- More than 240 people on board a luxury cruise ship have fallen ill with the highly contagious norovirus stomach bug.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) reported the outbreak just as the cruise liner was nearing the end of a four-week-long return voyage from the UK to the Caribbean.
More than 200 luxury cruise ship passengers caught norovirus on a monthlong transatlantic voyage that won’t officially end until Sunday, U.S. health officials said, reports CBS News.
241 passengers, crew sickened with norovirus
A new outbreak report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention tracked 224 of 2,538 passengers who became ill from the virus while on board a cruise line ship, along with 17 crew members. The vessel carried 1,232 crew overall, according to the CDC.
The cruise ship left Southampton in the United Kingdom March 8 on a route that first took it to New York and, then, down through the Caribbean, making various stops along the island chain, including St. Thomas and Barbados, according to an itinerary posted online by the company. The cruise sailed back to the U.K. on the same course it took to get to the Caribbean and is due to return to Southampton on April 6.
Passengers and crew who contracted norovirus on the cruise ship mainly experienced diarrhea and vomiting, two of the most common symptoms of the highly contagious bug. The outbreak was reported to the CDC’s vessel sanitation program, which monitors cruise ship outbreaks remotely and helps guide how crews respond to them, on March 18.
The CDC said the crew worked to contain the spread of the virus by increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures, conducting tests to confirm cases of the illness and isolating sick passengers and crew.
This is the latest in a series of norovirus outbreaks on ocean liners operated by some of the world’s largest cruise companies. The latest outbreak comes on the heels of a surge in confirmed cases around the U.S. toward the end of last year.
Also known as a stomach bug, norovirus is a very contagious disease that usually causes symptoms for 1 to 3 days, although health officials say people can still transmit the virus to others for two weeks or longer after their own symptoms clear up.
At least nine cruise ships have reported outbreaks since the start of 2025, according to the CDC.
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Source: CBS News
