original article<\/a>.<\/p>\nAn Australian study found 5% of cruise ships that arrived in Sydney between 2007 and 2016 reported gastro outbreaks (98 out of 1967). Of the outbreaks with a known cause, 93% were from norovirus.<\/p>\n
Reports pop up in the news from time to time when there\u2019s a significant outbreak, like when the Sea Princess recorded 200 cases of gastro caused by norovirus in 2018.<\/p>\n
How does it spread?<\/p>\n
You can be infectious with norovirus before symptoms appear and even after they resolve, so a person might unknowingly bring norovirus onto a cruise with them.<\/p>\n
On a cruise ship, norovirus is mainly spread directly from person to person. This is not surprising as many activities on a cruise involve mixing with other passengers in a reasonably closed space.<\/p>\n
While a handshake is a normal greeting, it\u2019s a fairly unsanitary practice. A recent study suggested a \u201cfist-bump\u201d should be promoted on cruises, while a modified version dubbed the \u201ccruise-tap\u201d (where only two knuckles are touched) could be even better.<\/p>\n
![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/iStock-181855557.jpg\")
On a cruise ship, norovirus is mainly spread directly from person to person (Getty)<\/p>\n
The other way norovirus typically spreads is from touching contaminated surfaces. A person with norovirus may not wash their hands properly (or at all) after going to the toilet, leaving many invisible norovirus particles on their hands.<\/p>\n
When this person touches surfaces (for example hand rails, buttons in the lift, or utensils at the buffet) they leave behind norovirus particles. Other people can then touch these surfaces and transfer the particles to their own hands. Then, if they put their hands to their mouth, they can give themselves the virus.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s rare to inhale norovirus particles from the air, but it can occur, usually if someone with the virus vomits nearby.<\/p>\n
While norovirus can be found in food, cruise ships have strict food handling practices to prevent the spread of illnesses such as norovirus. Though this doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s unheard of.<\/p>\n
How to avoid catching norovirus<\/p>\n
It\u2019s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of catching norovirus, but there are some things you can do to minimise your risk:<\/p>\n
wash your hands well and frequently, especially before eating don\u2019t rely on hand sanitisers (hand washing is always better) don\u2019t share food, drinks or eating utensils don\u2019t touch food with your hands reduce unnecessary contact with communal surfaces leave the area if someone vomits. <\/p>\n
If you do get gastro symptoms on a cruise, it\u2019s important you tell the medical personnel as soon as possible and follow their instructions.<\/p>\n
You may be asked to stay in your cabin for a short period so as not to infect other passengers; just as you would wish another infected passenger not to spread the virus to you and your family.<\/p>\n
The sooner the crew can identify a gastro case, the sooner they can start extra clean-up procedures and take further precautions to prevent an outbreak. Also, if you tell medical personnel, they may be able to provide medication and organise appropriate food to be delivered to your room.<\/p>\n
Above all, to minimise the risk of gastro spoiling your cruise, wash your hands thoroughly and often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-512012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Norovirus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Norovirus-CDC.jpeg\")
Norovirus causes an estimated 2.2 million cases of gastro each year (CDC)<\/p>\n