Princess Cruises' Ship Hit by Norovirus Outbreak

Press Release September 9, 2012

'Dawn Princess' (pictured in drydock): Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

The number of passengers reporting ill during 'Dawn Princess' present voyage is 114 out of 1,778 (6.41 percent).

According to the U.S. Center of Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Princess Cruises and the the crew aboard the ship have taken the following actions:

    •    Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
    •    Made announcements to notify onboard passengers of the outbreak, encourage case reporting, and encourage hand hygiene,
    •    Collected stool specimens from ill passengers and crew, tested the specimens onboard using a rapid Norovirus test, and made plans to send them to the CDC lab,
    •    Made twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the VSP,
    •    Has deployed a public health officer from the corporate office to supervise implementation of the ship’s response plan,
    •    Is consulting with CDC on plans for their super sanitation procedures in Seward, AK.

Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers boarded the ship on arrival in Juneau, AK to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Stool specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for confirmatory testing and genome sequencing.