The Centers for Disease Control is making a no-sail recommendation for at least four full days for Celebrity Mercury which will be returning to Charleston,South Carolina on Thursday, cutting short the third sailing in a row after sickening more than 20 percent of its passengers.
In a statement issued Monday, Celebrity Cruises announced that the Celebrity Mercury will sail a modified itinerary to allow time for an extensive cleaning of the ship.
During Celebrity Mercury's last sailing, a number of guests onboard experienced a gastrointestinal illness, thought to be a norovirus. In an abundance of caution, we are conducting extensive and thorough sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, to help prevent any illness from affecting the next sailing.
Regrettably, in order to conduct the extensive sanitizing, it is necessary to delay the departure of Celebrity Mercury March 19 sailing by two days. Boarding is now anticipated to take place on Sunday, March 21 between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Seating in the cruise terminal at the Port of Charleston is very limited. Therefore, we ask that guests scheduled to depart on this sailing not arrive at the pier on Sunday before 4:00 p.m. We apology for this delay and any inconvenience it may cause our guests.
Due to the delayed departure, it was necessary to make some adjustments to the planned itinerary. Celebrity Mercury will now departed Charleston on Sunday, March 21, be at sea Monday; visit Key West, Florida, Tuesday; Cozumel, Mexico, Wednesday; Costa Maya, Mexico, Thursday; at sea Friday; Nassau, Bahamas, Saturday; and at sea Sunday.
Cruise line spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said Monday that 350 of the 1,829 passengers on the Celebrity Mercury became ill during the latest cruise, which left Charleston on March 8. As reported earlier, the cruise line canceled a Monday port call and will return to Charleston a day earlier than scheduled. Hundreds of passengers and crew got sick during two other cruises that returned to Charleston recently. Tests linked the first outbreak to the common norovirus.
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