NEW YORK, July 21 (Our New York News) — An Alaska voyage aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird is under review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after the ship logged its third gastrointestinal illness outbreak in about two months.
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program says the latest episode was reported on July 12 during a July 10-15 voyage from Sitka to Juneau, Alaska. In the agency’s outbreak registry, 18 of 62 passengers reported illness, and the most common symptoms were vomiting and abdominal cramps. The CDC says the cause remains unknown and that samples are pending confirmatory testing.
The ship is operated by Lindblad Expeditions.
What the CDC says happened
The CDC’s outbreak registry lists two earlier gastrointestinal outbreaks on the same ship in 2026: May 26-31 and June 25-30. In both earlier cases, the registry lists norovirus as the causative agent.
For the latest outbreak, the CDC has not identified a cause. The agency says the ship’s crew isolated ill passengers and crew and increased cleaning and disinfection procedures under its outbreak response plan. The CDC also says it is “remotely monitoring the situation, including review of the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures.”
Why cruise ships are tracked this way
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program monitors cruise ship gastrointestinal outbreaks and posts them when reporting thresholds are met. The agency says cruise ships must report cases that meet its outbreak criteria, and it posts outbreaks when 3% or more of passengers or crew report symptoms.
That makes the CDC registry a useful snapshot for travelers: it shows when a ship has crossed the outbreak threshold, what symptoms were reported, and whether officials have identified a likely cause.
What this means for travelers
For people planning an Alaska cruise, the practical takeaway is to check whether a ship has an active or recent outbreak before sailing and to watch for public health updates during the trip. The CDC registry shows that repeated outbreaks can appear on the same vessel over a short period, even when the cause of the latest episode has not yet been confirmed.
In this case, the latest Sea Bird outbreak is still unresolved. The CDC has not said whether the pending tests will identify the cause, and the agency has not provided a separate statement from the cruise operator in the materials reviewed for this report.
For now, the confirmed facts are straightforward: the National Geographic Sea Bird experienced a new gastrointestinal outbreak on an Alaska itinerary, nearly a third of passengers aboard the ship reported symptoms, and federal health officials are still reviewing the ship’s response and sanitation procedures.
