Soon after departing, passengers began to get ill in record numbers. With 556 ill, the percentage of sickened passengers became 27 percent, an extremely large number.
Passengers report self-service buffets were converted to staff served to keep the passengers from handling the serving utensils. The ship was being cleaned with stronger than usual disinfectant, ordered by the cruise line combat the spreading virus.
The United States Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) has reported statistics as of November 13 as follows.
Number of ill passengers out of total number of passenger as of 11/13:
429 of 2804 (15.3%)
Number of ill crew out of total number of crew as of 11/13:
116 of 1166 (9.94%)
This indicates the virus is still running out of control of the ship, claiming more victims and ruining more vacations.
The CDC Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP)further reports these actions:
Carnival Cruise Line and the crew aboard the ship took the following actions to respond to the outbreak:
- Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures,
- Will staff the ship with additional cleaners that will sail from St. Maarten to Fort Lauderdale,
- Submitted stools specimens for analysis
- Are providing daily updates to VSP
CDC VSP staff will board the ship in St. Maarten on November 16th and sail on the ship back to Fort Lauderdale.
VSP staff will conduct a targeted environmental health investigation and make recommendations. The voyage began on November 3rd and departed from Rome.
In cases of outbreaks, the CDC conducts investigations if more than 3 percent of passengers or crew come down sick.
As many as 700 passengers may have become infected by the end of the cruise. U.S. inspectors will look at whether food or water contributed to the outbreak.
The ship was originally scheduled to set sail again Sunday, but Carnival pushed the departure day back to next Tuesday so that the crew could have two days to disinfect the ship, Carnival officials said.
NOVEMBER 23, 2006 - UPDATE
Two passengers have reported to have died onboard. It is unclear at this time if the Norovirus contributed to, or was responsible for the death. One of those cases is HERE
NOVEMBER 25, 2006 - UPDATE
Passengers on the next cruise fell ill to Norovirus on the Liberty, which was delayed in port two days for sanitizing after the mass infection on the prior cruise. That shortened cruise was back in port on November 25. The number of ill was not reportable by CDC standards, which means less than 2% of the passengers, or less than 56 passengers on this particular vessel were reported infected.
Liberty departed later November 25th for an eight-day trip to Costa Maya, Mexico; Limon, Costa Rico; and Colon, Panama, returning Dec. 3.
View our cruise ship sanitation inspection reports HERE
Massive Norovirus Outbreak
Translantic Cruise Plagued By Record Numbers Of Ill
Carnival Liberty - November 15, 2006
Name: Numerous Passengers
Event Date: November 15, 2006
Bruise: Norovirus
Bruise Location: At sea off Rome
Passengers Ill: 556
Crew Ill: 154
Details:
The cruise departed Rome, Italy on November 3, 2006 on a 16 day translantic cruise to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The ship is due in Ft.Lauderdale on November 19, 2006.
