MIAMI, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- P&O Cruise Line's Oceana returned to Port Everglades Friday reporting 293 passengers and crew with gastrointestinal ailments.
Mamy of those stricken recovered by the time they reached port, and there are signs that the outbreak could be waning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an optimistic report indicating that efforts to scrub down four ships that have been infected in Florida have been successful.
"I think it's absolutely safe to go on cruises," said David Forney, head of the CDC's vessel-sanitation unit.
He cautioned, however, that people get sick no matter where they are and illnesses on cruise ships will never be eliminated.
"Ideally, we would like to say there are no illnesses on the ships, but that's not the case," Forney said.
More than 1,000 passengers sailing out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, the Port of Miami and Port Canaveral have come down with ailments believed to be the Norwalk virus in the last month.
Disney Cruise Line's Magic and Holland America's Amsterdam were taken completely out of service for a stem-to-stern cleaning. The Amsterdam has reported no ailments recently. Although the Magic has reported two dozen illnesses on its current cruise, officials are encouraged.
"We'd like the number to be zero, but it's not surprising given what's happening across the globe," said Mark Jaronski, a Disney Cruise Line spokesman.
The Amsterdam reported that 10 of 1,190 passengers and two of 577 crew members were stricken during its last cruise, which ended Wednesday.
There have been no new reports of recent outbreaks on Carnival Cruise Line's Fascination.
The CDC said gastrointestinal problems on cruise ships have declined dramatically since the 1970s, but they have apparently increased this year compared to last year.
There were 27 outbreaks for every 100,000 passenger-days in the 1970s compared with 3.7 from 1996 to 2000.
The CDC said this year's figures are incomplete, but there were seven outbreaks on U.S. ships last year, four of them identified as the Norwalk virus, and 21 this year -- nine of them confirmed as Norwalk.
