PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas has returned to Port Canaveral a day early.
The cruise line is giving passengers full refunds of their fare after nearly 500 guests and crew members were hit with an outbreak of Norovirus as it sailed to Jamaica.
Royal Caribbean told the Associated Press on Thursday that number of ill passengers had risen to 277, that number rose to nearly 500 on Friday.
"We didn't see anybody sick. They did so much cleaning that we didn't get sick. We're lucky," Carleen Prachar, a passenger, told WESH 2 News.
Passengers took to social media on Wednesday, tweeting they were forced to stay onboard the cruise ship after docking in Falmouth, Jamaica, on Wednesday for what was supposed to be a day of excursions.
"It wasn't that we were all affected, we were all told not to come here, we were everywhere in the ship. We went around everywhere, we enjoyed all the food, all the drinks, everything. They were taking very good care of us," passenger Sanya Asad Siddiqi said.
"Only bad thing that happened is that we could not get off in Jamaica or Mexico, that's about it," Nadia Majid said.
Cruise line spokesman Owen Torres told The Associated Press "we think the right thing to do is get everyone home early rather than have guests worry about their health."
Torres says returning a day early gave the cruise line "more time to completely clean and sanitize the ship" before it sails again.
Royal Caribbean sent a letter to passengers with the following statement: "We hoped to give you an amazing vacation and we are sorry we fell short."
