Key Aspects:
- Serenade of the Seas has now arrived in Miami, but with even higher numbers of ill guests and crew members than initially reported.
- A total of 98 guests and crew members have reported gastrointestinal illness with vomiting and diarrhea, which has been confirmed as norovirus.
- Extra cleaning and sanitizing are being done onboard, but there appears to be no delay in the ship’s departure on her next sailing.
The gastrointestinal illness making the rounds aboard Serenade of the Seas‘ September 19, 2025 sailing continues to worsen even as the ship has reached PortMiami at the end of its 13-night, one-way repositioning cruise from San Diego.
The ship arrived in South Florida on Thursday, October 2, right on schedule.
The outbreak, which has been confirmed as the highly contagious norovirus, was first reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) several days ago as the infected numbers climbed past the reporting threshold.
The CDC requires cruise ships to report outbreaks to the Vessel Sanitation Program when the total number of cases reaches 3% of either the number of guests or crew members onboard.
Now, with 94 out of 1,874 guests onboard Serenade of the Seas reporting symptoms, 5% of guests onboard are feeling ill, up from 71 (3.8%) when the outbreak was first reported.
More crew members are also impacted. The initial report had just a single crew member (.1% of the 883 crew members onboard) reporting illness, but now four crew members (.5%) are ill.
Now that Serenade of the Seas has reached Miami on schedule, crew members will have a better opportunity to fully sanitize the ship after guests have debarked.
This may slightly delay embarkation for the ship’s next sailing, a 3-day one-way voyage to Colon, Panama, as the ship prepares for her winter season offering Southern Caribbean itineraries with departures from both Panama and Colombia.
Even without delays, additional mitigation measures to prevent further spread and contamination are sure to be taken. So far, the ship has already increased cleaning and sanitation in all public areas and guest staterooms and is isolating sick passengers and crew members.
Testing has confirmed that this outbreak is due to norovirus, one of the most widespread and highly communicable causes of vomiting and diarrhea in the world.
Guests onboard any ship, whether an outbreak has been reported or not, should practice thorough and frequent handwashing with warm water and soap, especially after using the restroom and before dining.
Minimizing contact with high-traffic surfaces, such as elevator buttons, touchscreens, serving utensils, door handles, and stairway railings is another good step to avoid contracting norovirus.
Norovirus Outbreaks in 2025
According to the CDC, norovirus is the cause of more than 90% of gastrointestinal illnesses aboard cruise ships. Because cruise lines do not need to report outbreaks below the 3% infection threshold, it is possible that any cruise ship might have some of the illness aboard at any time.
“Norovirus can be especially challenging to control on cruise ships because of the close living quarters, shared dining areas, and rapid turnover of passengers,” the CDC notes.
So far in 2025, there have been 19 cruise ship disease outbreaks reported to the CDC. Of those, 14 are confirmed as norovirus.
Of the remaining five outbreaks, three did not have a causative agent confirmed. One was an E. coli outbreak aboard Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray in January, and the other case was due to ciguatera contamination aboard Sea Cloud Cruises’ Sea Cloud Spirit also in January.
Two other Royal Caribbean ships have been impacted by significant norovirus outbreaks this year. Radiance of the Seas had an outbreak with 160 (7.4%) guests and 8 (.9%) crew members in early February, while Navigator of the Seas reported an outbreak with 134 (3.4%) guests and 7 (.6%) crew members in July.
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Other norovirus outbreaks have been reported aboard ships from Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, and more.
Already in 2025, the total number of norovirus outbreaks aboard cruise ships is nearly equal to the total number of norovirus outbreaks in 2024 (15), and more than the outbreaks reported in all of 2023 (13).
