2 Cruises Halted as Mystery Illness Probe Continues

The San Pedro-based cruise ship on which hundreds of passengers became ill will remain in port while federal investigators continue their search for the cause of the outbreak.

A spokesman for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line said the company canceled two Ensenada cruises, one scheduled to depart Friday and one Monday, because the cause of the illness had not been determined.

This weekend, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will test blood and stool samples collected from passengers, as well as samples from the ship’s water supply, to try to find the source of the ailment, which forced the Viking Serenade back to port Thursday.

More than 400 of the Viking’s 2,350 passengers and crew reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, and one 78-year-old man died--apparently of a heart attack--after he fell ill and was hospitalized in Ensenada.

Three passengers were hospitalized in San Pedro on Friday in fair condition, said a spokeswoman for San Pedro Peninsula Hospital. Five people admitted earlier to an Ensenada hospital were transferred to a hospital in San Diego.