South Jersey Couple's Cruise Cut Short For Second Time By Norovirus
By Cleve Bryan
OCEAN VIEW, N.J., (CBS) -- Ed Petrasovits and his wife Barbara Ferguson are trying to de-stress at their summer cottage after a cruise that was actually their second dose of disaster.
"Two and done. I was actually one and done," says Petrasovits.
The couple had a $400 room credit with Royal Caribbean after a trip was cut short a year ago because of Norovirus.
"I didn't want to waste that money, I wanted to use that voucher up," says Ferguson.
January 24th they started their make-up trip out of Baltimore on board the Grandeur of the Seas, but day 2 they got a letter saying some passengers on the last sailing had stomach illnesses.
"I looked at my friends and said we are not going to Labadee, and this boat will turn around early, and they all laughed," says Petrasovits whose prediction was right on the money.
Soon rooms throughout the ship had quarantine stickers and happy cruisers made way for clean-up crews.
"Men running around in hazmat suits and chemical sprayers - fun, good, good trip," says Petrasovits sarcastically.
With more than 200 sick passengers and crew, the cruise returned a day early to Baltimore on Monday.
Royal Caribbean apologized to passengers for the shortened trip and is giving passenger vouchers good for 1 night stay on a future cruise as long as it is booked in the next 12 months.
For Ed and Barbara that equated a $75 incentive to go on another cruise.
"I will never go on a Royal Caribbean cruise again and I don't even know if I will cruise again," says Ferguson.
