Cruises are gross. With so many people in a confined space, vacation-goers play a game of illness roulette anytime they step on a cruise ship. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 16 gastrointestinal illness outbreaks aboard vessels in 2024, a 12-year high. While the figure is the highest total in over a decade, there are typically 12 outbreaks per year.
The year concluded with two separate norovirus outbreaks on the Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 in December, according to the CDC. Across the back-to-back voyages, 464 passengers reported being ill with diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. In total, 1,894 passengers got sick this year. The Washington Post gave an overview how norovirus spreads on ships:
Health officials say the “often crowded, semi-enclosed” cruise ship environment can facilitate the spread of diseases and that outbreaks can be sustained by crew members who stay on board or by contamination on the ship.
“You have a lot of people in a contained environment participating in communal dining,” said Kimon Zachary, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said if a kitchen worker is ill, they can infect people by contaminating a food source; people can also spread the virus at a buffet by touching utensils with dirty hands. “There are lots of things there that increase the risk,” he said.
Zachary said sick people can also spread the virus by touching doorknobs, elevator buttons and other surfaces. Cruise ship workers use “strict cleaning and sanitation practices” that have been developed with public health officials, the Cruise Lines International Association says on its website.
While cruise lines will state they adhere to stringent cleanliness and sanitation practices, that standard is only upheld by mandated monitoring by the CDC. It can be quite an experience to read the inspection reports. Live maggots, dead birds and rats were found on some of the filthiest ships.
