Cruise ship Ambition, which was carrying over a thousand passengers, has been stranded in Bordeaux since Wednesday after an outbreak of gastroenteritis, commonly called the stomach flu, during its voyage.
A 92-year old British passenger had passed away on the ship due to a cardiac arrest during a stop in Brest, Brittany, on Monday. French authorities in charge of the Bordeaux region did not assoicate the death with the outbreak. Regional authorities also assured that the gastroenteritis outbreak is not related to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
“There is no reason to link the stomach flu outbreak on the vessel, that came from Belfast and Liverpool, with the hantavirus cluster on the luxury MV Hondius ship that travelled between Argentina and the Canary Islands,” the authority said in a statement.
Authorities allowed some passengers to leave the ship, run by Ambassador Cruise Line, on Wednesday evening , instructing them to take precautionary measures such as washing hands regularly. The passengers, who are sick, are being treated on the ship by its medical team.
The ship had 1,233 passengers, a majority of them being British or Irish, and 514 crew members. One passenger was a French citizen.
Gastrointestinal diseases are a common occurence in cruise ships. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had already reported two outbreaks of E.coli and two outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ship in 2026.
Gastroenteritis is a stomach flu, with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea. It is highly contagious but is not known to be fatal. However, it can lead to severe symptoms like dehydration.
Hantavirus, on the other hand, has a high mortality rate. Unlike the stomach flu, it is usually transmitted among rodents. The hantavirus variant that hit the MV Hondius, Andes Strain, is the only known variant that can spread from human to human. The spread of Andes Strain requires close and intimate contact.
