The cruise industry continues to balloon — with ever bigger, ever wilder boats and some 37.1 million cruise passengers set to take to the waters in 2025, according to industry body Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified 2024 as the worst year for stomach illness outbreaks on cruise ships in over a decade as norovirus cases surged in the US.

Last year, there were 16 outbreaks on cruise ships, from norovirus, salmonella, E. coli or other unidentified pathogens that cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea or vomiting. That's the largest number of cruise ship outbreaks in 12 years.

Beth Knowles and her family left on a Caribbean cruise in late December, but they missed every port. They got too sick to disembark during a norovirus outbreak on board. Knowles got an email from Cunard Line one day before their Dec.

There have been at least 16 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships this year, the CDC says, the most in over a decade.

A virus known as the stomach bug that has surged across parts of the country is the cause of nearly all diarrhea outbreaks reported on cruise ships that docked at U.S. ports in 2024, federal data shows.

Around 900 passengers aboard cruise ships were reportedly sickened from gastrointestinal disease in December as virus outbreaks occur globally. The shocking data has been revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.