On Thursday afternoon, a cruise ship finally set sail from San Francisco after the cleanup from a norovirus outbreak that led to the delay of its departure for hours. Sky 7HD was over the Star Princess after it docked at Pier 27 in the morning.

This all began on a 15-day Hawaiian cruise when around 30 passengers came down with flu-like symptoms. While the ship was docked in Hawaii, they were confined to their rooms. They finished the cruise and made it back to San Francisco on time, but many people got sick along the way.

Princess Cruises told ABC7 News that 132 passengers got some sort of gastrointestinal illness, but many other people went off the ship had a serious case of germophobia.

Helen Conway, passenger, said that everybody was getting out with paper towels to press buttons or to get into escalators. Conway added that she met one of the sick passengers, who was violently sick for three days, a lady from England, and was kept, in her room.

The cruise line told ABC7 News that quarantining is developed with help from the CDC. It is a part of an elaborate protocol to prevent the spread of disease. Crew members wore gloves and cleaned the ship nightly with bleach.

Another passenger, Andy Martin, said, “You cannot get your own food, they just have to give you everything. Even in the buffet. They have to serve everything. And they won't even have salt and pepper on the table because they don't want anybody touching it”.

Passengers said that initially the captain of the Star Princess told them that it likely wasn't norovirus. But then, samples were sent to a lab.

The highly contagious stomach bug is well known to the cruise industry. In this year, there've been nine outbreaks, including one just a month ago aboard the Celebrity Infinity docked in San Diego.