LINK:
https://www.newsweek.com/mystery-cruise-illness-poop-cruise-2100682
More than 140 passengers and crew members mysteriously fell ill during a
luxury Royal Caribbean cruise that recently departed Los Angeles for
Mexico. Newsweek has contacted Royal Caribbean for more information on
its latest cruises via email.
Why It Matters
The Navigator of the
Seas is a 2003 Voyager-class cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean,
with a capacity of almost 4,000 passengers. This means that around 4
percent of the total cruise was ill during the journey, which began
earlier this month.
What To Know
The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the cruise, aboard the
Navigator of the Seas, concluded July 11 with at least 134 of 3,914
guests and seven crew experiencing vomiting, stomach cramps, and
diarrhea. The source of the outbreak remains unknown.This incident is
one of 18 gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships in 2025 that met
the CDC's threshold for public notification, with norovirus often the
culprit. According to the CDC, norovirus is the leading cause of
vomiting and diarrhea, and foodborne illness in the U.S.However, the CDC
stated that identifying the causative agent can take time, and cruise
ship outbreaks represent only 1 percent of all reported cases.Issues of
hygiene aboard large cruise ships have been put under new scrutiny by
the public after the release of Poop Cruise, a documentary about a 2013
cruise aboard the Carnival Triumph that left over 4,000 passengers
stranded with a backed-up sewage system.This month also marks the
beginning of new tourism taxes on cruises headed to Mexico, like the one
carried out by the Navigator of the Seas.Starting from July 1,
international travelers stopping in any Mexican ports have been required
to pay a tourism tax upon disembarking.Mexico is among some of the
most-visited cruise destinations in the world and attracts millions of
cruise passengers across its different ports. According to the
Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), this year could see around
3,300 cruise ships arriving in Mexican ports, bringing 10 million
passengers to the country.
What People Are Saying
A spokesperson for
Royal Caribbean Group said in a statement responding to the illness, per
USA Today: "The health and safety of our guests, crew and the
communities we visit are our top priority. To maintain an environment
that supports the highest levels of health and safety onboard our ships,
we implement rigorous cleaning procedures, many of which far exceed
public health guidelines."
What Happens Next?
The CDC continues to investigate the outbreak.
No comments:
Post a Comment
you got something to say... please say it