MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Norovirus again attacks largest cruise vessel

Cruise Freedom of the Seas

The world's largest cruise ship, Freedom of the Seas, was unexpectedly forced to spend two additional days in Miami getting the most comprehensive cleaning yet after returning to port last Sunday with sick passengers for the second consecutive cruise.

While the number on board Freedom that apparently came down with the Norovirus was nowhere near the levels that had contracted the illness on other cruises, the fact that it had not been eradicated led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to issue a rare "no sail" recommendation.

Freedom of the Seas, belonging to Miami based Royal Caribbean and with a 3.900 passenger capacity was scheduled to sail from Miami on the evening of December 10 for a seven-day Western Caribbean cruise, but now is scheduled to leave today Tuesday for a modified five-night itinerary.

''This is an ongoing issue, and we hope that taking this action will settle the issue,'' said CDC spokesperson Curtis Allen.

Another vessel, Princess Cruises Sun Princess, also returned from a trip Sunday with about 100 passengers and crew showing symptoms of Norovirus, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Norovirus causes gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting and fever.

Concern over Freedom clearly stemmed from the fact that after returning from a cruise on December 3 with 380 sickened passengers and crew, its extensive cleaning efforts failed to eradicate the stubborn norovirus.

"This extra time (in port) will allow the company to conduct enhanced cleaning procedures onboard the ship, all of which are being done in close coordination with the CDC" said a Royal Caribbean spokesperson. "Additional heightened cleaning procedures have been carried out throughout the ship during its modified sailing."

The outbreaks on Freedom of the Seas and the Sun Princess come only a month after some 700 passengers and crew members were sickened during a trans-Atlantic repositioning sailing by the Carnival Cruise Lines ship Carnival Liberty from Italy to Fort Lauderdale.