The norovirus has struck again, this time hitting two Princess Cruise Line ships, both based in Fort Lauderdale. The illness, a fast spreading gastro-intestinal bug spread quickly through the Ruby Princess and the Crown Princess.
UPDATED: Princess announced late Sunday that the number sick on the two ships stood at 499, much worse than previously stated.
The new numbers:
- Crown Princess 364 passengers, 30 crew (revised from 140, 18)
- Ruby Princess 92 pasengers, 13 crew (revised from 81, 9)
Both ships were at sea, and the Crown Princess returned to Port Everglades on Saturday and Ruby Princess returned Sunday. Both were returning from seven day Caribbean cruises. Princess sent an “emergency notification” to passengers who are set to embark on those ships this weekend. saying their departure would be delayed by a norovirus attack.
“It will be necessary for the ship to undergo a prolonged and additional disinfection in Port Everglades on Sunday,” was the message sent to passengers.
It was expected that loading of passengers would be delayed, and embarkations were moved from the port to the nearby Broward Convention Center.
The statement continued, “The ship continues to undergo the highest level of sanitation to stop the spread of illness, and a comprehensive disinfection of the ship’s public areas and all passenger cabins will occur during turnaround this Sunday using additional cleaning crew who will be brought aboard. As a result, passenger embarkation will be delayed until 2 p.m.”
The norovirus has been a major concern in the cruise industry due to the closed nature of the environment. Cruise lines have taken major steps over the last few years, placing hand sanitizer stations over the ship and encouraging their use and proper passenger hygiene.
Research also continues for a vaccine against the sickness.
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