Nearly 90 People Sick in Holland America Cruise Norovirus Outbreak
Nearly 90 people got sick during a norovirus outbreak on a Holland America Line cruise.
Among the 2,593 guests aboard the Rotterdam ship, 81 reported being ill, along with eight crew members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Main symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting.
The health agency listed the impacted voyage dates as December 28 through January 9. The cruise began in Fort Lauderdale with scheduled stops in Curaçao, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica and more, according to CruiseMapper.
Holland America says the "cases were mostly mild and quickly resolved."
"The health of our guests and crew is a top priority and consistent with CDC protocols, we conducted a comprehensive sanitization of the ship when the cruise ended Friday in Fort Lauderdale," the cruise line added.
Norovirus on Cruises Happens Regularly
The CDC logged 23 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships that met its threshold for public notification in 2025. Seventeen of those were caused by norovirus. The illness caused 15 out of 18 total outbreaks the prior year, and 13 of 14 in 2023.
Norovirus is often associated with cruises, but those make up just 1% of all reported outbreaks.
"Outbreaks are often taking place within the community, and oftentimes we don't know that they're happening," Sarah R. Michaels, an assistant professor at Tulane University's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, says. "Really, when we have these areas where people are in really close contact, things like day care facilities, nursing homes and cruise ships, it's more likely diagnosed, reported and brought to our attention."
What It Comes Down To
Norovirus outbreaks on cruises happen pretty regularly. Cruises get associated with norovirus because outbreaks are visible and reported. Thousands of people confined together on a ship; the illness spreads fast and gets noticed. But cruise ship outbreaks only account for 1% of all reported norovirus outbreaks.
Most norovirus happens in the community—day care centers, nursing homes, schools, and restaurants. It just doesn't make headlines the same way a cruise ship outbreak does because it's not as concentrated or dramatic.
Norovirus spreads through contaminated food or water, touching contaminated surfaces, direct contact with infected people. On a cruise ship with shared dining areas, pools, railings, elevator buttons, it spreads fast. Hand sanitizer everywhere doesn't always cut it when thousands of people are touching the same surfaces repeatedly.
For the 89 people who got sick on this particular voyage, their holiday cruise turned into a medical situation. For everyone else on board, just the anxiety of wondering if they'd be next.
Holland America will move on. Rotterdam will get sanitized, new passengers will board; the ship will sail again. But those 89 people will probably think twice before booking another cruise anytime soon.
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