The Dutch territory's Health Ministry said it was examining passengers and crew as a precaution. Three crew members have tested positive for the H1N1 influenza and 11 others showed symptoms, prompting the Ocean Dream to cut short its Caribbean cruise.
Helicopters buzzed overhead and Coast Guard boats flanked the ship as passengers waited to disembark into the cruise terminal. Nearly a dozen health officials shrouded in white clothes and wearing masks checked them for symptoms.
"You come back from a cruise, you're on vacation, and it feels like you're on a boat full of lepers," said Isabel Duque, 48, of Madrid.
She said crew members had been working overtime.
"Their mental state has changed," she said. "Their faces are not the same...they don't have the joy they had at the beginning. These poor people seem like zombies."
The Ocean Dream arrived back in its home port early Friday and Health Ministry officials said it would take several hours to check the roughly 400 passengers and an equal number of crew for basic flu signs such as cough and fever.
Swabs will be taken for further analysis from anyone who shows symptoms. If a preliminary test comes back positive, they will be kept under surveillance on the ship along with cases of people with confirmed cases.
Those judged healthy will be driven to the airport in order of their flight departures, said Edison Briesen, transport and tourism minister.
People from Aruba were among the first to disembark, be checked for fever and released.
"We can go home," said Miriam Tonk-Croes. "I'm feeling very good about that, because I can sleep in my bed tonight."
The ship is operated by Spanish company Pullmantur, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The company Web site indicates it has another cruise scheduled to start from Aruba on June 26.
