CDC Monitoring Norovirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced its monitoring of a norovirus outbreak aboard a Princess Cruises ship that left Fort Lauderdale over a week ago.
A report from the agency indicates that the situation developed on the Caribbean Princess, which set sail from Port Everglades on April 28. Current information from CruiseMapper shows that the Caribbean Princess is on a 13-day trip through the Caribbean, with scheduled stops in the Bahamas, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. The voyage is expected to conclude on May 11 at Port Canaveral in Orlando.
According to the CDC, 102 of the cruise’s 3,116 passengers have reported feeling unwell, alongside 13 out of 1,131 crew members. The symptoms primarily include diarrhea and vomiting. In response to the outbreak, Princess Cruises has stepped up cleaning and disinfection efforts, collected samples for testing, and isolated those who are ill, while also working closely with the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program on cleaning strategies and case tracking.
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program is actively conducting an environmental assessment and outbreak investigation aimed at controlling the situation. The outbreak was officially reported on May 7.
This incident on the Caribbean Princess follows a similar situation involving another Princess ship just a month prior. In March, the Star Princess reported an outbreak that affected over 104 passengers and 49 crew members. Like the Caribbean Princess, it also departed from Fort Lauderdale and traveled to various Caribbean destinations, including Honduras, Belize, and the Mexican Riviera, ultimately returning to Port Everglades.
Earlier this year, in January, the CDC addressed a separate outbreak on a Holland America cruise ship that sickened more than 80 individuals after leaving Fort Lauderdale at the end of December.
Additionally, in February, the agency disclosed that 27 people fell ill during an outbreak of an unidentified gastrointestinal illness on the luxury cruise ship Regent Seven Seas while it was traveling from Miami to Honolulu.
