Cruise line, Royal Caribbean is investing $2 million in disinfectant technologys that prevents Norovirus on ships. According to the company’s blogRoyal Caribbean has extended its contract with ByoPlanet International. 

cruise ship
Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas/Video Screen Shot

Royal Caribbean bought 350 additional ByoPlanet sprayers to add to the existing 10-30 sprayers they have on each cruise ship. The disinfectant works by spraying electrically charged disinfectants that wrap around surfaces to kill mold, odors, mildew, bedbugs, algae and parasites.

There has been three norovirus outbreaks reported on Royal Caribbean vessels so far in 2014. Royal Caribbean’s  Explorer of the Seas Jan. 21-31 voyage norovirus outbreak sickened 689 passengers and crew.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness that often goes by other names, such as viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu, and food poisoning. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page.

The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people additionally have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness. The illness often begins suddenly, and the infected person may feel very sick. In most people, the illness is self-limiting with symptoms lasting for about 1 or 2 days. In general, children experience more vomiting than adults do.

Norovirus is spread person to person particularly in crowded, closed places. Norovirus is typically spread through contaminated food andwater, touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting your hand or fingers in your mouth and close contact with someone who is vomiting or has diarrhea.

Norovirus causes more than 20 million illnesses annually, and it is the leading cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in the United States.