By Daniel Brock
dbrock@scbiznews.com
Published March 9, 2010

Hundreds of people have gotten sick on board a cruise ship departing from Charleston in the last month, but officials from the operating cruise line, Celebrity Cruises, and the State Ports Authority say that business remains healthy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday that 196 of nearly 2,600 passengers and crew aboard the Celebrity Mercury were sick with stomach ailments. That number is up from an Associated Press report that cited 55 cases of illness.

So far this year, there have been a total of eight outbreaks of intestinal illnesses on cruise ships, compared with 15 for all of 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same week the Mercury was fighting its onboard illness, the CDC reported that Holland America’s Maasdam, Celebrity’s Millennium and Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas also were battling gastrointestinal bugs among passengers.

The Mercury arrived in Charleston early Monday and was originally scheduled to depart at 5 p.m. Embarkation activities were pushed back, however, to give the cruise line extra time to sanitize the ship.

The Mercury finally sailed for the Caribbean at about 8 p.m. It’s the ship’s second consecutive departure to be delayed by extra sanitation activities.

The CDC’s announcement came less than two weeks after more than 400 passengers and crew contracted the norovirus on the Mercury’s Feb. 15-26 voyage.

On Monday, passengers were bussed from the port’s passenger terminal to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center to wait for the ship’s cleaning to be finished.

Kathy and Glenn Lewis, of Hampstead, N.C., said they were aware of the Mercury’s recent health woes, yet reluctantly decided to go through with their plans anyway.

“We’re concerned,” Glenn Lewis said as he headed toward the shuttle. “But we’re hoping for the best.”

According the Celebrity Cruises Web site, on cruises lasting nine nights or longer — such as the one the Lewises booked — if passengers cancel 34 days to 20 days before departure, they’ll be refunded 50% of their fare. A cancellation 19 days or fewer before sailing earns no refund.

The Mercury’s norovirus outbreak was first reported on Feb. 21.

The Lewises booked their trip late last year and, after having a friend look into cancellation option, said they felt like they wouldn’t be able to get a refund from Celebrity.

“We made the investment, so we’re going to go,” said Kathy Lewis, who added that she had packed dozens of bottles of hand sanitizer and a large supply of stomach medicine.

“We’re also learning how to open doors with our elbows,” she said.

Cruising along
But Celebrity Cruises hasn’t experienced a backlash from the Mercury’s recent spate of illnesses, according to company spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. That’s because the norovirus isn’t specific to the cruise ship, she said.

“We have no impact in terms of cancellations from the norovirus,” Martinez said. “It’s not just a cruise line issue. It’s something that the whole area is dealing with. If people thought it was the ship, they wouldn’t get on it.”

Indeed, the norovirus has seen a spike across the state. Officials at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said that they’ve investigated more than double the number of norovirus cases than usual at this point in the year.

“We’ve looked at 40 or 50, year-to-date,” DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick said. “In the previous four of five years we would have investigated 10, 12, maybe 15 max.”

The cases, according to DHEC, have appeared largely in institutional settings, such as schools, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and the increase has been seen across the country.

The Mercury, however, had a history with the norovirus prior to calling on Charleston.

According to a report on the Center for Disease Control Web site, the Mercury experienced norovirus outbreaks in January and February of 2009. The total of four illness outbreaks is the most of any cruise ship monitored by the CDC since the beginning of 2009.

On the January cruise, which started in San Diego and ended in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 157 of more than 2,700 passengers and crew were reported sick, according to the CDC.

The February trip had 119 sick passengers and crew out of 2,696 on board.

Martinez said she would have to look into the incidents further before commenting.

Port officials don’t think the Mercury’s shaky start will affect the cruise business in Charleston. It’s a revenue stream that the SPA, which announced a $7 million budget cut last month, is hopeful will complement its foundering container cargo business.

Charleston will host 67 cruise calls in 2010. That number will jump to about 100 in 2011, according to port officials. The SPA also is working toward building a new passenger cruise terminal.

“With the commitment of Carnival and Celebrity, the cruise business has a bright future in Charleston,” said SPA spokesman Byron Miller.

Contact Daniel Brock at 849-3144