Illness strikes cruise ship for a third time

For the third time in about a month, passengers aboard the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship that ports out of Charleston, have caught an illness on the ship. The intestinal illness, thought to be a norovirus, just seems to stick around the Celebrity Mercury. This time, 350 out of the 1,829 passengers have come up ill from the ship that left on March 8.

In a statement, Cynthia Martinez with the cruise line says they continue to conduct enhanced cleaning during the remainder of the voyage, and will do so as well as after the ship arrives back in Charleston. The statement reads: “While there was a decline in the spread of the illness during the sailing, in an abundance of caution, and in order to prevent additional guests and crew from becoming ill, we have decided to bypass Monday’s port of call and return a day earlier.”

The next Mercury departure will also be delayed by two days. Celebrity Cruises President Daniel Hanrahan says “I would like to apologize for the inconvenience. The extra time we are taking to sanitize the ship will help prevent additional guests from becoming ill.”