A gastrointestinal illness outbreak has swept through Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas cruise ship this week, affecting dozens of passengers, CNN reports, citing the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of this report, 89 out of the 2,164 passengers onboard have reported symptoms, representing some 4.1% of the passenger population. Only two of the 910 crew members have been affected.
The CDC did not specify the exact type of gastrointestinal illness causing the outbreak, but the predominant symptoms reported are diarrhea and vomiting.
The current voyage of the Radiance of the Seas commenced on February 1 and is scheduled to conclude this Saturday. The outbreak was officially reported to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program on Tuesday.
In response to the outbreak, the CDC confirmed that affected passengers and crew members have been isolated from the remaining individuals on board. Furthermore, the ship has implemented enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols throughout the vessel. Stool samples have also been collected for laboratory testing in an effort to identify the specific cause of the illness.
The Vessel Sanitation Program’s report highlights that while norovirus is a common culprit in cruise ship gastrointestinal outbreaks, the definitive cause is often unknown at the outset of an investigation. Identifying the causative agent can be a time-consuming process.
This outbreak comes amidst a rising trend of norovirus cases, which saw a surge at the beginning of 2025. 2024 was marked as a particularly challenging year, with the highest number of stomach bug incidents reported on cruise ships in over a decade.
