Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas cruise ship has been forced to end its voyage and return to Florida earlier than planned due to the emergence of norovirus, a stomach virus, on board.
"Norovirus has infected 277 passengers and crew members of one of the of the world's largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, while sailing to Jamaica. The ship will return to Florida on Saturday instead of Sunday. More than 8,000 passengers will receive a full refund for the cruise," CBS News reported.
As it became known, the liner left for Jamaica last Sunday. Three days later, on Wednesday, as soon as the ship arrived at the island's port, passengers began to complain en masse on social networks that they were forbidden to leave the ship, although the tourists had an excursion planned for that day.
CBS News also reports that the ship will be completely disinfected upon arrival in Florida. Norovirus is a contagious stomach infection that is transmitted through food, water, utensils, and through contact with a person who is already infected. Of course, you can avoid infection by carefully observing hygiene.
According to experts, the Royal Caribbean cruise liner Oasis of the Seas is popular among tourists. Andrey Mikhailovsky, CEO of the Infoflot Cruise Center, commented on the incident to the Travel Russian News portal:
"The Oasis of the Seas is quite popular on the Russian market. However, we cannot provide precise information on the number of Russians on board the ship at the moment, since many companies are engaged in the sale of Royal Caribbean International products in Russia. There are currently no tourists on the ship directly from Infoflot. As for the norovirus, it can hardly be described as a frequent occurrence for the cruise sector. However, in general, there is a risk of its occurrence in a confined space with a large crowd of people. There is only one piece of advice - observe hygiene as much as possible."
Source: trn-news.ru