Health Outbreaks at Sea in 2013

Source: www.cruisejunkie.com

Illness Outbreaks on Cruise Ships

2013

	2011 Box Score				2012 Box Score				2013 Box Score
Illness:	# of reports	Pax Sick	Crew Sick	Total Sick	# of reports	Pax Sick	Crew Sick	Total Sick	# of reports	Pax Sick	Crew Sick	Total Sick
Gastrointestinal (including Noro virus)	20	1629	105	1734	32	5079	453	5532	21	2189	126	2315
E coli	2	105	32	137					1	60	10	70
Salmonella
Shigella
Other	1	100		100	2		10	10
Total	23	1834	137	1971	34	5079	463	5542	22	2249	136	2385
NOTE: Box Score includes outbreaks confirmed by the CDC or those reported by multiple sources with reliable numbers. Estimates given by passengers are generally not included in the table.

Summary of Illness Outbreaks, 2002 - 2010
(Click on Year for More Detail)

Year	# of Reports	Total Sick
2002	43	3530
2003	44	3556
2004	42	3675
2005	35	4674
2006	54	7215
2007	42	4577
2008	39	3743
2009	30	4197
2010	37	7101
2011	23	1971
2012	34	5542
2013	22	2385

Date	Ship Cruise Line	Event	Source
November 25	Norwegian Gem Norwegian Cruise Line	The CDC reports 111 of 2600 passengers (4.27%) and 3 of 1064 crew (0.28%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. CDC Vessel Sanitation Program officers are monitoring the outbreak and providing support to both the ship and the cruise line; monitoring and support will continue into the subsequent voyage as is VSP’s standard practice.Specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for testing. The ship was on a 16 day cruise ending in on November 25.	CDC
October 17	Marco Polo Coastal and Maritime Voyages	Thurrock Gazette reports 133 people were taken ill as a bout of norovirus took grip on the cruise ship which left from Tilbury on a 12-day cruise of the Baltic cities and St Petersburg.The ship, which was carrying 770 passengers and 334 crew, was put into lockdown, with the library, one of the bars and the restaurant closed in a bid to prevent the infection spreading	Media
October 6	Celebrity Constellation Celebrity Cruises	From a passenger: Set 25 - Oct 7, 2013 Celebrity Constellation cruise from Istanbul, Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Odessa, Sevastopol, Yalta, Istanbul. Rumors have it that some 300+ passengers have the Noro-Virus. No self service, salt-pepper shakers etc.	Pax
October 2	Black Watch Fred Olsen Cruises	BBC reports reports 131 guests have caught a sickness and diarrhoea bug on the ship, less than two weeks after passengers contracted the illness on the same ship - A total of 302 cases were reported on the ship's previous three trips. The ship left Rosyth in Fife on September 20 for a 12-night cruise around the World Heritage Sites of the north coast of Spain, and returned today. Of the 737 guests on board, 122 contracted a gastroenteritis-type illness, a spokeswoman for the company said. The ship has been cleared to sail to Dover where it will start its next cruise and, en route, it will be subjected to deep-cleaning, sanitisation and fumigation by professional contractors, Fred Olsen said. Passengers due on the next cruise have also been sent a letter explaining the situation and will be given a similar letter when they check in at Dover.	Media
September 30	Boudicca Fred Olsen Cruises	BBC reports there has been an outbreak of "a gastroenteritis-type illness" on board the ship which left Belfast last week; it left Northern Ireland on Monday 23 September on a 10-night 'Scandinavian Cities Cruise'. It is understood 84 passengers out of just over 760 on board have been infected (see Sky News). The ship is to return to Belfast on Thursday and a sanitisation and cleaning programme will be carried out. The company has contacted guests booked on the next scheduled cruise on the ship, a 12-night Madeira and Canaries excursion, to tell them what happened.	Media
September 30	Summit Celebrity Cruises	CDC reports reports 307 of 2112 passengers (14.5%) and 14 of 952 crew (1.5%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. VSP is working with Health Canada officials as the ship sails in Canada on its way to Bayonne, New Jersey (arrival in the US is scheduled for October 5, 2013). VSP is providing remote monitoring and support from Atlanta, GA and is planning a field response. VSP will send one Epidemiologist and one Environmental Health Officer to meet the ship and conduct and epidemiologic investigation, targeted environmental health assessment, and monitor the sanitation procedures onboard prior to the embarkation of new passengers. Specimens were collected and offloaded in Halifax, Canada for testing in Health Canada’s laboratory, confirming the cause of the outbreak is norovirus. The ship is on a 14 day cruise.	CDC
September 21	Black Watch Fred Olsen Cruises	STV News reports 130 passengers (about 17%) have contracted a sickness and diarrhoea bug on board a cruise ship now docked in Rosyth. The virus spread through the guestsduring a 12-night Scandinavia and St Peterburg cruise. NHS Fife said the illness is thought to have been caused by Norovirus but the cruise company have now "undertaken all necessary steps". The company said any passengers who show symptoms of a virus on board are confined to their cabin for 48 hours and seen by the ship’s doctor before being allowed to join the rest of the cruise. The Black Watch is due to set off on the 12 night World Heritage Sites of Iberia cruise at 4.30pm but it is likely to be delayed as the cleaning is taking place.	Media
September 16	Queen Mary II Cunard Line	A poster at Cruise Critic reports: My parents are traveling on the QM2 currently (NY roundtrip sailing to New Wngland and Canada). I heard from my mother today that a norovirus outbreak has been announced, and they are taking all precautions. The spa staff are wearing gloves to wash hair, they're encouraging passengers use damp paper towels to open public doors, extra staff are offering hand sanitizer, etc. It sounds like Cunard are doing what they can to limit exposure. They're asking for those infected to stay in their rooms and even had a doctor onboard do a travel health presentation to discuss ways passengers can protect themselves. This outbreak has also been reported by the Daily Echo.	Media
September 16	Aurora P&O Cruises	CBC reports a gastrointestinal illness is affecting some passengers aboard a cruise ship that docked in the Port of Saint John Sunday morning. A representative with the P & O Cruises ship Aurora notified the port on Saturday. This is the ship’s first Canadian stop on a 25-day cruise that left Southampton U.K. on Sept. 3. The ship's next stop is Halifax on Monday. The ship is scheduled to arrive at the Charlottetown Seaport Sept. 21. “There may be some people quarantined aboard the ship but passengers will be disembarking today and it’ll be business as usual,” a company spokesperson said.	Media
June 30	Celebrity Eclipse Celebrity Cruises	From a passenger: We were onboard the June 8th-22nd 14 day sailing out of Southampton on the Baltic and Russian cruise. There was an awful norovirus outbreak. At the beginning of the cruise, we were able to use the buffet without restriction but toward the latter half of the first week, we were then required not to touch anything in the buffet. For example, if you wanted a salad, you had to get in the queue and point to the items in a salad that you wanted. To get drinks, you had to wait in a queue for servers to get those. All areas were cordoned off. You couldn’t even get rolled silverware yourself. Some of our cruisemates said their entire table was effected. The staff was constantly cleaning. They were making you do hand sanitizer in and out of the oceanview café. Passengers and crew were pretty surly by the end of the two weeks. There was constant line jumping and servers being yelled at for helping someone who wasn’t in line, but it was very difficult to tell with all of the different stations. Fortunately, my family did not get ill and I am unsure of the percentage on board who did fall ill, but in my 20 years of cruising, I had never seen Noro prevention standards like that.	Pax
June 6	Boudicca Fred Olsen Cruises	Liverpool Echo reports 96 guests had been affected by gastroenteritis-type symptoms. Two were in isolation yesterday in a bid to stop the highly-contagious bug spreading. People due to travel on the ship’s next cruise were told 10% of passengers had reported symptoms during the first week of the trip. The ship, which left Liverpool on May 23, was on a 14-night cruise to Scandinavia and St Petersburg and is due to return to the city today.	Media
May 25	Celebrity Eclipse Celebrity Cruises	The Daily Echo reports dozens of guests were struck down by a vomiting bug on board a luxury cruise ship which docked in Southampton this morning, it has been revealed. The ship departed from the city on May 11 on a Mediterranean cruise and returned today. But 77 guests (2.7%) and five crew members were laid low by an illness thought to be norovirus. A spokesman for Celebrity Cruises, which runs the ship, said it would undergo an “extensive and thorough” clean now that the vessel had returned to Southampton.	Media
May 9	Celebrity Millennium Celebrity Cruises	The CDC reports 101 of 1963 passengers (5.15%) and 14 of 935 crew (1.50%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. CDC Vessel Sanitation Program officers are monitoring the outbreak and providing support to both the ship and the cruise line. Specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for testing. The ship is on a 16 day cruise ending in Seward on May 10. UPDATE May 11: 123 of 1963 passengers (6.28%) and 16 of 935 crew (1.71%) May 14: Seward Daily News reports the numbers are 164 of 1973 passengers and 30 of 935 crew.	CDC
May 7	Discovery Coastal and Maritime Voyages	Liverpool Daily Post reports the ship, due to depart from Liverpool today, had to be brought in for a deep clean after passengers became ill. It was on a round Great Britain cruise last week, when several couples were struck down by a stomach bug resulting in the Port Health Authority being called in.The ship was expected to embark for a Norwegian cruise at 6.30pm, but that has been delayed until 10.30pm while a deep clean is carried out. The delay will mean a slight adjustment to the itinerary so we will be missing the Shetland ponies at Lerwick but will be going to Kirkwall. The number of passengers becoming ill was not reported.	Media
May 6	Crystal Symphony Crystal Cruises	The CDC reports 125 of 816 passengers (15.31%) and 22 of 571 crew (3.85%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers will board the ship on arrival in Los Angeles on May 6, 2013 to conduct a targeted environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. The ship was on an 8 day cruise.	CDC
May 2	Volendam Holland America Line	CBC reports passengers getting off a cruise from Asia to Vancouver this morning say they had to deal with an outbreak of norovirus during the month-long voyage. Passenger Jim Ball told CBC News that during the 31-day cruise, pools and hot tubs were drained, and shared books kept off limits as the crew tried to contain the norovirus outbreak. "They're right behind you with a soapy rag, cleaning up the table," said Ball. Holland America cruise line reported 28 guests and one crew member — 2.37 per cent of the 1,222 people on board — were sick over the course of the sailing, which included stops in Alaska. The ship has a maximum capacity of 1,432 passengers and 647 crew. At three per cent, Health Canada could launch a full investigation. But passenger Faye Richards said the problem appeared worse to those onboard. "It had to be quite high, because it seemed like you would never sit at a table at dinner without someone having had it," said Faye. After the passengers disembarked, the decks were scrubbed and the ship was fully sanitized. It departed on a week-long cruise to Alaska at 5 p.m.	Media
May 2	Veendam Holland America Line	The CDC reports 60 of 1237 passengers (4.85%) and 10 of 574 crew (1.74%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers will board the ship on arrival in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on May 1, 2013 to conduct a targeted environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. The ship was on a 21 day cruise. The cause was determined to be E. coli.	CDC
April 23	Celebrity Solstice Celebrity Cruises	The CDC reports 183 of 2849 passengers (6.42%) and 2 of 1188 crew (0.18%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. A CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officer and an epidemiologist will board the ship on arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 26, 2013 to conduct a targeted environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. The ship was on an eighteen day cruise.	CDC
April 1	Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Cruises	The CDC reports 101 of 2086 passengers (4.84%) and 17 of 927 crew (2.05%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers and an epidemiologist boarded the ship on arrival in Fort Lauderdale on April 1, 2013 to conduct a targeted environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. The ship was on a fifteen day cruise. NOTE: This was listed on the CDC site on April 6, but was removed on April 7 -- Mistake or coverup?? FYI.... And then more than 12 hours later, after being mentioned on cruiselawnews it reappeared.	CDC
March 18	Carnival Miracle Carnival Cruise Lines	From a passenger: I debarked the Carnival Miracle on March 16th and just wanted to send an update regarding an event onboard. There was a Noro-virus outbreak onboard the Carnival Miracle. In discussing with the crew they confirmed at least 2% of the ship's population were in quarantine (N=~45). We were one of the last ships to stop at Grand Turk before they canceled this port of call to all other cruise ships. Apparently the Margaritaville at Grand Turk was serving tainted frozen drinks which caused many passengers to get sick. When we left the ship in New York on March 16th the next sailing was delayed 3 hours while they decontaminated and sanitized the entire ship.	Pax
March 12	Queen Elizabeth III Cunard Line	KTLA reports after arriving at the Port of Los Angeles the QE3 is getting a thorough cleaning as a precaution. Prior to the ship’s arrival in Southern California, dozens of passengers were sickened by a virus during a 36-night South Pacific cruise. The cruise line said none of the 84 sick passengers (about 4% of the 1900 passengers) are showing symptoms anymore.	Media
March 10	Ruby Princess Princess Cruises	The CDC reports 266 of 3129 passengers (8.50%) and 10 of 1189 crew (0.84%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. As this outbreak was only communicated to the Vessel Sanitation Program on 10 March, no on board response was conducted. The ship was on a seven day cruise.	CDC
March 8	Vision of the Seas Royal Caribbean International	WPTV reports the ship returned to Port Everglades today after an outbreak of more than 100 cases of norovirus on board. "Vision of the Seas experienced an elevated number of persons with a gastrointestinal illness on its last sailing," Royal Caribbean International said in a statement. 105 of the 1,991 guests onboard the cruise and three of 772 crew members experienced the illness, officials said. Over-the-counter medication was administered onboard the ship. CDC reports the numbers were 118 of 1991 passengers (5.93%) and 3 of 765 crew (0.39%).	Media/CDC
		Go to Outbreaks 2012

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