On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that travelers avoid cruise ships, regardless of vaccination status.

The CDC updated cruise ships' travel health notice levels from Level 3 to its highest level, Level 4.

The new CDC guidance comes as the highly-contagious omicron variant spreads across the country, leading some hospital systems to become overtaxed with patients.

"The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose," the CDC's update said.

The new guidance came after the agency said Wednesday that 88 vessels were either under investigation or observation for potential COVID-19 outbreaks. The CDC did not specify how many cases have been reported.

None of the ships appeared to have so many cases they would overwhelm medical resources on board and require a return to port, but some have been denied entry at some foreign ports.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for the CDC and cruise lines to again halt cruise travel six months after the industry mounted its comeback.

MIAMI —

A COVID-19 outbreak took place on a South Florida-based cruise ship for the third time this week, as the number of coronavirus cases in Florida hit its highest level since the start of the pandemic.

An undisclosed number of passengers and crew aboard the Carnival Freedom cruise caught the virus so the ship was denied entry to Bonaire and Aruba, Carnival said in a statement.

The ship has 2,497 passengers and 1,112 crew members and was scheduled to return to Miami on Sunday following an 8-day cruise. Passengers were required to be vaccinated and they were tested before leaving last Saturday, according to Carnival.

“Carnival Freedom is following all protocols and has a small number on board who are in isolation due to a positive COVID test," the statement said. “Our protocols anticipate this possibility and we implement them as necessary to protect the health and safety of our guests and crew."

Ashley Peterson, a passenger on the ship, tweeted a photo of a Dec. 22 letter from the ship's captain apologizing for being unable to make stops in Aruba and Bonaire. The letter said passengers would get $100 per room in onboard credit, as well refunds for planned excursions.

It was the third outbreak this week affecting cruise ships operated by Carnival and Royal Caribbean departing Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Meanwhile, Florida had 31,758 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, breaking a record for the most cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic in the U.S. in March 2020, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new record was driven by the spread of the new omicron variant through the Sunshine State.

The previous single-day highest number of cases was in last August, during the height of the delta variant wave in Florida, when 27,802 cases were reported.

A federal judge in Miami has ruled that Royal Caribbean is not responsible for the death of an Indiana toddler.

Salvatore Anello, of Valparaiso, Indiana, was holding his 18-month-old granddaughter Chloe when she fell from an 11th-story window of a cruise ship in July of 2019.

She fell about 150 feet from the window of the Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Freedom of the Seas ship.

Anello pleaded guilty last year to negligent homicide, and is now serving probation in Indiana. He has repeatedly said he did not know the window was open, and that he lifted the girl up to it so she could knock on the glass.

Chloe's parents sued Royal Caribbean, saying there was no reason for the window to be open just steps away from a children's play area.

But the judge disagreed, and said Anello should have used his senses and realized the window was open.