Royal Caribbean Cruise Delayed After Onboard Illness

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas’ returned to the port of Tampa Saturday morning after a five day cruise in Mexico with 153 sick passengers onboard. The passengers were suffering from a stomach virus, thought to be the very contagious Norovirus.

The cruise line treated sick passengers-whose symptoms included vomiting and diarrhea- onboard the ship for free. The crew onboard took precautions to protect guests like disposing of utensils, and condiments and other things that multiple guests might touch.

Crew had to spend extra time sanitizing the ship while it was in port of Tampa Saturday to ensure the health of the next round of passengers due to disembark that evening. Departure was delayed five hours.

In a statement the cruise line urged passengers who had experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms during the past three to reschedule their cruise.