has 3,050 passengers on board will return to Cape Liberty, New Jersey where it will undergo a full sanitization program, according to Royal Caribbean.
In a statement, the cruise line said it will "take several steps" to compensate passengers for the shortened trip and before it sets sail again "all possible measures will be taken to prevent further problems."
This is the second recent case of a suspected norovirus outbreak on a Royal Caribbean ship.
As reported last week on TravelMole, 66 cruise passengers on the Majesty of the Seas came down with a gastrointestinal condition during a four-night Caribbean cruise.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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