153 People Got Sick on This Princess Cruise. Here's the Full Picture.
153 passengers and crew fell ill with norovirus aboard Princess Cruises' Star Princess during a Caribbean sailing from March 7–14, 2026, confirmed by the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program.
A Caribbean sailing on Princess Cruises’ Star Princess ended last week with 153 passengers and crew members stricken by norovirus — one of the largest shipboard illness outbreaks reported so far this year. The numbers were confirmed by the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) on Thursday, March 13, as first reported by CBS News.
The voyage ran from March 7 to March 14, departing Fort Lauderdale on a Caribbean itinerary that included stops in Honduras, Belize, and the Mexican Riviera. Of the 5,868 people aboard — 4,307 passengers and 1,561 crew — 104 passengers and 49 crew members reported falling ill with diarrhea and vomiting, the hallmark symptoms of a norovirus infection.
What the CDC Reported
According to the VSP’s outbreak log, Princess Cruises notified the program on March 11, about four days into the voyage, after the illness count crossed the threshold that triggers mandatory reporting.
The response from the ship was immediate and by the book: Princess Cruises activated its outbreak prevention and response plan, ramping up cleaning and disinfection throughout the vessel, isolating sick passengers and crew in their cabins, and collecting stool samples from ill individuals for laboratory testing. The CDC dispatched a field response team to conduct an environmental assessment and independent investigation once the ship returned to port.
The Scale of the Outbreak
To put the numbers in perspective: 153 sick out of nearly 5,900 people works out to roughly 2.6 percent of the total population aboard. While that may sound relatively small, it was enough to trigger CDC notification requirements, which kick in when a certain percentage of passengers reports illness.
The Star Princess is one of Princess Cruises’ newest vessels, having debuted in 2024 — the same ship that was christened with actor Matthew McConaughey and a splash of Casamigos tequila. The fact that even a modern, recently launched ship is not immune to norovirus is a useful reminder that the virus is extraordinarily contagious regardless of a ship’s age or newness of its systems.
What Cruisers Should Understand About Norovirus at Sea
Norovirus is not a cruise ship problem — it’s a human density problem. The virus spreads aggressively in any setting where large numbers of people share facilities, eat together, and touch common surfaces. Cruise ships draw attention because the CDC’s VSP tracks and publishes shipboard outbreaks, making the data visible in a way that comparable land-based outbreaks at hotels, resorts, schools, or hospitals simply are not.
The cruise industry is transparent about this in a way most hospitality sectors are not, and that transparency sometimes creates a distorted perception of risk. That said, 153 people spending a week at sea with vomiting and diarrhea is a real, significant disruption to what was supposed to be a vacation — and we don’t want to minimize that.
What Princess Cruises Does After an Outbreak
When a ship returns to port following an outbreak, the response doesn’t stop at disembarkation. Vessels undergo intensive “turnaround” sanitation procedures — bleach-based disinfection of every public surface, deep cleaning of staterooms, and a review of galley protocols. The CDC’s VSP team may also conduct a formal inspection.
The objective is to break the chain of transmission before the next group of passengers boards. Norovirus can survive on hard surfaces for days, which is why the cleaning protocols are as thorough as they are.
Princess Cruises has not publicly commented on whether guests aboard the affected sailing received any compensation or onboard credit. That’s not unusual — cruise lines typically handle such matters directly with affected passengers rather than through public statements.
If You Have an Upcoming Princess Cruise
There is no indication that any ongoing sailings have been affected. The March 7-14 voyage has concluded, the ship has returned to Fort Lauderdale, and the CDC investigation is proceeding as a standard post-outbreak assessment.
For travelers with upcoming Princess Cruises bookings, the standard advice applies: wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, especially before meals and after touching shared surfaces like elevator buttons and handrails. The single most effective defense against norovirus isn’t hand sanitizer — it’s soap and water, which physically removes the virus from your hands rather than simply killing it.
Norovirus outbreaks happen at sea, and they happen on land. The Star Princess incident is not a reason to cancel a cruise, but it is a reason to pack the knowledge that handwashing is the most powerful tool available to any traveler, anywhere.