What to do if you get food poisoning on a cruise ship?

Report your illness to a staff member immediately and visit the cruise ship's medical facility for a diagnosis and treatment. Talk to your family members or other cruise passengers to find out if they also got sick after dining at one of the cruise ship's restaurants.



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Unfortunately, food poisoning and stomach viruses are common culprits for just that on some cruises. The United Kingdom, for instance, recently reported 24 cases of Salmonella linked to travel on cruise ships travelling to the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

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Notify the cruise ship's medical staff. It is important to notify your cruise ship's medical team as soon as someone in your cabin becomes ill. Then you or your sick travel mate can get the medical care needed and be on the mend as quickly as possible.

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How can I protect myself from gastrointestinal illness?
  1. Use proper handwashing techniques throughout your voyage, but especially after using the bathroom and before eating.
  2. Avoid any food or water that you think may be contaminated.
  3. Avoid raw or undercooked shellfish.


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Norovirus—a common cause of foodborne illness—is a regular passenger on cruise ships. When infected by norovirus, you're likely to experience diarrhea and vomiting.

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Cruise ships are often associated with norovirus because of the enclosed spaces, close living quarters, communal dining and high turnover of passengers, experts note. That said, outbreaks of acute gastrointestinal illnesses are relatively infrequent on cruise ships compared to settings on land, the CDC notes.

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P&O Cruises also reported an outbreak on its Arcadia cruise ship this year. The CDC's tally of norovirus outbreaks so far confirmed on cruise ships in 2023 is already higher than any annual outbreak tallies since 2012, when the health agency recorded 16 outbreaks.

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Cruise ship doctors work as independent contractors and may charge a basic hourly fee. There will be additional charges for medications and tests. All must be paid for at the time of service and will be billed to your shipboard spending account.

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Luckily, all cruise ships have a medical facility onboard to treat a variety of illnesses and conditions. I've cruised a ton in my life and been really lucky with my health. I've heard horror stories of people getting sick, breaking arms or even needing to be evacuated to receive medical care.

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Or maybe it's norovirus, a contagious virus that often keeps you at the toilet for several days. Some people know it as the “cruise ship virus” because it's often the cause of over 90% of diarrhea outbreaks on cruise ships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Or maybe it's norovirus, a contagious virus that often keeps you at the toilet for several days. Some people know it as the “cruise ship virus” because it's often the cause of over 90% of diarrhea outbreaks on cruise ships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Based on the math, you have less chance of catching a gastrointestinal illness on a ship than at many places you're likely to visit on land. The CDC estimates only about 1% of all annual U.S. norovirus cases happen on cruise ships.

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For some travelers, the rocking never ends. They suffer from mal de debarquement syndrome (MdDS), a rare and chronic form of reverse motion sickness. Instead of getting seasick on board, their illness begins when they hit dry land — and it never ends.

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The most important thing that you can do to avoid Norovirus on a cruise ship is to wash and sanitize your hands as frequently as possible! You will find that most cruise ships have staff to dispense hand sanitizer when you enter into the buffets and other busy areas where people congregate.

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More than 300 sickened on Ruby Princess cruise ship, CDC says. Hundreds of passengers and crew members fell ill while on board a Princess Cruises ship, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. In total, 284 of 2,881 passengers on the Ruby Princess reported being sick during the voyage between Feb.

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One of the biggest misconceptions about cruise ships is that they're germ incubators—that you can't escape. But the likelihood of catching a stomach bug on a seven-day voyage is less than 1 percent—which is about a third the risk of getting infected in your day-to-day life back home, says Dr.

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