KINGSTON, Jamaica — U.S. health officials will board a cruise ship docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken at least 300 people with gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea, a cruise company spokeswoman said Sunday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that 281, or nearly 10 percent, of the 3,050 passengers aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas have reported getting sick. Twenty-two crew members also reported feeling ill.

Company spokesman Janet Diaz said CDC officials are expected to soon board the towering, 15-deck ship making a port call in St. Thomas, the main island of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

At least two CDC officials — an epidemiologist and an environmental health officer — are expected to do an investigation and evaluate the outbreak response on the cruise liner. The U.S. health agency did not immediately respond to a Sunday e-mail and a call seeking comment about the work aboard the ship.