More than 100 passengers confined to cabins after Norovirus outbreak on 133-day luxury cruise

A norovirus outbreak has affected the German cruise ship AIDAdiva, with 95 passengers and 6 crew members reporting symptoms of the highly contagious gastrointestinal illness. The cases were first reported to health authorities on November 30, making this the eighth day of active infection on board as of December 7, and ruining a holiday of a lifetime for many.

The ship, operated by AIDA Cruises (a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation), is carrying 2,007 passengers and approximately 640 crew members. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the infected individuals represent fewer than 6 per cent of those on board so far.

Affected passengers and crew are experiencing classic norovirus (known in the UK as the “vomiting bug“) symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhoea, and muscle weakness. All confirmed and suspected cases have been isolated in their cabins under CDC protocols. Intensified cleaning and disinfection procedures have been implemented throughout the ship, with particular attention to high-touch surfaces such as railings, door handles, and shared facilities.

The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) is actively monitoring the situation and has confirmed that the ship is following required outbreak management procedures.

The AIDAdiva, famed for its smiley face paint job, departed Hamburg, Germany, on November 10, for a 133-day round-the-world voyage scheduled to conclude on March 23. The extensive itinerary includes stops across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and back to Europe.

The outbreak emerged after the ship had visited several US ports, including Boston, New York, Miami, and Charleston, and around the time it docked in Cozumel, Mexico, the vessel’s first major Caribbean stop. Upcoming ports include destinations in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and later transits across the Pacific to Japan and South Korea, followed by Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Portugal. Check where the ship is now through vesselfinder.com.

Health experts say that norovirus spreads easily in confined, high-density environments like cruise ships. “In close quarters it doesn’t get away; everything’s concentrated,” said Michael Zimring, director of the Center for Wilderness and Travel Medicine at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

The CDC has recorded 21 gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships in 2025, the majority caused by norovirus, continuing a pattern seen in recent years. Authorities have noted a newly dominant norovirus strain circulating on land this season, which cruise ships typically mirror.

Despite the outbreak, the AIDAdiva is continuing its scheduled itinerary with heightened health protocols in place. The first leg of the voyage is set to conclude on December 16, with the full world cruise ending back in Hamburg in late March.

Health officials and the cruise line stress that while unpleasant, norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships are relatively common and usually self-limiting, with most people recovering within 1 to 3 days. The situation remains under close monitoring by both ship operators and international health authorities, as well as authorities at upcoming ports on the route.

This is nothing compared to what my wife, her 84 year-old mother and I went through in our one and only cruise of ten days. It was in the summer of 2011 on the Pacific Princess, of Princess Lines, from San Francisco to Alaska and back.

We were not informed that the three immediately previous voyages on this ship all had norovirus outbreaks. Our voyage had 1400 passengers, and 400-450 of us, my wife and I included, came down with norovirus. That's about 30% victims. All of us were confined to our rooms for three days.

When I called Chase to make a claim on our vacation insurance, the clerk informed me that we were the 39th claim. That's on one credit card company.

Candy and I had one stateroom and her mother an adjoining one. My wife came down with it first, 3-4 days out, with the usual vomiting and diarrhea immediately after we woke up. I took her mother to breakfast but Candy was gone when we returned to our rooms, so I went to the pursers’ office to ask for help locating her. The purser told me about the norovirus outbreak, that this was the fourth in four consecutive days, what regulations applied to dealing with it, and that Candy was confined to our room for three days.

My mother-in-law had just come out of a week in the hospital for dehydration from a urinary tract infection. I was terrified for her because she was weakened and could easily die from norovirus. And very, very angry at Pacific Cruise’s concealment of the three prior outbreaks. I’d have cancelled to protect Candy’s mother had I known of that, along with scores or hundreds of other passengers, which is why Pacific Cruises concealed it.

So I did a Columbo/Peter Falk imitation. Walking away, then turning around,

“Oh miss, another thing.”
“May I help you, sir?”

Real loud, so the 10-15 passengers in the area could hear every word,

“IF YOU HEAR OF A SIXTY YEAR-OLD WOMAN BITING PEOPLE, IT’S PROBABLY MY WIFE. A ZOMBIE OUTBREAK ON A CRUISE SHIP COULD BE VERY BAD!”

I emailed something like this to my friends, one of whom is science-fiction writer John Ringo, and have long wondered if that was the origin of his Black Tide Rising zombie series.

I came down with norovirus three days after my wife did. Her mother never developed it, and had a grand time. We saw whales during one lunch.

My wife and I just had this last week. And we are on tierra firma. Not fun.

Makes sense because, according to the article, the outbreak started after the ship stopped at several US ports and symptoms got bad just as the ship was pulling into Cozumel, Mexico.

By the way, I just got off a cruise ship in Galveston this morning. I was in Cozumel yesterday.
I am fine, but the wife caught a cold: sore throat, coughing, sneezing...no fever. She tested negative for Covid, flu, and RSV. She definitely doesn't have Norovirus, or I'd know it.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.