Passengers looked forward all year to a two-week cruise in the Caribbean.
The vacation ended up being a nightmare on the high seas.
And a dream cruise was ruined for passengers after they got bad news they never saw coming.
Florida cruise ship experiences a massive outbreak of norovirus
A Holland America cruise ship MS Rotterdam departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a two-week trip that included stops in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean.
A cruise in the middle of harsh winter in February should have been a highlight of the year for the passengers.
But an outbreak of norovirus left 185 passengers and crew members sick.
Of a complement of 2,614 passengers, 166 reported being sick, or 6.4%, while 19 out of the 969, or 2%, reported being ill.
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that affects the gastrointestinal system.
Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, headache, abdominal cramps, or fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Sick passengers and crew members were confined to their quarters during the cruise while they recovered from the virus.
The 1,000-foot cruise ship turned into a floating infirmary for the passengers who were hoping to have fun in the sun.
“During its current voyage, a number of guests onboard Rotterdam reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness,” Holland America cruise lines said in a statement. “The cases were mostly mild and quickly resolved. We initiated enhanced sanitation protocols in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to minimize further transmission, including continuous disinfection of the ship.”
The MS Rotterdam increased its cleaning and sanitizing during the trip after the norovirus outbreak was reported.
The cause of the outbreak on the ship was unknown.
Norovirus threatens to ruin a good time
Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dr. William Schaffner told CNN that norovirus is highly contagious and spreads quickly in close quarters like a cruise ship.
He added that norovirus has become “known obviously as the cruise ship virus.”
Norovirus peaks in the winter.
“This is a virus that can infect you with very few viral particles. In other words, the infectious dose is very small,” Schaffner told CNN Travel. “It can persist for days or even a week on environmental surfaces, which means that if you put your fingers on a contaminated surface, you can pick up a few viral particles, touch your mouth and then initiate an infection.”
This was the seventh outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness on a cruise ship this year, according to the CDC.
Last year, 2024, was the worst year for gastrointestinal viruses on cruise ships since 2012, with 18 outbreaks reported.
Frequent handwashing and disinfecting of surfaces are the key to keeping viruses at bay on cruise ships.
More than 37 million passengers are expected to take cruises in 2025, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
A nasty virus outbreak can ruin a dream vacation on the high seas in an instant.
Spending the cruise in a cabin sick is the worst nightmare after spending thousands of dollars on a vacation.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
