It was a record-setting voyage, but not one that Royal Caribbean's public relations team is likely to be bragging about: MS Explorer of the Seas now has the distinction of more sick passengers (630) and crew (54) than any cruise ship since the CDC starting keep stats 20 years ago.
The scenes aboard ship were of a fantasy cruise gone awry: Kim Waite, of London, told The Associated Press that she thought she was the only person who'd fallen ill, only to wheeled into the ship's infirmary packed with hundreds of vomiting passengers.
"I started crying, I couldn't believe it," Waite said. "I was in shock."
Royal Caribbean says the ship will be sanitized and no one will be allowed aboard for a period of more than 24 hours as an extra precaution. It is scheduled to sail again on Friday for a nine-day trip to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
As the AP reports, health inspectors suspect a norovirus (it's actually a whole family of unpleasant bugs) as the cause of the outbreak. But confirmation awaits lab results. It's the same virus that was blamed for sickening nearly 700 people on a Carnival Lines ship in 2006.
Noroviruses have been the culprit on the vast majority of the cruise-ship outbreaks monitored by the Centers for Disease Control under its Vessel Sanitation Program. They are highly contagious gastrointestinal illnesses that causes inflammation of the stomach and large intestines. There are a number of unpleasant symptoms that you are welcome to googled yourself.
WebMD says noroviruses "have become notorious for sending hundreds of cruise ship passengers at a time running for their respective bathrooms and for steering entire ships back to port early."
"Back on dry land, noroviruses also have a big impact on people's health. The CDC estimates that noroviruses are responsible for more than half of all food-borne disease outbreaks each year. And noroviruses are the most common cause of diarrhea in adults and the second most common cause in children."