Centers for Disease Control

Over 130 passengers were sick with gastrointestinal illnesses on a Royal Caribbean ship that sailed from Los Angeles over the Fourth of July weekend, CNN reported this week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention said the official number of passengers who were sick was 134, with at least seven members of the crew that were also afflicted. Those who were infected were beset by symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.

The outbreak happened on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas and was reported to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) on July 11. VSP officials are tasked with tracking and reporting gastrointestinal illness outbreaks, including norovirus, on cruise ships.

A Royal Caribbean ship scored just one point above “unsatisfactory” in a recent health inspection conducted by the Centers for Disease Control; now ship officials are working to fix the issue.

In February, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas had its regular health inspection in which inspectors found over 50 hygiene and safety protocol violations, according to media reports. The violations included improper food storage and crew members handling ice with open forearm wounds. Youth programs also failed to properly report children with GI symptoms, a cause for concern given news reports of a recent string of norovirus outbreaks on ships.

Typically, cruise lines must score above an 85 to pass evaluations. Symphony of the Seas narrowly passed the threshold with a score of 86, according to media reporting. To correct the issues, the cruise line alleges some of the steps taken included retraining employees and amending standard operating procedures related to food storage and reporting illnesses in youth centers.

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