FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A cruise ship carrying over 700 sick passengers and crewmembers docked at Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. The 16-day cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines' Liberty turned nightmarish when the highly contagious norovirus struck 534 of 2,804 passengers.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that 142 members of the 1,186-person crew also were also affected by the virus and had to visit the infirmary. When Liberty docked on Sunday, 14 passengers and five crewmembers were still in isolation.
Eddie Amico of West Palm Beach, Fla told Sun-Sentinel that the cruise was horrible, "It was a horrible cruise. It was the worst cruise. It was N.G., no good,"
Norovirus causes vomiting and diarrhea almost right away after infection and is highly contagious. Authorities believe that the virus may have come abroad when the ship left Rome on November 3. Brian Swanson of Ontario said he was throwing up for 6 days and lost 13 pounds as a result of avoiding cruise food.
Almost immediately after the ship docked, intensive cleaning operations began with an anti-viral fogging agent being sprayed all over the ship. Health specialists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are scheduled to check the ship before giving it an all clear.
Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz only said that the virus came to the ship in Italy. Liberty was scheduled to set sail on a Caribbean voyage on Sunday, but that has been postponed till Tuesday to give the crew enough time to clean the ship.
