Richard Gibbs, from York County, loves cruises. He’s been on four of them. Last month he and his wife got on the Grandeur of the Sea cruise ship. Everything was fine until they got to Margaritaville in Jamaica. Gibbs had wanted to eat lunch at the popular restaurant named after the famous Jimmy Buffet song, but that’s when he started he started feeling sick. He excused himself and went back to the ship. It was there that he was diagnosed with the norovirus and put under 24-hour quarantine.
He said he was impressed with how the cruise ship’s employees handled the situation. They immediately began sanitizing the table tops and walls and wouldn’t let guests share communal items like salt shakers, in order to contain the virus. Nearly 200 other passengers also got sick, but Gibbs said it’s worth the risk. “It will not stop me from going back on Royal Caribbean. The bottom line is this, I’ve seen a lot of comments and heard people on the boat being negative, but the bottom line is you can go to a doctor’s office for a general check up and maybe walk out with the flu,” said Gibbs. Gibbs said he’s fully recovered and may take another cruise as early as next year.
