A month in the past, we final mentioned gastrointestinal sickness (GI) outbreaks on cruise ships when Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 and Seabourn Cruise Line’s Seabourn Encore each sickened 226 passengers and crew members. These two outbreaks introduced the overall variety of CDC-reportable cruise ship-related diseases to twelve for 2025. Since that point, quite a bit has occurred on the earth of cruise ship hygiene, on-board sicknesses, and the Middle for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).
There have been 4 further GI outbreaks which have met the CDC’s standards for public reporting.
Viking Polaris
Two weeks in the past, forty-three (43) passengers and crew members turned ailing in a GI outbreak on a small Viking Cruises expedition cruise ship. Amongst 355 passengers on the Viking Polaris ship, 37 friends reported being ailing with vomiting and diarrhea, together with six crew members, based on the CDC.
The CDC initially mentioned the reason for the GI outbreak was “unknown” however subsequently up to date its opinion to blaming “norovirus” because the causative issue. The Viking ship had been on a twelve-day cruise to Canada.
Viking claims to have carried out heightened cleansing and disinfection measures and remoted sick passengers and ship workers.
This was the thirteenth (thirteenth) GI outbreak documented by the CDC requiring public notification this yr. Many of the 13 instances have been brought on by norovirus which is usually related to cruise ships.
HAL’s Eurodam
Among the many 2,038 friends on the Holland America Line (HAL) Eurodam ship, 64 (3.1%) reported ailing with GI signs (vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea), along with a dozen crew members, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention reported.
The CDC decided the outbreak was brought on by norovirus.
HAL company communications group characterised the instances as “principally delicate and shortly resolved” (much like how cruise traces spin fires throughout cruises as principally “small, inflicting slight injury and shortly extinguished.”) This was the fourteenth GI outbreak on a cruise ship reported by the CDC.
HAL’s Zuiderdam
Fifty-five of the 1,149 friends (4.8%) aboard HAL’s Zuiderdam ship turned ailing, along with 14 crew, with their principal symptom being diarrhea. The CDC couldn’t decide the causative agent of the GI outbreak which was the fifteenth outbreak on a cruise ship this yr.
Lindblad Expeditions’ Nationwide Geographic Sea Lion
A GI outbreak was additionally reported aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ Nationwide Geographic Sea Lion. 5 of its 43 friends and two crew members reported being sick with GI signs (fever, vomiting and diarrhea), based on the CDC which couldn’t decide the causative agent.
These 4 newest GI outbreaks deliver the overall to sixteen outbreaks of gastrointestinal sickness on cruises which meet the CDC’s threshold for public notification in 2025, most of which have been brought on by norovirus. There have been 18 outbreaks in all of 2024, and 14 in 2023.
HAL Leads All Cruise Strains with six GI Outbreaks
Extremely, there have been six GI outbreaks on HAL ships up to now this yr. No different cruise line has had greater than two illness outbreaks of their fleet this yr. The Eurodam and Rotterdam have skilled two outbreaks every, and the Zuiderdam and Volendam have each skilled one. Learn: Over 500 Passengers Sickened with Norovirus on HAL Cruise Ships in Much less Than Three Months This 12 months.
In 2024, HAL additionally led all cruise traces with 4 GI outbreaks in its fleet. The Eurodam, Rotterdam, and Zuiderdam had outbreaks, in addition to the Koningsdam. Over 500 have been sickened, primarily by norovirus, on these 4 HAL in simply the primary three months of final yr.
Why Norovirus Outbreaks Happen
Each the CDC and the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that the commonest reason for norovirus outbreaks is from contaminated meals and/or water. The CDC additionally concluded it is usually doable to contract the virus by touching surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus. The virus may also be launched into the air by an contaminated individual. Learn: Norovirus Spreads by Air on Cruise Ships.
A visitor can wash their arms and use hand sanitizers all day lengthy however nonetheless turn into ailing if the meals is ready by an contaminated galley hand. Latest federal research present that sick workers are behind a majority of meals contamination and meals borne sickness outbreaks in the USA. And naturally, as soon as a visitor turns into contaminated and begins puking, different passengers who inhale the norovirus molecules can turn into ailing as effectively.
There are lots of cruise apologists who typically deliver up tales that norovirus is usually related to hospitals, nursing properties, and daycare services. I’ve all the time chuckled at this thought, that locations the place the sick aged or children with poopy diapers congregate is a comparable location as a trip cruise.
Norovirus can strike anyplace that’s crowded and folks congregate. The virus is prevalent on cruise ships due to the big numbers of individuals residing and consuming in shut proximity. Cruises are principally floating communities with restricted house and excessive quantity of meals dealing with.
CDC: New Dominant Norovirus Pressure
The CDC mentioned that the illness knowledge reveals a “newly dominant pressure” at present related to norovirus outbreaks on land. Learn: New ‘Dominant’ Pressure of Norovirus Sparking Outbreaks on Cruise Ships.
Trump Guts the Division of Well being and Human Providers
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), which inspects cruise ships and responds to GI outbreaks, lately skilled staffing cuts on the Division of Well being and Human Providers. This was a part of the zealous cuts initiated by President Trump and Elon Musk. The gutting of the nationwide well being division has successfully worn out a few of the most essential current public well being packages, together with the one which aids in controlling illness and sickness outbreaks on cruise ships.
The favored cruise weblog Cruise Hive added an attention-grabbing perspective on this concern in an article – CDC Layoffs May Impression Cruise Ship Inspections. A brand new restructuring plan was carried out by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers, the place the CDC laid off workers on April 1, 2025. After the mass layoffs, Secretary Kennedy claimed that a few of these public well being packages have been lower mistakenly and can be reinstated in some unspecified time in the future, whereas others will turn into a part of current packages.
This flip-flop jogs my memory when Elon Musk was invited to a cupboard assembly and claimed that the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) “unintentionally canceled Ebola prevention.” Musk claims it was only a “mistake.” However quite a few information organizations raised substantial questions on Musk’s credibility. Learn: Musk says work to cease Ebola was unintentionally lower however restored. Consultants increase doubts (“U.S. efforts in opposition to have been certainly interrupted” however “U.S. assist has not been totally restored.”)
An unidentified CDC spokesperson claims in an announcement to USA Immediately that the well being company and its VSP program “will stay intact” as a result of the VSP is “primarily staffed by USPHS commissioned officers who weren’t topic to the discount in power.”
It make no sense for well being inspections to be lower by Trump, Musk or RFK, Jr. for cost-concerns within the first place. Well being inspections of cruise ships usually are not funded by U.S. tax {dollars}, as the favored Dr. Rubin explains on TicTok:
LADbible’s “Physician Explains Worrying Cause Why He Would By no means Go On A Cruise Ship” explains that “Dr. Rubin went on to say how silly he thought this was, because it was the cruise ships which needed to pay for the well being inspections so it was making issues worse on ships whereas not saving taxpayer money. So which means there may very well be extra cruise ships which aren’t correctly inspected for well being points, and these hotbeds of illness may get even worse.”
Because the cruise-fan Cruise Hive weblog famous, “hopefully, all cruise traces working inside the US select to function like these (CDC) requirements are nonetheless in place, however solely time will inform in the event that they select to.” It added “till then, cruise sanitation rules, inspections, and outbreak studies can be paused.”
With sixteen GI outbreaks up to now within the first 4 months of 2025 (and eight months to go), it is going to be attention-grabbing to see how shutting down or slowing inspections will have an effect on the sanitation and monitoring of hygiene of ships at sea.
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Could 2, 2025 Replace:
Picture Credit score: 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 abdomen – CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP)
