Outbreak Continues on Same Ship With Fourth CDC Report

Yet another gastrointestinal illness report has been submitted to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Sea Bird. This latest report is the fourth from the vessel in just two months.

According to the latest report, eight passengers and five crew members have reported diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps as the predominant symptoms, yet no causative agent has yet been confirmed by laboratory testing.

While the numbers may not seem significant, they represent 14% of guests onboard as well as 19% of crew members currently on the small expedition ship. In total, there are just 57 guests aboard along with 26 crew members.

The impacted sailing is the ship’s July 15, 2026 departure, a 5-night one-way sailing from Juneau to Ketchikan. Despite the illness onboard, there were no reports of itinerary adjustments or changes to the Inside Passage voyage.

Nevertheless, onboard outbreak procedures continue with increased cleaning and sanitizing schedules, isolating crew members and guests reporting illness, and “paused passenger operations.” The nature of that pause has not been explained but may refer to changes in onboard services to help limit the risk of contamination and exposure.

It is not uncommon for cruise ships reporting outbreaks to shift some onboard services, such as changing from self-served to crew-served buffet dining, to minimize potential disease contact.

Paused passenger operations were not reported with earlier outbreaks on the ship this year. This may indicate a further acceleration of outbreak procedures as a stronger attempt to end the overall contamination. It is unclear whether or not any sailings have been cancelled or delayed for deep cleaning and sanitizing.

Satellite tracking data shows the ship currently docked in Ketchikan, Alaska on Thursday, July 23, when it was scheduled to depart the port on Monday, July 20. Thursday was to have been scenic cruising in Wrangell Narrows and Sumner Strait.

Lindblad Expeditions has not commented publicly on the multiple outbreaks, and the cruise line’s social media posts have not featured National Geographic Sea Bird since before the outbreaks began.

Multiple Outbreaks Extend for Weeks

At least five voyages of National Geographic Sea Bird have been afflicted with illness outbreaks in the past few weeks. The first report was made for both the May 31 and June 5 sailings combined, when a total of 12 cases onboard triggered an environmental assessment for the vessel.

Cruise Hive has continued to cover subsequent outbreaks on the June 25, July 10, and now July 15 departures.

These are only the confirmed outbreak reports that have been made to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program. Such reports are required when a case count surpasses 3% of either guests or crew members onboard during a single voyage.

For the 62-guest National Geographic Sea Bird, this means that if just two guests report gastrointestinal illness symptoms, a report is necessary. Likewise, if just one crew member reports such symptoms, that is also over the reporting threshold.

It is possible that not all cases have been reported onboard or else some sailings have had so few cases that official reports were not required.

Of the four reports made to the CDC, the first two have been confirmed as norovirus outbreaks. The last two outbreaks have not yet had causative agents positively identified.

National Geographic Sea Bird is the oldest ship in the Lindblad Expeditions fleet and is sailing her final season before a planned retirement this autumn. She is currently offering a variety of short Alaska itineraries that offer guests the opportunity to explore smaller, more intimate ports and fjords that are not possible to visit on larger cruise ships.

Ships of All Sizes Impacted

While Lindblad Expeditions is certainly taking the unfortunate lead with four out of nine illness outbreaks reported to the CDC so far in 2026, such outbreaks can happen on any ship of any size.

In fact, Star Princess, the newest and largest ship in the Princess Cruises’ fleet, also reported a confirmed norovirus outbreak in mid-March.

The CDC notes that norovirus is the leading cause of gastrointestinal illness in the US, with roughly 2,500 outbreaks reported annually. Restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, and schools also frequently report outbreaks.

For most infected individuals, symptoms develop from 12-48 hours after exposure and resolve within 1-3 days.