Talk about a ruined vacation. CNN reported on Monday that a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was forced to dock two days early after a particularly nasty outbreak of "gastrointestinal illness," sickened more than 600 passengers — including a few of the ship's entertainers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, passengers and crew members were experiencing vomiting and diarrhea, symptoms that are consistent with norovirus, although the exact cause is still unknown.
According to a CDC spokesperson, 577 of the 3,050 passengers and 49 of the 1,165 crew members reported being afflicted by the illness.
The cruise ship left from Cape Liberty, N.J. on January 21, and sailed to the Caribbean before passengers became ill. It returned to port on Wednesday.
Spokespeople for the cruise line said it would be performing "a thorough 'barrier' sanitization program on the entire ship to make certain that any remaining traces of the illness are eliminated."
You can read CNN's full report, here.