The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there have been recent norovirus outbreaks on both Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 and Seabourn Cruise Line’s the Seabourn Encore which have sickened 226 passengers and crew members.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 had approximately 2,538 guests of which 183 passengers and 14 crew members were were ill with norovirus on the current cruise (March 8 – April 6). On the Seabourn Encore, 7 out of 481 passengers and 22 out of 405 crew members contracted norovirus and became ill on the current voyage (March 16 – April 9). Pursuant to the CDC’s reports the main symptoms of these individuals were vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. 

So far this year there have been 12 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness this year on cruises calling on U.S. ports. Ten of these outbreaks were caused by the very contagious norovirus. Last year (2024), there were 16 gastrointestinal (GI) outbreaks on cruise ships. In 2023, there was a total of 14 cruise outbreaks. At the current rate, on an annualized basis there will be 48 GI cruise ship outbreaks if the cruise sicknesses continue at this record rate.

Norovirus is primarily spread through contaminated food or water according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC. Norovirus can also be spread easily and infect passengers and crew members via airborne transmission which makes containing the contagious virus nearly impossible once the vomiting begins during a cruise, particularly given the dense environment on cruise ships.

Cruise line corporate communications types often say that nursing centers, child care centers and hospitals also have norovirus outbreaks. It seems to me that comparing cruises to crowded facilities which house children with poopy diapers, the elderly or the sick and infirm is not a particularly good marketing strategy to sell vacations on crowded cruise ships.

The usual PR response whenever there is a norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship is for the cruise line to cast blame on the “dirty hands” of the cruise guests. But given that in the majority of cruise line cases contaminated food and/or water are the primary culprits, guests or crew members can wash their hands non-stop but inevitably become sick when they eat contaminated food or drink tainted water.

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Image credit: Queen Mary 2 – Ahecht CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / wikimedia; Seabourn Encore – Guillaume de Syon CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / wikimedia.