Latest news with #CunardLines
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Cruise Ship Norovirus Outbreak Hits More Than 200 Passengers Aboard Queen Mary 2
Cruise ships and viral outbreaks — name a more iconic duo. This time around, the ship in question is the Queen Mary 2, and it was on a 29-day cruise taking passengers from England to the Caribbean and back. After stopping in New York City, though, passengers and some crew members began reporting both vomiting and diarrhea. So far, more than 230 people on board have caught what has since been confirmed to be norovirus, the New York Times reports. The cruise left Southampton, England on March 8, and Cunard Lines, the company that operates the Queen Mary 2, reported the norovirus outbreak to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 18. In total, 224 of the 2,538 passengers aboard the cruise ship have come down with the virus, as have 17 of the crew members. Everyone who is sick has reportedly been isolated, and the staff is working to sanitize the ship to keep the outbreak from spreading any further. "Thanks to the swift response from our crew and the additional measures that we have in place, we are already seeing a reduction in reported cases," Cunard Lines said in a statement. Read more: All Aboard South Korea's New $100 Billion Baby-Making Trains Despite their promise of fun and relaxation as you sail the open sea, cruise ships have become floating petri dishes where viruses spread quickly. Last year was an especially bad year for cruise ship norovirus, marking a 12-year high in reported cases. And wouldn't you know it, the Queen Mary 2 was part of the reason why. In 2024, the cruise ship saw two norovirus outbreaks. Those outbreaks weren't spread across the entire year, either. They happened in the month of December. And while April has just begun, CNN reports the CDC has already recorded 11 gastrointestinal outbreaks this year, including the latest one aboard the Queen Mary 2. Nine of those 11 instances were confirmed to be norovirus. Back in January, however, a CDC spokesperson wasn't quite ready to say norovirus is becoming more common on cruise ships, telling CNN Travel that "while 2023 and 2024 both had higher numbers of cruise ship outbreaks than in years prior to the pandemic, we do not yet know if this represents a new trend." Still, it's probably better to stick to resorts for vacation instead of trapping yourself on a body fluid boat, especially since you also don't have to worry about resorts tipping over on you. You know, because they're on land like God intended. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
New York Times
01-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
More than 230 People Infected With Norovirus on Luxury Cruise Ship
More than 230 passengers and crew members have been sickened in an outbreak of norovirus during a 29-day round-trip luxury cruise from England to the Eastern Caribbean, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Queen Mary 2, the flagship ocean liner of Cunard Lines, left from Southampton, England, on March 8, according to Cruise Mapper, a tracking site. An outbreak was reported on March 18, the C.D.C. said, after the ship had stopped in New York City. Passengers and crew had reported symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, the agency said. The C.D.C. said the outbreak spread to 224 passengers, out of 2,538 onboard, and 17 crew members. The ship has isolated them and has taken sanitizing measures, it said. In addition to New York, the ship had stops in St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts and Tortola. On Tuesday, the Queen Mary, or QM2 as it's known, was traveling through the Atlantic Ocean on its way back to Southampton, where it was scheduled to arrive on April 6, Cruise Mapper shows. Cunard said in a statement on Tuesday that the guests were being closely monitored and the ship deep cleaned. 'Thanks to the swift response from our crew and the additional measures that we have in place, we are already seeing a reduction in reported cases,' the statement said. The vessel, launched in 2004, is 1,132 feet long, one of the world's largest ocean liners. In 2013, a Times reporter described his voyage on the QM2, which included a departure delay triggered by a 'near-military-level' eradication operation after a norovirus outbreak sickened more than 200 people. Norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness, thrives in closed areas such as health care facilities, dormitories and cruise ships, where people are traveling and working in close quarters. The illness infects up to 21 million Americans a year, according to the C.D.C. It spreads by contact or through contaminated food or water. There is no treatment, and most people recover in a few days. Cruise ships are required to report to the C.D.C. when there is an outbreak, which refers to the total number of people sickened throughout the voyage, not the number of sick people at the same time. The C.D.C. has reported other cases of norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. Twelve of 461 passengers and 22 crew members of a Seabourn Encore cruise were sickened on a voyage that left Japan on March 16 and was scheduled to dock in the United States on April 9, it said. Last month, a Holland America ship reported a norovirus outbreak affecting 89 of its 2,670 passengers and four of its crew during a nine-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the southern Caribbean.
