A STOMACH bug has struck down over 300 passengers on board a Royal Caribbean cruise liner sailing in the Atlantic.
The Independence of the Seas set sail from Florida, USA, on Monday bound for Haiti and Jamaica with more than 5,500 people aboard.
The company said 332 guests had caught Norovirus during the voyage with reports of four-hour long queues to see the doctor.
The ship had departed from Port Everglades on a five-night journey.
A spokesman for Royal Caribbean said they had deployed sanitation experts who would bring in “enhanced sanitary procedures” that would “minimize the risk of a recurrence”.
Cleaners could be seen wearing masks and protective clothing as they cleaned out cabins.
The company had initially said 220 people were ill but passengers claimed the actual figure was higher as not all those affected sought medical help.
Tracy Flores, one of the passengers, said her son was struck down by the stomach bng.
“It was just terrifying – just the amount of people that were coming in at the same time with vomiting and diarrhea and just looked ghastly.” she said.
People being treated by the ship’s doctor also claimed that the ship’s medical bay was ill-equipped to deal with such an outbreak.