According to USA Today’s Cruise Log, Celebrity Mercury has cut out a port call and will return to home port Charleston early because of a third large outbreak of Norovirus.   On the Feb. 15 voyage, 411 out of 1830 passengers (22%) became ill with the gastrointestinal disease.  According to the Centers of Disease Control,  some 182 cruisers fell ill on the February 26 cruise.  And, according to CDC’s website, in 2009 there were two outbreaks aboard Celebrity Mercury.

Cruise Log’s Gene Sloan reports that a Celebrity spokeswoman that the current outbreak has affected 342 passengers aboard the ship.

While the incidence of Norovirus was on the decline, in the first three months of 2010 the CDC has confirmed eight outbreaks aboard cruise ships calling in the United States.   Additional episodes have been reported on Celebrity Millennium (2/22); RCI’s Jewel of the Seas (2/22); Cunard’s Queen Victoria (1/04 and 2/12); Holland America’s Maasdam (2/19) and the Balmoral (1/05).

To learn how to reduce the chances of getting the Norovirus, see our previous story “Cruise Doc Offers Tips For Avoiding Noroviruses Aboard Ship