The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there is a gastrointestinal outbreak on the Ocean Princess cruise ship, with 43 of 603 (7.13%) of passengers ill during the cruise and 5 of 387 (1.29%) crew members sick.
The Princess cruise ship is currently sailing on a February 13 – March 7, 2016 itinerary. The cruise ship is scheduled to go into dry dock on March 7th.
Princess has 50% of the four cruise ship norovirus that meet the CDC’s criteria so far this year. This should be no surprise to anyone who follows gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships.
As I pointed out in my last article about a gastrointestinal outbreak on a Princess cruise ship (the Crown Princess), during the six year period from 2010 to the current date, Princess Cruises experienced the most norovirus outbreaks on its cruise ships calling on a U.S. port, according to the CDC. Including this most recent outbreak, Princess has reported twenty (20) cases to the CDC during this time period.
In contrast, Carnival cruise lines reported just two (2) cases during the same time period.
Celebrity Cruises reported 15 cases (and Royal Caribbean reported 9). HAL also reported a high number (12) during the 2010 to 2016 time period. Cunard reported 4; NCL -3; Oceania – 3; and Crystal – 2.
Anyone have an explanation why there have been 10 times as many CDC-reported GI outbreaks on Princess cruise ships compared to Carnival cruise line ships?
Photo Credit: Pjotr Mahhonin – CC0, Wikipedia