What happened when I got norovirus on a cruise

The top three worst possible things that could happen at sea on a cruise ship, in my humble opion, are

1. boat sinking,

2. seasickness, and

3. norovirus.

In that order.

Luckily over the past 100 years, there have only been 24 full-size cruise ships that have sunk. And statistically, cruise passengers have a significantly higher chance of survival in an accident than airplane passengers. So, my number one fear is based more on the TV shows and movies of my youth than on actual fact. My number two fear, seasickness, is an actual possibility. But luckily, after three long haul cruises over almost 14,000 nautical miles, I am thrilled to report that neither of us has had any serious motion sickness. I’ve had to take pills twice due to some wobbly seas and wobbly knees, but modern medicine is amazing and I bounced back immediately. (We have friends who recenlty crossed the Drake Passage from Ushuai, Argentina to Antarctica who felt the brunt of that most dramatic of passages, but we tend to pick routes that are significantly more tame).

So, that brings me to number 3…. Norovirus. Norovirus is very much in the news these days, particularly on cruise ships. While it is also relatively rare, there have been 10 norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships so far this year. In 2024, there were 18.

Right before we left Tampa on the Celebrity Constellation (aka “the Connie”), multiple friends sent us the news that the entire full-time workforce of the US CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) had been laid off thanks to DOGE. VSP undertook vessel inspections, responded to outbreaks, and trained the industry on best public health practices. It was wholly funded by the cruise industry, so how DOGE had the authority to or rational for canceling this program is beyond me. My response to friends before we left was that even with the cancelation of this program, cruise lines had a heck of a lot of incentive to make sure that the risk of getting sick on board was minimized since a corporate brand can quickly be tarnished when there is an outbreak.

Three days into our cruise, there was an outbreak on our ship… and let’s just say that I got to test Celebrity’s response for myself.

So, let me tell you what happened…

We had both been washing our hands and using sanitizer religiously, but frankly as beautiful as the Connie is after her recent redecoration and refurbishment (and she really is beautiful), the ship has a whole lot fewer places to wash hands near food than we experienced on the Sapphire Princess last year where there were handwashing staitions at the buffet in addition to hand sanitizer dispensers. However, we did our best. And yet, a sneaky bug managed to make it through. It hit me about 2 am and lasted all night. Our trusty travel bidet was a godsend.* At about 9am, Levon called medical services and reported my illness. They asked that I come in as soon as I was able to, and about 45 minutes later, I was sitting in their office.

Around the Connie

Before seeing the doctor, I had to sign a form saying that I would pay any medical expenses that might arise from being treated in the ship’s medical facility and then my vitals were taken. I was asked a series of questions - by the nurse and on a form I had to fill out - about where I had eaten over the last couple of days. Within 10 minutes, a doctor met with me, gave me a big bottle of pedialite and some Immodium pills with instructions on when to take them. About 10 minutes later, I was back in bed, with the first round of pills and a glass of pedialite in my system. I was quarantined in our stateroom for 24 hours, but Levon was not (thank goodness! Poor guy, regardless). I was also instructed on what to eat and not eat during that time - all of these items were delivered free of charge to the room by room service.

By the next morning, I was feeling significantly better and my quarantine ended at 9:45am. I was allowed out after a quick phone check in with the medical facility.

There are horror stories of what people are charged in cruise ship medical facilities** and I have no doubt that those stories are true. But in my case, the ship charged me nothing. And guest services both called to check in on me and sent me a $100 gift certificate for a future cruise. I thought that was a decent gesture for a lost day of fun at sea.

So, I guess the moral of this story, is no matter what you do or how hard you try, sometimes shit happens.

If you are would like our guide on repositioning cruises, check out this post: Smooth Sailing: First-Time Repositioning Cruise Tips.

*This is an Amazon Affiliate link so if you decide to buy the same beloved travel bidet that we use, we will get a few cents of commission. As always, that money will go towards the causes we support related to girls and women's education, entrepreneurship, and health.

**This was actually our second experience using a cruise ship’s medical facilities. Last year, Levon had an allergic reaction while we were on the Sapphire Princess. Before figuring out that the feather pillows on our bed were the culprit, he was able to buy allergy pills after visiting the ship’s doctor - all for for $9 USD.