An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness was recorded aboard the Celebrity Eclipse during a late December cruise, resulting in a number of passengers and crew reporting symptoms during the voyage.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that 95 of the 3,042 passengers onboard reported illness during the sailing, which took place from December 20th to December 28th. In addition, 9 crew members were reported as affected. The cruise operated as a round-trip itinerary from Fort Lauderdale, with scheduled calls in the eastern Caribbean and nearby regions.
Following departure from Florida, the vessel called at St. John’s in Antigua, Philipsburg in St. Maarten, San Juan in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Plata at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic before returning to its home port. The occurrence of illness was formally reported to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program on the final day of the cruise.
The symptoms most commonly reported included vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. At the time of reporting, the specific cause of the outbreak had not been confirmed.
In response, the ship’s operator implemented enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures and coordinated with the Vessel Sanitation Program regarding sanitation protocols and the reporting of cases. Crew members isolated affected passengers and personnel and collected stool samples from those experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms for laboratory analysis. The Vessel Sanitation Program monitored the situation remotely, reviewing the vessel’s response actions and sanitation procedures.
The CDC recorded 22 cruise ship illness outbreaks during 2025, with the majority attributed to norovirus. Prior to the incident aboard Celebrity Eclipse, another norovirus outbreak had been reported on a 133-day world cruise that called at ports in the United States, England, Mexico, Japan, and South Africa after departing from Germany in November.
For more Celebrity Eclipse incidents and accidents, see the ship's CruiseMinus page.