Investigation Update on the Crystal Symphony

Cruise Line: Crystal Cruises

Cruise Ship: Crystal Symphony

Voyage Dates: November 8–December 2, 2018

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 30 of 700 (4.3%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 17 of 585 (2.9%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Causative agent: norovirus

Actions: The CDC Vessel Sanitation Program monitored the situation and the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures. In response to the outbreak, Crystal Cruises and the crew aboard the ship reported the following actions:

• Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan.
• Collected stool specimens from passenger and crew gastrointestinal illness cases and sent them to the CDC Calicivirus laboratory for testing.
• Sent multiple daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to VSP.
• Consulted with VSP about sanitation cleaning procedures and reporting ill cases.

The CDC Vessel Sanitation Program monitored the outbreak and the ship’s response procedures. Specimens were collected and tested onboard using a norovirus rapid test; results were positive for norovirus. The specimens have been sent to CDC for laboratory testing.

Note: The gastrointestinal illness cases reported are totals for the entire voyage and do not represent the number of active (symptomatic) gastrointestinal cases at any given port of call or at disembarkation.