Alaska Cruise Ship Hit by Norovirus

A CDC report shows dozens of people fell ill due to a norovirus outbreak on Celebrity Summit last week.

The vessel was on a seven-night Alaskan cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seward, Alaska, when passengers first started coming down with symptoms.

According to the CDC, the Celebrity cruise ship carried 2,264 (68 sick) passengers and 943 (5 sick) crew members, meaning 3% of guests and 0.53% of the crew became ill. This meets the agency’s criteria for when gastrointestinal illness must be shared with the CDC. The primary symptoms reported were diarrhea and vomiting.

Speaking with Cruise Radio, Physician Assistant Ed McDonough stated that norovirus is not exclusive to cruise ships but has the potential to spread quickly due to close contact on board. He also mentioned that he has treated cases of norovirus outside of the cruise ship setting in his practice.

Enhance sanitation

To control the spread of norovirus, crew members employed quarantine measures for passengers and crew members and collected stool specimens for testing.

Celebrity Summit also controlled guests’ disembarkation to limit exposure and cleaned and disinfected several areas of the ship.

Norovirus is not only a cruise ship virus

Location	2023 Cases
ON LAND	19-21 million cases (CDC DATA)
CRUISE SHIPS	2,017 cases (CDC DATA)

Cruise lines are required to report cases to the CDC, whereas hotels and landside establishments are not.

Typically, in situations like this, cruise lines reduce as many touchpoints as they can between guests and crew. Some of these might be not accepting ship cards but using room numbers instead and the buffet being served by crew members instead of by the guest

This is the third norovirus outbreak on a Celebrity cruise ship and the eighth reported by the agency across US cruise ships in 2024.

However, the norovirus numbers for this year are already much lower than 2023 if you are looking year-over-year.

Alaskan cruise itinerary not impacted

Despite the outbreak, the Alaskan cruise proceeded with its itinerary, and most guests enjoyed their trip. The week-long exploration featured scheduled visits to top destinations in the area, including Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau, Icy Strait Port, and Hubbard Glacier.

The CDC tracks cruise ship outbreaks on its website. Year to date, six cruise ships have reported norovirus and one with an E. coli bacteria outbreak.