Sickness rips through Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in Florida

Some 100 people aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship set for a week-long western cruise experienced unpleasant gastrointestinal illness symptoms. The Radiance of the Seas departed from Tampa, Florida, on Saturday for its seven-day voyage, but just three days in a viral outbreak was reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s vessel sanitation program.

Eighty-nine passengers and two crew members were among those who experienced nasty symptoms, including diarrhea and vomiting.

At this time, the CDC says the cause is unknown.

The world’s second-largest cruise operator has since claimed protective ‘measures have been implemented onboard’ the sprawling vessel.

‘Enhanced measures have been implemented onboard in an abundance of caution to protect the health and comfort of all our guests and crew,’ a spokesperson for the line’s parent company, Royal Caribbean Group, told USAToday in a statement.

The CDC echoed the billion-dollar cruise company’s statement.

‘Ill passengers and crew were isolated from others,’ the CDC said, and ‘increased cleaning and disinfection procedures’ were implemented.

Cruise ships must report gastrointestinal illnesses to the CDC, the agency also noted.

‘Cases reported are totals for the entire voyage,’ the CDC’s website states. ‘It does not mean all people are sick at the same time, such as when they arrive or leave a port or ship.’