Apparently a cruise ship finally made it back to Charleston, South Carolina last Friday after more than 400 passengers got sick during the Caribbean trip. The Celebrity Cruises ship Mercury ended a voyage marked by an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness that sickened 435 people out of the 1,838 passengers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia said that the outbreak was the results of norovirus, which can spread from contract with contaminated food or drink, by touching objects that infected people have touched, or through close contact with people who ware infected. Norovirus is a common cause of viral gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships.

So far this year, three such outbreaks have already occurred on cruise ships that were docked at United States ports. In 2009, norovirus was the cause of two outbreaks on the Mercury. The outbreaks reported were investigated by the Centers for Disease Control, who said that it infected at least 3 percent of the people who traveled by way of Cruise ships that carried at least 100 people or more.

Symptoms of this virus include upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea. The sick passengers and crew responded well to over-the-counter medicine. A doctor and two nurses joined the cruse last Monday to help deal with the outbreak. Two of them got on the ship when it stopped in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

Guests who were in isolation during the cruise received compensation in the form of a credit to their on board account. After all, this was the least that the cruise company could do after they missed much of the trip.