Key Aspects:
- Serenade of the Seas has reported a gastrointestinal outbreak to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program for its current voyage, which set sail in San Diego on September 19, 2025.
- The causative agent, which is norovirus, has made 71 passengers and one crew member sick.
- Increased cleaning and sanitation measures have been taken to prevent the spread of illness and there is no reported impact to the itinerary.
Serenade of the Seas’ current voyage through the Panama Canal has unfortunately been plagued by a gastrointestinal outbreak.
The 13-night one-way sailing embarked from San Diego, California, on September 19, 2025, and is due to conclude in Miami, Florida, on October 2, 2025.
As is often the case, the highly contagious norovirus has been confirmed as the culprit. It’s the Royal Caribbean ship’s first norovirus outbreak since 2006.
According to the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) that is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 71 of the guests currently onboard have become sick, which equates to 3.79% of the current capacity.
The Radiance-class ship can accommodate 2,143 guests at double occupancy, but only 1,874 cruisers are onboard for this sailing.
Meanwhile, only one member of the 883-person crew has reported symptoms.
Of course, preventative measures have been taken onboard to prevent further spread of illness, and the VSP continues to monitor the situation.
Actions included isolating the ill passengers and crew members, implementing enhanced cleaning and disinfection procedures, and collecting and testing stool specimens to confirm the causative agent.
Additionally, current guests can also take precautions to protect themselves, such as thorough and frequent handwashing and by making sure they get enough sleep.
There has been no reported impact to the itinerary because of the outbreak, which made its final port call of the trip on Cartagena, Colombia, on September 29.
How Common are Outbreaks?
While it may feel like there is always news of new outbreaks popping up on cruise ships, this is not necessarily the case.
A record-breaking 37.7 million cruisers are expected to set sail before 2025 is through, and only a very small percentage will fall ill during a mid-voyage outbreak.
Looking at this in a different context, cruise ships must report outbreaks to the CDC when 3% or more of the population onboard becomes sick.
Out of the thousands of cruises that embark each year, only 18 outbreaks were reported in 2024 and 14 outbreaks in 2023.
Read Also: There Have Been 18 Outbreaks in 2025: Should Cruisers Worry?
With the latest outbreak onboard Serenade of the Seas, this brings the total number of reported outbreaks from 18 to 19 for 2025.
Two other Royal Caribbean ships have experienced their own norovirus outbreaks this year, which unfolded onboard Radiance of the Seas in February and Navigator of the Seas in July.
Royal Caribbean also owns Silversea Cruises. This smaller, luxury brand also experienced a gastrointestinal outbreak onboard Silver Ray in January, which was linked to E.coli.
More recently, Silver Muse and Silver Dawn notified guests of gastrointestinal illness onboard in September out of an abundance of caution and consideration for their passengers.
However, these situations were not reported as outbreaks to the CDC, indicating that less than 3% of the onboard population became sick.
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But while outbreaks are sometimes inevitable, future cruise guests shouldn’t be too worried.
While there is always a risk when sailing with large groups of people, the actual number of reported outbreaks are few and far between.
