Nearly 90 people aboard Holland America Line’s Rotterdam ship were sickened with norovirus on a recent sailing.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 81 of 2,593 passengers “reported being ill during the voyage,” as well as eight of the 1,005 crew members on board. The voyage dates stated on the report are Sunday, Dec. 28 to Friday, Jan. 9.
Crew and passengers’ predominant symptoms were listed as diarrhea and vomiting, with the “causative agent” being norovirus. The outbreak was reported to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) on Thursday, Jan. 8.
The Rotterdam departed from Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 28 and made stops in Curaçao, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Jamaica before returning to its home port, according to data tracked by CruiseMapper.
Per the CDC report, the “VSP is remotely monitoring the situation,” as well as reviewing “the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures.”
In response to the outbreak, the cruise line consulted with the VSP regarding proper sanitation procedures and reporting cases. Crew aboard the ship also “isolated ill passengers and crew, increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, and collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing,” per the report.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the cruise line said: “During its previous voyage, a number of guests onboard Rotterdam reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. The cases were mostly mild and quickly resolved.”
The statement added, “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.”
In December, PEOPLE reported there was a surge in norovirus cases in the U.S. ahead of the holiday season. While hand washing can prevent the virus, it can’t be killed by hand sanitizer alone.
Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, previously told Today:
81 Passengers, 8 Crew Members Sickened by Norovirus Outbreak on Holland America Cruise
