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New cruise ship outbreak sickens 229
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Another outbreak of gastrointestinal sickness has marred a cruise. Carnival Cruise Lines said Sunday that 229 of 3,160 passengers became ill aboard the Conquest during its seven-day Caribbean cruise, which ended Sunday when it returned to New Orleans. "We left Cayman Islands, and I got violent sick," said Tammi Bowman, who said she experienced vomiting and diarrhea. Confined to her room for two days, she was dependent on room service. "All they served was sandwiches." Her cabin steward would not clean her room or bring her fresh towels until she briefly left her room, Bowman said. "It was like we had leprosy." Walter Aterkenhoff said he contacted the infirmary after suffering stomach cramps, vomiting, fever and diarrhea. "I got royal treatment," he said. And overall, he said, "this was a very nice vacation." Crews worked to sanitize the ship and drained the pools every day, said another passenger, who described the Conquest as "very clean." The cruise line said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the cause of the outbreak. (CDC: Cruises 'absolutely safe') But, given recent incidents of Norwalk-like virus (NLV) aboard cruise ships, "the company is treating the outbreak as NLV and proceeding with comprehensive cleaning and sanitizing efforts," Carnival said in a statement. "Aggressive sanitizing helps stem the spread, which can occur when infected individuals come in contact with a surface and then others touch the same surface." Cleanup of the Carnival line's Fascination, whose passengers suffered from a similar outbreak two weeks ago, stopped that outbreak. The Conquest's next voyage, a seven-day cruise to the western Caribbean, was scheduled to depart Sunday afternoon. The time for passengers to embark was delayed until 4 p.m. "to provide extra time for the aggressive housekeeping measures to be completed," Carnival said. The ship is expected to depart around 8 p.m. Passengers who choose not to go can cancel and receive a refund or credit for a future cruise, the company said. "If they do opt to sail, and in consideration of the delayed embarkation, they will be given a $15 stipend for lunch for that day and complimentary shuttle service to the French Quarter," Carnival said. Kathie Edwards said she'd go ahead and take the cruise, though she acknowledged "it's a little bit scary." "Hopefully, everything will be OK," she said. "We've come a long way to get here, so we'll go forward with it." Similar outbreaks in recent weeks have beset passengers and crew aboard the Holland America Amsterdam, the Disney Magic and the P&O UK Oceana. The Conquest, a $500 million, 952-foot ship went on its inaugural voyage December 1.
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