While a pair of high-profile outbreaks on cruises might have a temporary chilling effect, those in the industry predict the ships’ siren song will lure travellers back in short order.
Lorn Sheehan, a tourism expert at Dalhousie University, says cruises were able to bounce back after COVID-19 and he expects the same will be true in the case of a hantavirus outbreak that locked down an Antarctica-bound adventure cruise, sickening 11 passengers and crew members, including three who died.
He says the travel industry is resilient, and the growth of cruise tourism outpaces that of the sector as a whole.
He says travellers appreciate cruises for their convenience, likening them to a “travelling resort” that takes you between destinations.
And Sheehan says while some people may be turned off by the prospect of outbreaks, everyone weighs risk differently.
While the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius was a rare case, instances of other illnesses — such as norovirus — are more common on cruises.
That gastrointestinal illness is what sickened dozens of people on board the Ambition, a British cruise ship that was temporarily barred from disembarking at a port in France because of the outbreak.
Global Affairs Canada said Thursday it was aware of three Canadians on the ship, and that they were not sick.
The company that operates the ship, Ambassador Cruise Line, said those who weren’t ill were allowed off the boat on Thursday and that they would set sail for their next stop on Friday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were 22 outbreaks last year on cruise ships that fall under the jurisdiction of its Vessel Sanitation Program, which covers all ships with more than 13 passengers that dock in the United States and at least one foreign port. Most of those outbreaks were norovirus.
But Sheehan says the potential spread of viruses isn’t enough to stop many would-be cruisers.
“I think people are saying, you know, we have these risks in our daily lives, and so maybe it’s not such a big deal,” he said.
Cruises draw people in with the promise of a ready-made vacation, with lots of different activities.
“What passengers are getting is what you would get at a resort, but that resort is moving from place to place to place,” Sheehan said.
Meanwhile, Dave Wentworth, who owns the travel agency DestinationWhatever.com, said that while there’s been online chatter about avoiding ships, his cruise-loving clientele hasn’t changed their behaviour.
In fact, he said, he’s due to set sail on a cruise next week.
“I’m not thinking for a flicker about cancelling that. Because again, I think at the end of the day, a lot of people are able to see this as a highly isolated lightning in a bottle situation,” he said of the hantavirus outbreak.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
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