Princess Cruises has canceled the final five days of a Hawaii voyage after 265 passengers, or 13 percent of the 2,029 on board, came down with a Norwalk-like gastrointestinal virus.

In actuality he had suffered from a gastrointestinal virus and was having difficulty regaining the weight he lost.

Recent outbreaks of a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus on several cruise ships, in which hundreds of people have become ill, are indeed cause for concern, but we shouldn't be surprised by them.

The routine microbiological examination of the stools included: negative staining electron microscopy for gastrointestinal viruses and light microscopy for ova, cysts, and parasites.

"If your baby is vomiting with a gastrointestinal virus," she says, "it will come every 30 or 45 minutes regardless of feeding."

Others, who managed to avoid a gastrointestinal virus, said they had a lot of stories to tell about spending 10 days on a sick ship.

Since 1997, the disease centers have received at least seven reports of Norwalk and other gastrointestinal viruses on board ships owned by several companies, including Princess Cruises and Disney.

The reserve center Jim McIlvaine remained at home with a gastrointestinal virus.

Evidence of a gastrointestinal virus had been found during the last two days of the previous cruise, but the company stated that it did not believe the two outbreaks to be linked.

The Norwalk virus is the most common gastrointestinal virus, with over 23 million cases reported last year, James Apa, spokesman for Seattle-King County Public Health, said.