Carnival Holiday struck by a viral outbreak

A cruise on board the Carnival Cruise Lines ship ‘Holiday’ has been struck by a viral outbreak. 143 people developed the stomach virus while on a trip to Mexico. The ship has a complement of more than 2,230 passengers and crew members and Carnival Cruise Lines believes that the norovirus is to blame.

This common and highly contagious sickness causes vomiting and nausea and cruise lines don’t usually offer refunds such cases because, they say, the virus is most likely to have been brought on-board the ship by a passenger. Carnival and the CDC are trying to determine the cause of the outbreak, and laboratory testing is being done to confirm that it was the norovirus.

Once the cruise line became aware that the illness was spreading, Carnival undertook to: 1. Provide full medical care to guests and crew who became ill 2. Clean and sanitize the ship more frequently than normal 3. Offer serving assistance instead of allowing passengers to serve themselves at buffets – considered a major cause of the spread of the virus

The ship, one of Carnival's oldest and smallest ships, has made Mobile, Texas, its home port since 2004.