Has there ever been a vacation that polarized people more than a cruise?
On the one hand, you have the enthusiasts. They are often stereotyped as retirees in Hawaiian shirts, but that’s a bit simplistic. Since 2019, the average age has dropped, largely because of an increase in family-friendly cruises with kids clubs and onboard thrill rides. That average now sits squarely in the mid-40s to mid-50s. They like entertainment, casinos, good restaurants and fun shore excursions — hitting multiple countries by day while staying in the same bed nightly.
On the other hand, you have the never-cruisers. These are people who remember watching “The Love Boat” decades ago and have absorbed the corny scripts and washed-up guest stars as indicative of the ship’s atmosphere.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead on a cruise,” a friend said recently. “And these days, that’s likely to happen.”
Well, let’s be clear. Pithy as that statement might be, it’s not really accurate. The number of people choosing cruises has been rising. According to Cruise Lines International Association, a record 37.2 million people went on cruises in 2025.
But it is undeniable that cruises are in the news for less-than-healthy reasons right now. Having weathered the storms of covid in 2020, another daunting medical threat is making headlines now. Passengers from the MV Hondius have contracted a strain of hantavirus, specifically believed to be Andes virus, the only version transmissible between humans.
No one is highlighting a deadly rodent-borne virus spread by humans in close quarters in the brochure. So far, the outbreak has at least 11 cases and three deaths.
What’s almost as bad? Getting so sick on vacation that you wish you were dead. Norovirus and E. coli outbreaks on multiple ships have gained attention this year, including incidents in France and Florida. They are ugly gastrointestinal bugs that can scuttle a holiday.
Here’s the thing. I’m not giving up cruising.
Yes, I am a cruise person, and I never thought I would be. I hate the beach. I am so pale, I can get a third-degree sunburn from a night-light. All those things never-cruisers think about cruises? I thought them, too.
But as a single mom, I fell for them hard when I realized I could take a second grader on a ship, let him have the time of his life in a kids club and have my own relaxing, unplugged vacation guilt-free. It is an underappreciated aspect of the industry.
I also gravitate toward cruise lines that are downright obsessive-compulsive about cleanliness. Want to come in to the buffet? Not without washing your hands — right here, in front of the staff, because no, we do not trust you to do it yourself.
Even if I wasn’t pretty obsessive about it myself (there are three bottles of hand sanitizer on my desk and more in the drawer), the dessert alone would make me jump through hoops. When I told my waiter I was disappointed the creme brulee wasn’t on the menu one night, he came to my cabin with a dish of it. I’d take a decontamination shower in public for that kind of service.
I don’t find cruises any more close-contact than a theme park where you’re always touching the same grab bars or packed into long lines. I don’t find them more dangerous than the road trips I went on as a kid. My siblings have running jokes about the number of ways we could have died in ghost towns, battlegrounds and fields full of wild animals.
Should the individual cruise ships with outbreaks be taken seriously? Absolutely. Should health be a priority on every ship, especially given the close quarters? Yes, 100%. But we shouldn’t demonize a whole industry when it is in everyone’s power to stay safe while they have fun.
Now excuse me. I have a veranda stateroom on a Bermuda voyage to book. And some hand sanitizer to buy.
