Norovirus Sickens 115 on Caribbean Princess Voyage

Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess arrived at Port Canaveral on May 11 after a norovirus outbreak sickened 102 passengers and 13 crew members during a 13-night Southern Caribbean voyage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed vomiting and diarrhea as the primary symptoms, with the passenger cases equal to 3.3% of the 3,116 guests onboard and crew cases equal to 1.2% of 1,131 employees.

The outbreak is Princess Cruises' second gastrointestinal illness event of 2026 to reach the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program's public-notification threshold, following a March outbreak on Star Princess that sickened more than 150 people.

Sanitation response and itinerary effects

Princess Cruises said "a limited number of individuals reported mild gastrointestinal illness" during the sailing. "We quickly disinfected every area of the ship and added extra sanitizing throughout the voyage," the cruise line said, adding that Caribbean Princess would undergo "comprehensive cleaning and disinfection" at Port Canaveral before its next departure.

The CDC listed the operator's response as including increased cleaning and disinfection, isolation of ill passengers and crew, and collection of stool specimens for testing. Passenger David Hanson told WESH he initially thought he had food poisoning before the ship announced a broader illness issue. "Up all night, and then the next morning, we got the announcement that there were some issues," Hanson said.

The affected voyage departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on April 28 for a one-way sailing to Port Canaveral. Its itinerary included calls in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, while a scheduled Nassau call was skipped because of the outbreak.

VSP threshold and 2026 comparison

The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program covers ships that carry at least 13 passengers, operate foreign itineraries and call at U.S. ports. The program monitors gastrointestinal illness data, inspects vessels and responds to outbreaks involving sanitation-related health risks.

Cruise ships are required to report gastrointestinal illness to the VSP when cases reach 3% of the onboard population. The Caribbean Princess outbreak was the fourth gastrointestinal illness outbreak on ships under VSP oversight to reach the CDC's 2026 public-notification threshold, and two of those have been attributed to norovirus.

The 2026 count remains below last year's pace. By mid-May 2025, the VSP had confirmed 17 gastrointestinal outbreaks; the CDC's full-year log for 2025 reached 23 outbreaks, 18 of them caused by norovirus. In 2024, 15 of 18 cruise gastrointestinal outbreaks listed by the CDC were linked to norovirus.

Norovirus is often associated with cruise ships, but the CDC says cruise ships account for about 1% of all reported norovirus outbreaks. Sarah R. Michaels, an assistant professor at Tulane University's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, told USA TODAY that close-contact settings such as day care facilities, nursing homes and cruise ships are more likely to have outbreaks "diagnosed, reported and brought to our attention."

Port Canaveral turnaround

The ship and cruise terminal were scheduled for thorough disinfection during the May 11 turnaround at Port Canaveral. Sick passengers and crew were isolated during the affected sailing, and passengers described additional handwashing enforcement and limits on self-service food handling.

The next Caribbean Princess sailing was a six-night Eastern Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral scheduled to depart May 11. Princess did not announce itinerary changes for that departure. Nassau, about 180 nautical miles from Port Canaveral, is the first scheduled port call.