The number of passengers and crew who fell ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship climbed to more than 600 on Monday, many of them vomiting and suffering diarrhea.
The updated sick count aboard the Explorer of the Seas, which cut short its Caribbean cruise and was expected to dock in New Jersey on Wednesday, is more than double the 300 originally thought to have been felled by gastrointestinal illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among those sick were some of the onboard entertainers, which caused shows to be canceled, passengers said.
"I started with upset stomach and vomiting, and that lasted all night and into the morning," passenger Joseph Angelillo told CNN in a telephone interview.
Another ill passenger, Arnee Dodd of Connecticut, wrote on Twitter: "I've been sick and quarantined... Everything I touch goes in a biohazard bag."
Passenger Brittany Ann Schneider, who did not get sick, told Reuters that for two to four days she saw few people.
"I was not aware that people were sick until they made an announcement after they had canceled a walk they were supposed to have," she said in an email.
Port calls and activities in Haiti and St. Maarten were canceled.
Sick passengers had to remain in their rooms until they were cleared to come outside, said Schneider, who is from Effort, Pennsylvania.
Schneider said she felt officials should have returned home at the height of the outbreak, rather than continuing on.
"The refund they are giving us is a little unacceptable," she said. "They are only refunding half of the trip and giving us a 50 percent off for (a) future cruise."
REUTERS