News Digest

Cruise ship damaged in storm turns around again amid norovirus alert

A cruise ship battered by a major Atlantic storm earlier this month was headed back to its home port as another squall threatened its current voyage. Royal Caribbean tweeted on Saturday that the Anthem of the Seas ship would return to the port of Bayonne, New Jersey. But there are also reports of a norovirus outbreak on board after a passenger said sanitation efforts had been increased. Cynthia Martinez, of the cruise line, said that “a small percentage of our guests have experienced gastrointestinal illness thought to be norovirus” - some nine or 10 cases per day out of more than 6,000 passengers on board.

Sanitation levels on the ship have been boosted. (Ship) workers are scurrying around like ants, scrubbing down handrails, tables and any other surfaces that can be washed.

John Turell, an executive with The Associated Press

“The decision to return home was based on avoiding forecasted gale warning weather conditions along our original itinerary and our desire to ensure the safety and comfort of our guests and crew,” Ms Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Miami-based cruise line, said in a statement. John Turell, an executive with The Associated Press who is aboard the ship with his wife, said in an email that the ship’s captain and its cruise director made announcements saying some people were suffering from norovirus. Earlier this month, four people were injured on the Anthem of the Seas after the vessel was hit by 30ft waves and winds in excess of 100mph during a storm off North Carolina.