Celebrity Mercury
350 people sick on Caribbean cruise
CHARLESTON, S.C. — About 350 people were responding well to medicine after getting sick on a cruise to the Caribbean that departed from South Carolina, the cruise line said Tuesday.
Celebrity Cruise spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said 326 of the more than 1,800 passengers on the Celebrity Mercury began complaining Sunday of upset stomachs, vomiting and diarrhea. Martinez said 27 of the nearly 850 crew members also reported symptoms.
The ship left Charleston on Feb. 15, the first departure in a newly-expanded year-round schedule of cruises from South Carolina as the industry expands in the state.
Martinez says the crew is conducting "enhanced cleaning" to prevent the spread of the illness.
An extra doctor and two nurses came aboard in St. Kitts, in the Leeward Islands, and will sail to Charleston, arriving early Friday.
It's not clear what caused the outbreak.
The Celebrity Mercury has six more departures set from Charleston during the coming months, including a 16-night trip through the Panama Canal ending in Los Angeles.
Comments
Isn't most of cruise ship workers of foreign descent. Are they making passengers sick?
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