By Sara Malm For Mailonline

Now that’s a sickening blow: Woman who contracted norovirus on Caribbean cruise last year was handed discount to go on another trip… which was cancelled when ship was ravaged by the bug AGAIN

Barbara Ferguson fell ill with norovirus on a cruise last year

Nearly 700 people were infected on the Royal Caribbean cruise

She accepted a voucher for a new cruise, and embarked last month

She and husband went on trip after deciding there was little chance of history repeating itself

But cruise was cut short after more than 200 contracted norovirus

A woman who fell ill during a cruise ravaged by the norovirus last year, made a second attempt at a happy holiday on the sea – only to discover that the ship also carried the bug

Barbara Ferguson from New Jersey was one of 630 passengers who fell ill on the The Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas last January.

Ms Ferguson and her husband Edward Petrasovits accepted a voucher for a new cruise as compensation, but found that their new trip was just as ill-fated.

‘The only reason I went again was because my wife said, “what are the odds?”‘ Mr Petrasovits told NBC New York.

The couple chose to travel on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas from Baltimore to the Bahamas last month, set to return to the U.S. yesterday.

However, the cruise was cut short as one in ten on the ship fell ill with that cruise officials say is a strain of norovirus.

More than 200 people, 193 passengers and nine crew members, became sick during the luxury cruise, but fortunately Ms Ferguson and her husband were spared.

She told the news channel that although she did not get sick, the cruise was a ‘miserable experience’.

What are the odds: After their unlucky trip last year, Ms Ferguson and her husband

‘They were cleaning with a chemical that made me have a sore throat continuously,’ Ms Ferguson said.

The couple’s first Royal Caribbean cruise, when nearly 700 people onboard fell ill, was one the largest norovirus outbreaks on a cruise ship in the past 20 years.

The Sydney strain of norovirus, which has emerged within the last three years, is not considered unusually dangerous.

However, it has quickly become a common cause of vomiting and diarrhea, with symptoms lasting several days.

The Explorer of Seas, which was carrying 3,050 passengers, hit the headlines toward the end of January 2014, as hundreds of passengers and crew members fell victim to the stomach bug.

Ms Ferguson and her husband have yet again been offered compensation from Royal Caribbean – but say they will not go on a third cruise.

IMAGES:

Bad luck: Barbara Ferguson was one of 630 passengers who fell ill with norovirus on the a Royal Caribbean cruise last January, and as she went again this year, the new ship was affected too

Edward Petrasovits accepted a voucher for a new cruise as compensation, but hundreds fell ill on the new ship

Ill fated: Nearly 700 people fell ill with the Sydney strain of the norovirus on The Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas last January

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2939205/Now-s-sickening-blow-Woman-contracted-norovirus-Caribbean-cruise-year-handed-discount-apology-fell-ill-AGAIN.html#ixzz3Qmt19IYg