90+ Guests, Crew Sick In Royal Caribbean Cruise Gastrointestinal Outbreak

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Nearly 100 people got sick in a gastrointestinal outbreak on a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship.

Among 2,164 guests aboard Radiance of the Seas, 89 reported being ill during its current voyage, along with two crew members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Their main symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea.

The health agency listed the causative agent as unknown.

The ship left for a week-long Caribbean cruise from Tampa, Florida on Saturday, according to CruiseMapper. Royal Caribbean increased disinfection and cleaning measures and isolated sick guests and crew, among other steps, the CDC said.

“Enhanced measures have been implemented onboard in an abundance of caution to protect the health and comfort of all our guests and crew," a spokesperson for the line's parent company, Royal Caribbean Group, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.

The cases mark the sixth gastrointestinal illness outbreak on cruise ships that has met the CDC’s threshold for public notification so far this year. Those follow 18 outbreaks in 2024, most of which were caused by norovirus.

The illness is often associated with cruise ships, though those constitute just 1% of all outbreaks reported.

Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine and pediatrics at Stanford Medicine, told USA TODAY last month that outbreaks typically happen in congregate settings, particularly where people are eating and drinking. Those include cruises, universities, nursing homes and “even hospitals,” he said.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.