Speaking to TTG as it was revealed two Brits are self-isolating at home in the UK after travelling onboard Oceanwide Expeditions ship MV Hondius, which is currently sailing to Tenerife, three cruise specialists played down concerns about the incident impacting future booking levels and consumer confidence.
Both British passengers got off Hondius in Saint Helena late last month and flew home via Johannesburg. Neither had symptoms but contacted health officials why they heard of the cases onboard the ship. Three people have now died after travelling on MV Hondius, which set sail from Argentina a month ago.
The ship's journey to Granadilla in Tenerife is expected to take three to four days, Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement issued on Thursday (7 May) morning. Once it arrives in port, passengers and crew onboard will be disembarked and screened.
James Cole, Founder and Chief Executive of Panache Cruises, told TTG: "I think there has been an impact to consumer confidence but I'm not sure that it will affect cruise customer confidence.
"They are well aware how the national press blow these things up. When these incidents happen in hotels, they are not always reported by the press. We're just waiting for it to drop off the front pages of the newspapers. I'm sure I would be getting calls from customers if it was an issue."
He added Panache Cruises' sales and reservations teams were not seeing anything "adverse" and booking trends remained "robust".
Sam Ballard, Founder and Managing Director of Club Voyages, described the incident as a "tragedy", but like Cole said the outbreak of the rodent-borne virus would "not have a huge impact" on bookings or consumer confidence.
"I don't think it will put off expedition cruise passengers – it's an isolated incident," he said. "The people who will read into this are people who have never gone on a cruise anywhere.
"We've got customers who are going on an expedition sailing next week and they've not mentioned it. You cannot have 100% of the market. We know there are people with concerns who will never go on an expedition cruise."
Adore Holidays Managing Director Ian Gilder added: "I've not had any calls from customers at this precise moment. From my years of experience, this will have an impact short term but I don't think it will be in the news for much longer.
"Interest around cruise holidays will come back quite quickly. With Costa Concordia [in 2012], it was rubbish for around four to six weeks afterwards. There are bigger geopolitical events going on in the world. This is the first time I have heard of this virus. It is not a common virus."
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has confirmed the UK Health Security Agency is working with the World Health Organization "to make sure British nationals on the MV Hondius can all get safely home with proper protection for public health".
TTG approached the Expedition Cruise Network (ECN) for comment after it confirmed Oceanwide Expeditions is one of its members.
Akvile Marozaite, Founder and Chief Executive of ECN, shared a "strictly personal reflection" on the ongoing incident on LinkedIn this week, writing: "The expedition cruise community is incredibly resilient and this shall pass too."
