Three passengers aboard the MV Hondius died of hantavirus after the ship docked in Argentina, and a norovirus outbreak aboard a British cruise ship in Bordeaux, France, sickened passengers. Yet cruise operators and travel analysts say the industry is showing little sign of a consumer pullback.
Rob Kwortnik, an associate professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration who tracks the cruise industry, said would-be vacationers have largely brushed off the headlines. “The cruise consumer seems to be somewhat Teflon when it comes to stories like this,” he said.
The Cruise Lines International Association, an industry trade group, projected in mid-April that 38.3 million people would sail on ocean-going ships this year, a 4% increase over the record 37.2 million passengers in 2025. The association declined to comment on any effect from the Hondius outbreak, and several big cruise companies, including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival, did not respond to queries about customer demand.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company that owns the MV Hondius, said it expects no change to its operations and has a cruise scheduled to depart from Iceland on May 29.
Bob Levinstein, CEO of CruiseCompete.com, an online marketplace where travelers compare offers from travel agents, said his platform booked 31.7% more cabins in the first half of May compared with the same period the prior year. “I can categorically say that we have not seen any drop in demand,” he said.
Veteran cruisers echoed that view. Jenni Fielding, who blogs about cruise trips under the name Cruise Mummy, said she has eight voyages booked and will add more. “Cruising is as safe as any other type of holiday, provided travelers follow sensible health advice and stay aware of official guidance,” she said. Scott Eddy, a hospitality influencer traveling on a cruise docked in Monaco, said fellow passengers had not brought up the hantavirus incident. “The average traveler understands that this is an isolated health situation and not something unique to cruise travel itself,” he said.
Viking, a Switzerland-based cruise line, told investors during a Thursday conference call that demand for its river cruises softened briefly during the first three months of 2026 after the Iran war started, but quickly rebounded. The company said 92% of its 2026 inventory and 38% of its 2027 inventory were already booked, and it made no mention of hantavirus or norovirus.
Andrew Coggins, a cruise industry analyst and professor at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business, said travelers unnerved by the recent news are unlikely to recoup their money because most trips are booked far in advance and refund windows have passed. “I think if there’s any impact on demand, it would be in the long term,” he said.
Coggins added that the hantavirus story attracted outsized attention partly because it evoked memories of the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship quarantined off Japan in early 2020 after the coronavirus that grew into a global pandemic was detected on board. The pandemic devastated the industry, he noted, but demand began recovering in 2022 and has surged since.
Cruising’s growth is drawing passengers across generations and income levels. A recent Bank of America survey found that Gen Z respondents and millennials were the most likely to say they planned to cruise in the next 12 months. The survey also showed that lower-income households increased their cruise spending even as they cut back on airfare and lodging, a shift that cruise lines have encouraged with shorter, more affordable itineraries.
Kwortnik said the value proposition remains powerful. “On average, it costs more just to stay at a hotel in Miami than it does to sail on a cruise out of Miami — and the cruise includes lodging, multiple destinations, food, entertainment, and transportation all in the fare,” he said.