Outbreak Worsens Aboard Royal Caribbean Ship as Voyage Involves an Finish

Key Facets:

• Serenade of the Seas has now arrived in Miami, however with even greater numbers of unwell visitors and crew members than initially reported.
• A complete of 98 visitors and crew members have reported gastrointestinal sickness with vomiting and diarrhea, which has been confirmed as norovirus.
• Additional cleansing and sanitizing are being achieved onboard, however there seems to be no delay within the ship’s departure on her subsequent crusing.

The gastrointestinal sickness making the rounds aboard Serenade of the Seas‘ September 19, 2025 crusing continues to worsen even because the ship has reached PortMiami on the finish of its 13-night, one-way repositioning cruise from San Diego.

The ship arrived in South Florida on Thursday, October 2, proper on schedule.

The outbreak, which has been confirmed because the extremely contagious norovirus, was first reported to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) a number of days in the past because the contaminated numbers climbed previous the reporting threshold.

The CDC requires cruise ships to report outbreaks to the Vessel Sanitation Program when the whole variety of instances reaches 3% of both the variety of visitors or crew members onboard.

Now, with 94 out of 1,874 visitors onboard Serenade of the Seas reporting signs, 5% of visitors onboard are feeling unwell, up from 71 (3.8%) when the outbreak was first reported.

Extra crew members are additionally impacted. The preliminary report had only a single crew member (.1% of the 883 crew members onboard) reporting sickness, however now 4 crew members (.5%) are unwell.

Now that Serenade of the Seas has reached Miami on schedule, crew members can have a greater alternative to totally sanitize the ship after visitors have debarked.

This may occasionally barely delay embarkation for the ship’s subsequent crusing, a 3-day one-way voyage to Colon, Panama, because the ship prepares for her winter season providing Southern Caribbean itineraries with departures from each Panama and Colombia.

Even with out delays, further mitigation measures to forestall additional unfold and contamination are positive to be taken. Up to now, the ship has already elevated cleansing and sanitation in all public areas and visitor staterooms and is isolating sick passengers and crew members.

Testing has confirmed that this outbreak is because of norovirus, one of the vital widespread and extremely communicable causes of vomiting and diarrhea on the planet.

Visitors onboard any ship, whether or not an outbreak has been reported or not, ought to observe thorough and frequent handwashing with heat water and cleaning soap, particularly after utilizing the restroom and earlier than eating.

Minimizing contact with high-traffic surfaces, reminiscent of elevator buttons, touchscreens, serving utensils, door handles, and stairway railings is one other good step to keep away from contracting norovirus.

Norovirus Outbreaks in 2025

Based on the CDC, norovirus is the reason for greater than 90% of gastrointestinal diseases aboard cruise ships. As a result of cruise strains don’t must report outbreaks beneath the three% an infection threshold, it’s attainable that any cruise ship might need a number of the sickness aboard at any time.

“Norovirus might be particularly difficult to manage on cruise ships due to the shut dwelling quarters, shared eating areas, and speedy turnover of passengers,” the CDC notes.

Learn Additionally: Tips on how to Keep Secure and Take pleasure in Your Cruise Trip

Up to now in 2025, there have been 19 cruise ship illness outbreaks reported to the CDC. Of these, 14 are confirmed as norovirus.

Of the remaining 5 outbreaks, three didn’t have a causative agent confirmed. One was an E. coli outbreak aboard Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray in January, and the opposite case was as a consequence of ciguatera contamination aboard Sea Cloud Cruises’ Sea Cloud Spirit additionally in January.

Two different Royal Caribbean ships have been impacted by important norovirus outbreaks this 12 months. Radiance of the Seas had an outbreak with 160 (7.4%) visitors and eight (.9%) crew members in early February, whereas Navigator of the Seas reported an outbreak with 134 (3.4%) visitors and seven (.6%) crew members in July.

Different norovirus outbreaks have been reported aboard ships from Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, and extra.

Already in 2025, the whole variety of norovirus outbreaks aboard cruise ships is sort of equal to the whole variety of norovirus outbreaks in 2024 (15), and greater than the outbreaks reported in all of 2023 (13).

Outbreak Worsens Aboard Royal Caribbean Ship as Voyage Involves an Finish