Hundreds Sick, Royal Caribbean Cruise Cut Short
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 Seas' scheduled nine-day cruise trip to Jamaica, after 193 passengers and 9 crew members became ill, apparently with norovirus.
The cruise line cut short a nine-day trip to Jamaica. The ship returned to the Port of Baltimore on Monday. The cruise was originally scheduled to return to Baltimore on Tuesday.
The illness, including vomiting and diarrhea, is believed to be norovirus, a potentially serious contagion that can spread from person to person through contaminated food and water and on contaminated surfaces.
Cynthia Martinez, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman, said the illness affected 193 passengers, or nearly 10 percent of those on board, and nine crew members.
The sick were "responding well to over-the-counter medication administered on board the ship," Martinez said in a statement.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control confirmed the "causative agent" of the widespread illness was norovirus.
Cleaning crews spent much of Monday and Tuesday scrubbing down a cruise ship
