NEW YORK (AP) – The Regal Princess, the ocean liner whose passengers were stricken with a contagious stomach virus, was scheduled to depart Thursday for a 20-day voyage to New England and Canada after being sanitized from top to bottom.

The Regal Princess was forced to dock in New York City on Tuesday morning, one day earlier than scheduled, after more than 300 of its 1,528 passengers and crew members were hit by the 24-to-48-hour norovirus. The ship had begun its journey in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Julie Benson, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita, Calif.-based Princess Cruises line, said Thursday that the ship “has been fully sanitized and declared safe for passengers” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC’s vessel sanitation chief, Dave Forney, said it was not required to give the Regal Princess clearance because the cruise ship was never quarantined. However, he said, “We feel that everything they’ve done has been effective.”

Forney added that the ship will be required to report to the CDC daily on its next cruise leaving Thursday.

Benson said the Regal Princess left New York City shortly after 5 p.m. EDT for the round trip that included port calls in Boston, Bar Harbor, Maine, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Montreal, returning to New York on Sept. 24.

She said the ship was booked close to its capacity of 1,590 passengers.

Passengers embarking the ship Thursday were notified through their travel agents of the gastrointestinal virus aboard the last trip, the cruise line said on its Web site. Passengers also would be provided with details upon check-in, it said.

Benson said the cruise line believes one or two people who boarded the ship on its last voyage at Copenhagen on Aug. 18 for the 16-day North Atlantic cruise had already been infected with the gastrointestinal virus that affected 301 passengers and 45 crew members. Passengers began getting sick on the second day of the journey.

Passengers leaving the ship on Tuesday described people vomiting in the dining room and on the deck.

Thousands of cruise ship passengers have been affected by the virus in the last year. The virus is spread through food and water and close contact with infected people or things they have touched. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are the common symptoms.

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