For the third time in a month, the Celebrity Mercury has been stricken with a gastrointestinal-illness outbreak. Celebrity Cruises said the illness is believed to be caused by a norovirus.
Because of the outbreak, the Celebrity Mercury will skip Monday’s scheduled call in the British Virgin Islands and return to Charleston, S.C., Thursday morning, a day earlier than scheduled.
The Mercury's next departure will be delayed by two days, as Celebrity will take extra time to sanitize the ship. Boarding is expected to occur on Sunday, March 21. The itinerary was tweaked.
The Mercury will visit Key West on Tuesday, Cozumel on Wednesday, Costa Maya on Thursday and Nassau on Saturday.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mercury had outbreaks on sailings departing Feb. 15 and 26. The most recent sailing left Charleston on March 8.
The Feb. 15 outbreak affected 411 of the Mercury’s 1,833 passengers and 32 of 843 crew members, according to the CDC, and the Feb. 26 outbreak affected 182 of 1,749 passengers and 14 of 850 crew.
The predominant symptoms of ill passengers were diarrhea and vomiting in both cases, said the CDC.
As of late Monday evening, the CDC’s website did not have any details about the latest outbreak on the Mercury.
Celebrity said that the crew has conducted "enhanced cleaning" during the current cruise. While there was a decline in the spread of illness during the sailing, said Celebrity, the cruise line decided to skip a port call and return early "in an abundance of caution."
Ship sanitizing is being done in close coordination with the CDC, said Celebrity.
The story was updated to report that the Mercury's next sailing will be delayed.
