Almost 100 people fell ill while vacationing aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The cruise ship was traveling to the Caribbean from Florida. Nearly 100 people developed gastrointestinal symptoms, catching an unknown sickness.
The outbreak quickly moved through the sick. There were 2,164 passengers onboard the cruise ship. Of that number, 89 people became sick with the illness. Meanwhile, two crewmembers also fell sick. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), passengers on the cruise ship suffered symptoms related to a gastrointestinal illness.
It wrote, "Gastrointestinal (GI) illness is a commonly used term for acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Reporting gastrointestinal illness is important. When passengers and crew tell the medical center onboard about their symptoms, it helps GI illness outbreaks get detected quickly. This allows steps to be taken to limit the spread of illness. Medical staff evaluate symptoms to see if they meet our case definition for AGE"
Cruise Ship Passengers Fall Ill
According to the organization, the crew on board the cruise ship followed several actions to attempt to contain the outbreak. These actions included the following:
- Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan
- Collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing
- Isolated ill passengers and crew
- Consulted with VSP about sanitation cleaning procedures and reporting ill cases
According to the crew on the ship, those affected experienced both diarrhea and vomiting.
"Enhanced measures have been implemented onboard in an abundance of caution to protect the health and comfort of all our guests and crew," a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Group told The New York Post.
So far, health officials haven't been able to isolate the exact virus that caused the illness. But the speculate that it was a norovirus. Noroviruses caused several cases in 2024. Already in 2025, there have been six outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships. Sea sickness is already bad enough. It must be rough to actually get sick and expensive as well.
The cruise continued on with its itinerary. But as mentioned above, workers made attempts to isolate the outbreak from affecting more passengers.
