Cruise ship, The majesty of the seas
© Local 10'Sick ship': The Majesty of the Seas returned Friday to Miami with almost 70 people having fallen ill to a suspected norovirus

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship returned to dock Friday with dozens sick from a suspected norovirus outbreak.

The Majesty of the Seas arrived in Miami after a four night trip to multiple ports of call and reported 68 people falling victim to the virus.

The cruise line said in a statement that 66 of 2,581 passengers and two of the 84 crew members became ill aboard the 'sick ship.'

'I spent like the whole night on the toilet,' passenger Frank Weinger told Local 10. 'It was terrible.'

Symptoms include diarrhea, throwing up, nausea, stomach pain, fever, headache and body aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Mr Weinger never saw Nassau, Bahamas, he noted.

The cruise line said he and his fellow sick passengers 'responded well to over-the-counter medication' and that 'an extensive and thorough sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal' would be undertaken before the ship's next voyage.

The ship was scheduled to depart again at 4pm Friday, but was delayed one hour as the extensive cleaning was done, according to Local 10.

Aerial footage of the cruise ship from Friday showed teams of workers scrubbing the ship's multiple decks.

Royal Caribbean also announced that vacationers scheduled to take a cruise within the next couple of days and feel uncomfortable doing so would be assisted in ascheduling their voyage for a different time.

A concerned cruisegoer told Local 10 of his preparations in advance of today's departure.

'We are concerned,' Sergio Mendoza told the station. 'We all bought medication and we'll make sure that we are more cautious.'

As many as 21million people are infected with the vile bug across the U.S. each year, according to the CDC. Of those infections, upwards of 70,000 require hospitalization - no more than 800 people have died in a single year from norovirus since records have been kept.

U.S. cruise liners had seven suspected norovirus outbreaks last year after averaging about 14 the previous five years, according to the CDC. The outbreaks appear to be on a downward trend after hitting a high of 35 in 2006.