Mercury staying in port awhile

Carrying hundreds of passengers ill with a stomach bug, the cruise ship Celebrity Mercury plans to return to Charleston a day early on Thursday with a recommendation from federal health officials not to sail again for at least four days.

This voyage, which departed the Port of Charleston on March 8, marks the third local embarkation in which passengers became sick with what appears to be norovirus. Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for Celebrity's parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, said 342 out of 1,829 passengers became ill this trip.

That follows 207 sick passengers on the previous voyage and 419 sick passengers on the trip before that. This time, the cruise will forgo a call in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Martinez said, as crew members continue conducting "enhanced cleaning" in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC spokesman Ricardo Beato said his agency will issue a "no-sail recommendation" for four days, as officials continue their investigation. He described the procedure as "one of the last resources."

"We haven't determined why the controls that were in place after the first two outbreaks were not effective," Beato said. Those efforts included extra cleaning, so much that it delayed the second sailing by a day, plus delivering twice daily reports of illness and disinfection plans to the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program.

Keeping the ship docked for several days would allow more thorough inspections with the hope of pinpointing the source of outbreaks, Beato said. He said the effort aims "to really protect both the industry and the

passengers from any future illnesses."

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reports 62 norovirus or suspected norovirus outbreaks across the state this year, including seven in Charleston County, one in Berkeley County and one in Dorchester County, according to spokesman Adam Myrick. Most of those outbreaks occurred in confined communities, such as long-term care facilities or schools and colleges, he said, and DHEC has investigated more than twice the usual number of stomach bug clusters this year.

"With norovirus being so prevalent out in the community, it certainly would be easy to assume someone would be sick before they get on the ship," Myrick said. "It's so common right now and we're seeing such increased numbers of cases, that it's certainly a reasonable thought."

Norovirus symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps, sometimes accompanied by a low-grade fever. The highly contagious illness usually lasts a day or two and spreads through food, water or person-to-person contact.

Celebrity's first sailing kicked off Charleston's 2010 cruise season, which anticipates a record 67 calls by big pleasure ships. Celebrity President and Chief Executive Daniel Hanrahan apologized to current passengers in a written statement.

"I have made this decision to delay the sailing, because we want to maintain our high health standards onboard our ships while providing our guests with the best cruise experience possible," Hanrahan said. "The extra time we are taking to sanitize the ship will help prevent any additional guests from becoming ill."

Passengers will receive an onboard credit for one day of the cruise fare and a future certificate for 25 percent of the fare paid, according to Celebrity officials.

The Mercury departed Charleston on March 8 and made calls in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and Basseterre, St. Kitts. Celebrity continues working on its plans for subsequent sailings from Charleston, the next of which was scheduled to depart Friday.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.