Fri Jul 31, 9:41 am ET
PARIS – A French official says about 60 crew members on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship have been diagnosed with swine flu and confined to their cabins while the ship is in a French port.
Alpes-Maritime regional spokeswoman Geraldine Soulier says another 70 ship employees are showing symptoms.
She says some of the crew aboard the Voyager of the Seas had shown symptoms before the ship departed earlier this week from Barcelona, Spain.
The ship arrived Friday in Villefranche-sur-Mer as part of a Mediterranean tour, and local officials allowed the ship's 3,600 passengers to visit the town before the boat leaves Friday night for Marseille.
Officials at Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Swine flu cruise ship Aruba-bound
Ocean Dream's passengers could not disembark in Barbados or Grenada
Operators of a Spanish cruise ship hit by an outbreak of swine flu say the vessel is heading to Aruba, where passengers should be able to disembark.
The ship, Ocean Dream, had docked at the Venezuelan island of Margarita, where more than 300 Venezuelans were allowed to leave.
Tour operator Pullmantur denied that the ship had been placed in quarantine by Venezuela, as earlier reported.
Three crew members have been diagnosed with the flu virus.
Eleven more crew members are reported to have symptoms.
Ocean Dream, on a tour of Caribbean islands, had not been allowed to dock in Grenada and Barbados, and had anchored off Margarita.
Pullmantur denied a statement by a local health official that the ship had been placed in quarantine until 24 June.
Some 342 Venezuelan nationals were allowed to leave on Wednesday as Margarita was their final destination.
Pullmantur says Ocean Dream is heading for Aruba where it is expected to arrive late on Thursday.
People would disembark "according to the sanitary rules set out by the island's health authorities", the company said.
Some 200 Spaniards are among the passengers on board.
Last week the World Health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic that has spread to 74 countries. There have been some 30,000 cases diagnosed globally and more than 140 deaths.
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Thirty-three Britons are among passengers sailing onboard the swine-flu cruise ship Pacific Dawn off Australia.
A total of 18 people who disembarked the P&O Cruises ship in Sydney four days ago have since been tested positive for the virus.
But the ship set sail with 1,500 passengers for a 10-day cruise to the Barrier Reef, Queensland and back before the alarm was raised.
There are now fears that the H1N1 virus could sweep the ship - three crew are in isolation onboard the ship after tests showed they had contracted the virus.
The alarm has led P&O to abandon plans to call in at the Whitsunday Islands off the Barrier Reef. Yesterday it sailed by Willis Island, spending more time at sea, and then abandoned plans to dock in Port Douglas in Queensland on Friday.
However, the ship was today forced to divert to Airlie Beach, to allow a child with an arm injury to get off. The child and its will be kept in isolation as a precaution.......
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