A norovirus outbreak aboard the Caribbean Princess sickened 115 people during a 14-day voyage through the Eastern Caribbean, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ship reached Port Canaveral on May 11 after the illness spread among passengers and crew.
The CDC said 102 of the 3,116 passengers and 13 of the 1,131 personnel reported getting sick with diarrhea and vomiting on the 948-foot-long vessel, which set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The illness was first reported to the agency’s vessel sanitation program on Thursday.
Princess Cruises said a limited number of people reported mild gastrointestinal illness during the April 28 voyage from Port Everglades and said it quickly disinfected every area of the ship while adding extra sanitizing throughout the trip. The cruise liner isolated ailing passengers and workers, increased cleaning and disinfection measures, and collected stool samples for further testing.
The Caribbean Princess was scheduled to undergo comprehensive cleaning and disinfection before its next departure. The outbreak marks the second time a Princess Cruises ship has been hit by norovirus this year, after the Star Princess sickened 141 passengers and 52 crew members during a week-long Western Caribbean voyage in March.
Norovirus is a highly contagious stomach virus often associated with cruise ships, and this outbreak shows how quickly it can move through a crowded vessel even when crews move to isolate cases and intensify cleaning. For Princess Cruises, the question now is less whether the ship can be cleaned than whether the company can prevent a repeat on its next sailing.
