If you thought your last holiday was bad because the hotel pool was closed, spare a thought for the more than 140 passengers aboard the MV Hondius, who are currently being evacuated from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship after it anchored off Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday morning. Yes, hantavirus. On a cruise ship. In 2025.
According to The Independent, first images have emerged of passengers disembarking the expedition cruise vessel as evacuation procedures get underway, with those onboard set to be flown home following the outbreak. The MV Hondius - an expedition-class polar cruise ship - made its way to the Canary Islands after the virus was detected among those aboard.
So what exactly is hantavirus?
For the uninitiated, hantavirus is a rodent-borne illness typically transmitted through contact with infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. It is not known for being the kind of thing you expect to pick up on a luxury polar cruise, which makes this situation particularly eyebrow-raising. The virus can cause serious respiratory illness in humans, though transmission between people is considered rare for most strains.
How exactly hantavirus found its way onto a cruise ship remains the kind of question that health investigators will presumably be very eager - and slightly horrified - to answer.
The evacuation
The ship anchored off Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday, and evacuation efforts began shortly after. More than 140 passengers are reported to be affected by the situation, per The Independent, with flights home being arranged for those disembarking. Photographs from the scene show passengers making their way off the vessel - likely feeling a complicated mixture of relief and the very specific indignity of having a holiday ended by a rodent-linked disease.
Spanish health authorities and local officials in the Canary Islands are understood to be involved in coordinating the response, though the full details of how the outbreak developed and how many individuals tested positive for the virus have not yet been fully confirmed at the time of reporting.
The cruise industry's latest headache
It is worth noting that cruise ships have had a historically turbulent relationship with infectious disease outbreaks - most infamously during the early COVID-19 pandemic, when vessels became floating petri dishes that made global headlines. A hantavirus incident adds a genuinely novel chapter to that grim catalogue.
For now, the priority is getting passengers home safely. Full details about the scope of the outbreak, the number of confirmed cases, and the source of the infection are still emerging. The Independent's reporting notes the evacuation is actively underway, but further official confirmation is expected in the coming days.
Stay tuned - and maybe reconsider that polar expedition cruise you had bookmarked.
