--- title: CDC Warns Americans Against Cruises as Coronavirus Spreads description: The CDC recommends that travelers, "particularly those with underlying health issues, defer all cruise ship travel worldwide." canonical: https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/ author: Hillary Leung article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-09T05:43:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:48.873Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Warns Americans Against Taking Cruises and Long Flights og:description: More than 540 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S og:url: https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ddc7fa7b532598/698a0b46096a9463316a7d83/grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Warns Americans Against Taking Cruises and Long Flights twitter:description: More than 540 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ddc7fa7b532598/698a0b46096a9463316a7d83/grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Warns Americans Against Taking Cruises and Long Flights as Coronavirus Cases Grow > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: 21 People Onboard Grand Princess Cruise Ship Test Positive for Coronavirus [Watch (HLS stream): 21 People Onboard Grand Princess Cruise Ship Test Positive for Coronavirus](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jaCvQbG0.m3u8) (3:02)  _Published 2020-03-07. Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus, including 19 crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday_ by [Hillary Leung](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Mar 9, 2020 5:43 AM UTC  The Grand Princess cruise ship, operated by Princess Cruises, floats off the coast of San Francisco, Calif., on Mar. 8, 2020. The Grand Princess cruise ship, operated by Princess Cruises, floats off the coast of San Francisco, Calif., on Mar. 8, 2020. Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images by [Hillary Leung](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Mar 9, 2020 5:43 AM UTC The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising Americans to [avoid taking cruises](https://time.com/5794636/coronavirus-should-you-cancel-travel/) and says older people and others at elevated risk from COVID-19 should avoid crowded places and “non-essential” travel, including long plane rides. [The new guidance](https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/covid-19-cruise-ship), published Sunday to the CDC’s website, is an attempt to minimize exposure to the coronavirus already spreading in some U.S. communities. The CDC recommends that travelers, “particularly those with underlying health issues, defer all cruise ship travel worldwide.” It adds that that cruise ship passengers are at “increased risk of person-to-person spread” of the coronavirus. Cruise ships have been at the center of a number of coronavirus scares and outbreaks—the [_Grand Princess_ cruise](https://time.com/5796564/grand-princess-cruise-california-coronavirus/) is currently floating off the California coast and passengers confined to their rooms [after news that](https://time.com/5796564/grand-princess-cruise-california-coronavirus/) an earlier passenger had died of the coronavirus. The cruise liner said Friday that 21 people on board have tested positive. _Read more:_ [_Should You Cancel Travel Plans Amid COVID-19 Concerns? Here’s What to Consider_](https://time.com/5794636/coronavirus-should-you-cancel-travel/) Last month, more than 700 people from the _Diamond Princess_ cruise ship, out of around 3,700, were diagnosed with the virus. [The cruise](https://time.com/5784190/diamond-princess-cruise-crew-coronavirus/), which was docked in Japan, had earlier sailed with a coronavirus patient. Fears that cruises could carry the virus have also prompted port authorities globally to turn ships away. Over the weekend, the _Costa Fortuna_ sailing in Southeast Asia [was barred](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-thailand-costa-fortuna-cruise-ban-coronavirus-covid-19-12515440) from docking in Malaysia and Thailand. Separately, the U.S. Surgeon General [urged American businesses](https://twitter.com/Surgeon%5FGeneral/status/1236783235293741065) to allow employees paid time off if they are ill: “It’s much cheaper than shutting down because everyone else gets sick!” > [](https://twitter.com/Surgeon%5FGeneral/status/1236783235293741065) There are 554 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of Sunday night, [according to](https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6) Johns Hopkins University’s virus tracker. At least 34 states have reported the coronavirus, with more than 100 cases each in Washington, New York and California. At least nine states have declared emergencies, and an increasing number of schools and public services are shutting down. Twenty-two people have succumbed to the virus. _Keep up to date with our daily coronavirus newsletter by clicking_[ _here_](https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloud.newsletters.time.com%2Fnewsletter%5Fopt-in%3Fqs%3D3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37918ce5d918b82ded01409b97b89c944b82e7c0c4714103e459d4ec77d4fa2619b8484a7f6cd41088bb8a413a8a29e06fe6)_._ Experts [have criticized](https://time.com/5797636/trump-botched-coronavirus-response/) U.S. authorities for their slow response to the growing epidemic. Last Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence, who is spearheading the White House response to the virus, cast doubt that the administration would be able to deliver one million testing kits by the end of the week. “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate the demand going forward,” Pence said. But in a Sunday evening tweet, President Donald Trump maintained that the White House has a “perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan” to fight the virus. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1236634209516752896) _Please send any tips, leads, and stories to_ [_virus@time.com_](mailto:virus@time.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/"},"headline":"CDC Warns Americans Against Taking Cruises and Long Flights as Coronavirus Cases Grow","datePublished":"2020-03-09T05:43:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:48.873Z","description":"More than 540 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S., and at least nine states have declared emergencies","url":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/","keywords":["COVID-19","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ddc7fa7b532598/698a0b46096a9463316a7d83/grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hillary Leung","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ddc7fa7b532598/698a0b46096a9463316a7d83/grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"grand-princess-cruise-virus.jpg","caption":"US-VIRUS-CRUISE-health","creditText":"Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/","name":"CDC Warns Americans Against Taking Cruises and Long Flights as Coronavirus Cases Grow"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"21 People Onboard Grand Princess Cruise Ship Test Positive for Coronavirus","description":"Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus, including 19 crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jaCvQbG0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-03-07T18:52:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jaCvQbG0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/","duration":"PT3M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5799319/cdc-coronavirus-cruises-flights/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```