More than 200 people aboard a still-at-sea Cunard Line cruise bound for New York, including members of the crew, contracted norovirus in the latest cruise ship outbreak of the nasty stomach bug.
Of the 2,538 guests on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, 224 reported getting ill on the current voyage along with 17 crew members, this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cruise departed from Southampton, England on March 8 to set out for New York and later the Caribbean. The entire journey, however, doesn’t conclude until April 6, leaving the rest of the guests stuck at sea as the viral infection sweeps through the ship.
“We have had a small number of guests on board Queen Mary 2 who have reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. We are continuing to closely monitor the guests and, as a precaution, completed a comprehensive deep clean of the ship and immediately activated our enhanced health and safety protocols, which are proving to be effective,” a Cunard spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.
Another ship, the Seabourn Encore with Seabourn Cruise Line, also has a growing norovirus outbreak on its hands. So far, 12 of the 461 guests aboard have reported being ill, along with 22 of the 405 crew members, according to the CDC.