Cruise Port Annual Reports for GI Illness

When cruise ships dock at a U.S. port as the point of embarkation for a cruise, the port is included on one or more Cruising Healthy Annual Reports for Cruise Ports. Cruising Healthy Annual Reports for Cruise Ports track the cruise port of embarkation, or beginning port of a cruise, and do not track cruise ports of disembarkation or waypoint stops along a cruise.

A cruise port of embarkation may be the source, or cause of a gastrointestinal illness on a voyage. But, looking at other potential sources of GI Illness, these ports may have nothing to do with GI Illness that occurs on a cruise ship. Other contributing factors may be a crewmember or passenger that already has the disease before the current cruise begins; another port that acts as a waypoint; or even the mode of transportation, such as an airline, or even the hotel that passengers stay the night before a cruise.

Whatever the cause, it's the cruise line's responsibility to include the cruise port of embarkation, waypoint ports, and cruise port of disembarkation as part of their GI Illness Risk Management Plan. The port should be monitored for cleanliness and disinfection procedures—including the pens that are used by passengers to report their GI Illness symptoms, turnstiles, as well as the grab handles leading to ship. In other words, any object that more than one-person touches should be considered a potential carrier of GI Illness.