The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) is reporting an outbreak of a unspecified gastrointestinal illness on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Pearl that has sickened more than 100 passengers.
According to officials data, 107 of the more than 2400 passengers have been stricken with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea , while 7 of the 1062 crew got ill.
In response to the outbreak, Norwegian Cruise Line and the crew aboard the ship are taking the following actions: Increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan, making announcements to notify onboard passengers of the outbreak, encourage case reporting, and encourage hand hygiene and collected stool specimens from ill passengers and crew.
In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line public health personnel joined the ship at St. Thomas to assist the onboard management with infection control response plan.
The voyage began March 26 and the ship arrived in Miami on April 6, 2015 where two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Specimens are being collected and will be tested by CDC to determine the causative agent for this outbreak.
Washy Washy, happy happy, smiley smiley all the time !
We left the Pearl on Thursday, April 16. The last count we had was 13 passengers and no crew were sick. A big improvement over the previous cruise.
But…..a couple of the crew were nailed for bringing 4 kilos of cocaine with them. Hidden but found by the Feds.
Typical Norwegian adventure…..
wow-we boarded the ship on 4/6 and heard of the previous outbreak, but had no idea anyone had gotten sick on our cruise- much less of the crew bringing drugs on board….
Wow!!! We heard of the previous cruise having the outbreak & that we departed late due to additonal folks being ill, but had no idea of the 13 getting sick on our cruise or of the crew bringing on drugs.
Just returned from Alaskan and Canada leg of ncl pearl, 5/7-5/17/2015, cruise, although members of my family did not get noro bug, there was an illness outbreak onboard serious enough that crew was constantly sanitizing, washy washy every where, and no self service or touchy touchy especially at buffets, which they served up cafeteria style, so hopefully they get it contained. Had no idea of previous outbreaks, but does explains why ship was not filled to max capacity and cruise cost including airfare was deeply discounted.