Grandeur of the Seas sailing again after illness outbreak

Royal Caribbean International’s Grandeur of the Seas set sail again Tuesday, a day after returning to Baltimore early following an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness.

During a voyage that departed Jan. 24 and was supposed to return Tuesday, 193 guests and nine crew members came down with a stomach illness believed to be norovirus, the Miami-based cruise line said. Nearly 10 percent of passengers and just over one percent of crew members were sickened.

On Sunday, a passenger had an unspecified medical emergency on the ship that required hospitalization on land. Spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said strong winds and seas made it impossible to transfer that passenger to another boat, so the ship sped up to return to Baltimore as soon as possible, skipping a port call in Labadee, Haiti.

Martinez said the ship returned early both because of the medical emergency and the illness outbreak.

After Grandeur returned on Monday, cleaning crews conducted an “extensive and thorough” cleaning on the vessel and terminal to keep the suspected virus from spreading.

This story was originally published February 3, 2015 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Grandeur of the Seas sailing again after illness outbreak."