Over 300 Cruise Passengers Fall Ill

What happens when 400 passengers on a cruise ship catches Norovirus.  The short answer would be, the cruise ship’s septic system gets one hell of a workout.  The longer answer involve things like a CDC (center for disease control)  investigation, additional medical personnel and a hot tub that I would not be visiting.

When passengers boarded the Celebrity Mercury for an 11 day cruise heading out of Charleston, South Carolina they were expecting a dream vacation.  Instead, many of them (over 300) ended up with getting sick. No, it wasn’t due to rough seas or anything that mundane, it looks to be a full blown outbreak of what may be Norovirus.

Standard procedures during these outbreaks dictate that affected passengers are quarantined, although I am not sure how you quarantine 20% of the passengers.  The good news is it has been reported that passengers are responding favorably to over the counter medications being given onboard.  Those passengers will be compensated in the form of on-board credit for the number of days they were locked-up.  The better news is that this norovirus outbreak will not effect the next sailing of the Mercury.

The Center for Disease control will be launching an investigation into this outbreak, standard procedure for any outbreak of more than 2 percent of a cruise.  The reason for this investigation is to determine if it was indeed a Norovirus outbreak or just something mimicing Noro.  The Mercury is due back into Charleston this Friday and it doesn’t look as if the next sailing will be affected.  However if you are cruising any time soon or are just curious this may be a good time to familiarize yourself with Norovirus.  Here is a post I wrote last year about Norovirus.  The post includes a description of what Norovirus is and ways to help prevent contracting Noro.

Related posts:

1. Norovirus Rears Its Ugly Head
2. How Hard Is It to Fall Overboard a Cruise Ship
3. CDC Readjusts Their Mexico Travel Warning
4. Cruise Line Cancellations to Mexican Ports of Call
5. Cruise Lines Eliminate Fuel Surcharges

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