The virus outbreaks on cruise ships continue, with a Cunard Line ship reporting that a gastrointestinal illness is spreading on Queen Mary 2’s current voyage.
The 2,691-passenger ship, on a transatlantic sailing that departed on Southampton, England, on December 14, 2024, is scheduled to arrive in New York City on December 21, continuing to the Caribbean for a holiday celebration in St. Maarten, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Kitts.
While some passengers on the 149,215-gross-ton ship may be disembarking in New York after the 7-day journey, others are on the 28-night sailing to the Caribbean and may be feeling concern for their wellbeing.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on December 19 that 100 passengers out of a total of 2,430 and seven crew members out of a total of 1,237 have succumbed to the bug.
The stricken passengers, representing over 4 percent of guests, are experiencing symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.
Cunard Line has implemented stringent cleaning and disinfection procedures in an attempt to stop further spread, with another wave of passengers expected to embark in New York for the subsequent 13-night Caribbean leg of the itinerary.
It is unclear if Cunard will require all passengers to disembark in New York for a more thorough deep clean. However, the Carnival-owned cruise line is isolating those who show symptoms and collecting stool specimens for testing to determine the exact illness and possible cause.
The CDC, which has been notified of the outbreak, says, “Gastrointestinal illness is a commonly used term for acute gastroenteritis (AGE).”
To be defined as AGE, symptoms include “three or more loose stools within a 24-hour period or what is more than normal for that person OR vomiting along with one of the following symptoms: diarrhea, muscle ache, headache, abdominal cramp, or fever.”
A Holiday Season of Outbreaks
Queen Mary 2, which last had a serious spread of illness while on a Christmas cruise in the Caribbean that affected 205 passengers in 2012, is just one of several ships currently battling outbreaks.
On December 19, the CDC recognized an outbreak of norovirus, another stomach-related illness that causes diarrhea, cramping, nausea, and fever, on Holland America Line’s 2,668-passenger Rotterdam.
On December 4, the cruise line’s Zuiderdam, carrying up to 2,272 passengers, had also reported a similar outbreak.
Both ships are sailing in the Caribbean from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, with 83 passengers and 12 crew members ill on Rotterdam and 74 guests and four crew members sick on Zuiderdam.
Also reported to the CDC on December 4 was P&O Cruises’ Ventura, sailing in the Canary Islands from Southampton with an unidentified number of passengers sick with what was suspected to be either AGE or norovirus, making Queen Mary 2 the fifth ship in December to experience a significant outbreak.
Unfortunately, both AGE and norovirus are highly contagious and are spread by infected passengers and contaminated food, water, or surfaces, thus the reason cruise ships isolate passengers, limit buffets, and conduct frequent cleanings of high-trafficked and highly touched areas.
Also unfortunate is that it takes 12 to 48 hours of contamination before feeling symptoms of norovirus or gastrointestinal illness, up to three days before symptoms subside, and at least another 48 hours to be clear of the virus – which can be the entire duration of a cruise.
