A month ago, we last discussed gastrointestinal illness (GI) outbreaks on cruise ships when Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 and Seabourn Cruise Line’s Seabourn Encore both sickened 226 passengers and crew members. These two outbreaks brought the total number of CDC-reportable cruise ship-related illnesses to twelve for 2025. Since that time, a lot has occurred in the world of cruise ship hygiene, on-board sicknesses, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There have been four additional GI outbreaks that have met the CDC’s criteria for public reporting.
Viking Polaris
Two weeks ago, forty-three (43) passengers and crew members became ill in a GI outbreak on a small Viking Cruises expedition cruise ship. Among 355 passengers on the Viking Polaris ship, 37 guests reported being ill with vomiting and diarrhea, along with six crew members, according to the CDC.
The CDC initially said the cause of the GI outbreak was “unknown” but subsequently updated its opinion to blaming “norovirus” as the causative factor. The Viking ship had been on a twelve-day cruise to Canada.
Viking claims to have implemented heightened cleaning and disinfection measures and isolated sick passengers and ship employees.
This was the thirteenth (13th) GI outbreak documented by the CDC requiring public notification this year. Most of the 13 cases were caused by norovirus which is often associated with cruise ships.
HAL’s Eurodam
Among the 2,038 guests on the Holland America Line (HAL) Eurodam ship, 64 (3.1%) reported ill with GI symptoms (vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea), together with a dozen crew members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The CDC determined the outbreak was caused by norovirus.
HAL corporate communications team characterized the cases as “mostly mild and quickly resolved” (similar to how cruise lines spin fires during cruises as mostly “small, causing slight damage and quickly extinguished.”) This was the fourteenth GI outbreak on a cruise ship reported by the CDC.
HAL’s Zuiderdam
Fifty-five of the 1,149 guests (4.8%) aboard HAL’s Zuiderdam ship became ill, in addition to 14 crew, with their main symptom being diarrhea. The CDC could not determine the causative agent of the GI outbreak which was the fifteenth outbreak on a cruise ship this year.
Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Sea Lion
A GI outbreak was also reported aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Sea Lion. Five of its 43 guests and two crew members reported being sick with GI symptoms (fever, vomiting and diarrhea), according to the CDC which could not determine the causative agent.
These four latest GI outbreaks bring the total to sixteen outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruises which meet the CDC’s threshold for public notification in 2025, most of which were caused by norovirus. There were 18 outbreaks in all of 2024, and 14 in 2023.
HAL Leads All Cruise Lines with six GI Outbreaks
Incredibly, there have been six GI outbreaks on HAL ships so far this year. No other cruise line has had more than two disease outbreaks in their fleet this year. The Eurodam and Rotterdam have experienced two outbreaks each, and the Zuiderdam and Volendam have both experienced one. Read: Over 500 Passengers Sickened with Norovirus on HAL Cruise Ships in Less Than Three Months This Year.
In 2024, HAL also led all cruise lines with four GI outbreaks in its fleet. The Eurodam, Rotterdam, and Zuiderdam had outbreaks, as well as the Koningsdam. Over 500 were sickened, primarily by norovirus, on these four HAL in just the first three months of last year.
Why Norovirus Outbreaks Occur
Both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that the most common cause of norovirus outbreaks is from contaminated food and/or water. The CDC also concluded it is also possible to contract the virus by touching surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus. The virus can also be released into the air by an infected person. Read: Norovirus Spreads by Air on Cruise Ships.
A guest can wash their hands and use hand sanitizers all day long but still become ill if the food is prepared by an infected galley hand. Recent federal studies show that sick employees are behind a majority of food contamination and food borne illness outbreaks in the United States. And of course, once a guest becomes infected and begins puking, other passengers who inhale the norovirus molecules can become ill as well.
There are many cruise apologists who often bring up stories that norovirus is often associated with hospitals, nursing homes, and daycare facilities. I have always chuckled at this thought, that places where the sick elderly or kids with poopy diapers congregate is a comparable location as a vacation cruise.
Norovirus can strike anywhere that is crowded and people congregate. The virus is prevalent on cruise ships because of the large numbers of people living and eating in close proximity. Cruises are basically floating communities with limited space and high volume of food handling.
CDC: New Dominant Norovirus Strain
The CDC said that the sickness data shows a “newly dominant strain” currently associated with norovirus outbreaks on land. Read: New ‘Dominant’ Strain of Norovirus Sparking Outbreaks on Cruise Ships.
Trump Guts the Department of Health and Human Services
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), which inspects cruise ships and responds to GI outbreaks, recently experienced staffing cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. This was part of the zealous cuts initiated by President Trump and Elon Musk. The gutting of the national health department has effectively wiped out some of the most important existing public health programs, including the one that aids in controlling disease and illness outbreaks on cruise ships.
The popular cruise blog Cruise Hive added an interesting perspective on this issue in an article – CDC Layoffs Could Impact Cruise Ship Inspections. A new restructuring plan was implemented by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where the CDC laid off employees on April 1, 2025. After the mass layoffs, Secretary Kennedy claimed that some of these public health programs were cut mistakenly and will be reinstated at some point, while others will become part of existing programs.
This flip-flop reminds me when Elon Musk was invited to a cabinet meeting and claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “accidentally canceled Ebola prevention.” Musk claims it was just a “mistake.” But numerous news organizations raised substantial questions about Musk’s credibility. Read: Musk says work to stop Ebola was accidentally cut but restored. Experts raise doubts (“U.S. efforts against were indeed interrupted” but “U.S. support has not been fully restored.”)
An unidentified CDC spokesperson claims in a statement to USA Today that the health agency and its VSP program “will remain intact” because the VSP is “primarily staffed by USPHS commissioned officers who were not subject to the reduction in force.”
It make no sense for health inspections to be cut by Trump, Musk or RFK, Jr. for cost-concerns in the first place. Health inspections of cruise ships are not funded by U.S. tax dollars, as the popular Dr. Rubin explains on TicTok:
LADbible’s “Doctor Explains Worrying Reason Why He Would Never Go On A Cruise Ship” explains that “Dr. Rubin went on to say how stupid he thought this was, as it was the cruise ships which had to pay for the health inspections so it was making things worse on ships while not saving taxpayer cash. So that means there could be more cruise ships which are not properly inspected for health issues, and these hotbeds of disease could get even worse.”
As the cruise-fan Cruise Hive blog noted, “hopefully, all cruise lines operating within the US choose to operate like these (CDC) standards are still in place, but only time will tell if they choose to.” It added “until then, cruise sanitation regulations, inspections, and outbreak reports will be paused.”
With sixteen GI outbreaks so far in the first four months of 2025 (and eight months to go), it will be interesting to see how shutting down or slowing inspections will affect the sanitation and monitoring of hygiene of ships at sea.
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May 2, 2025 Update:
Image Credit: Viking Polaris – Viking Cruises; HAL’s Eurodam – Michael Elleray CC BY 2.0, commons / wikimedia; HAL’s Zuiderdam – Quahadi Añtó CC BY-SA 3.0, commons / wikimedia; upset stomach – CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP)