The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the Rotterdam cruise ship operated by Holland America Line (HAL) experienced a norovirus outbreak during the ship’s Caribbean voyage from December 28, 2025 through January 9, 2026.
The Carnival Corporation-owned ship had eighty-one (81) guests and eight (8) crew members sickened with vomiting and diarrhea as the ship sailed and called on ports in Curaçao, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Jamaica.
Since January 1, 2025, HAL has had the most gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships with seven outbreaks, including three on the Rotterdam, two on the Eurodam, and one on the Zuiderdam. The Rotterdam last sickened ninety-three (93) people in March 2025 and one hundred eighty-five (185) people in February 2025.
HAL downplayed this latest incident and told USA TODAY that the “cases were mostly mild and quickly resolved.” The statement is essentially the same thing that Carnival-owned cruise ships say every time one of its cruise ships catches fire, that there were “no or few injuries and the fire was quickly resolved.”
This outbreak brings the total number of gastrointestinal illness outbreaks in 2025 to twenty-three (23), the most ever for a single year.
The cruise industry often says that norovirus outbreaks are typically associated with hospitals, nursing homes, and day care facilities. It’s not particularly reassuring that the industry defends its image by referring to crowded locations that house the sick, elderly patients, and children with poopy diapers.
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