The number of gastrointestinal illnesses on board cruise ships has fallen to its joint lowest level since 2014.
Eleven onboard outbreaks, including Norovirus, E. coli and Campylobacter, were recorded by Centers For Disease Control (CDC) last year.
The lowest level before that was in 2014 when nine outbreaks were recorded.
In 2006, 34 outbreaks were recorded and the number has been decreasing steadily since. There were also 11 outbreaks in 2017.
Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Symphony, Holland America Line’s Volendam and Silversea’s Silver Shadow were among the ships that were hit by gastrointestinal illnesses in 2018.
On Silver Shadow, 8.56% of the passengers reported being ill during the cruise from May 10 to 24.
This was the highest percentage of passengers affected on board a cruise ship in 2018, according to CDC.
The gastrointestinal illness cases reported are totals for the entire voyage.
Voyages where 3% or more passengers or crew reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness to the ship’s medical staff were recorded by the Vessel Sanitation Programme at CDC.