Cruise News Update: Passenger Brawl, Cancellation, Outbreaks
It’s time to check in with Cruise Hive’s weekly news update, your best bet to stay on top of the big developments across the cruise industry. This week we have coverage of the Port of Vancouver, Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival Cruise Line.
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Canadian Port to Welcome 300-Plus Cruise Ships in 2025
The Port of Vancouver, in British Columbia, a major embarkation and port call destination for Alaska cruises, is on the cusp of a robust season that will see an estimated 1.2 million passenger transits.
The season began in early March and runs into early October, but the peak months are yet to come and the volume of ships visiting — some 300-plus, bodes well for the region’s cruise-tourism industry.
Seventy-four cruises will operate from the port in 2025, and up to 50,000 cruise passengers are expected to transit the port during weekends in the high season. From an economic perspective, the season looks to be a big year, since each ship visit accounts for about $3 million in direct local spending.
Cruise guests use the Canada Place cruise terminal, which, in 2024 welcomed 1.32 million passengers from 327 cruise ship calls. That’s slightly higher than what’s expected this year. However, port officials are thrilled that several ships will make their maiden calls to Vancouver this year, which could translate into future visits.
Ships set to call for the first time include Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jade, Silversea Cruises’ Silver Moon, Oceania Cruises’ Ocean Riviera, Seabourn’s Seabourn Quest, Viking Cruises’ Viking Venus, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, and Villa Vie Residence’s Villa Vie Odyssey.
Two Norwegian Ships Get Spruced Up For Summer Season
Just in time for the summer season, Norwegian Cruise Line is enhancing public spaces and adding staterooms on two popular ships, Norwegian Epic and Pride of America.
Norwegian Epic is in the middle of a three-week dry dock that will add eight cabins, replace the Posh Beach Club with Vibe Beach Club, and upgrade the AquaPark.
The 4,100-guest mega-ship will emerge from the shipyard in time to operate her first cruise of the season, a 6-night “Mediterranean: Italy, France & Spain” voyage roundtrip from Rome on May 8, 2025, calling at Naples and Livorno, Italy; Barcelona; and Cannes, France.
The ship will sail the Eastern and Western Mediterranean through summer 2025, offering 9- to 11-night cruises featuring destinations in Italy, Greece, and France.
The 2,500-guest Pride of America’s monthlong dry dock, from May 3 to 31, 2025, will add 12 staterooms, a Starbucks, and a pickleball court. The upgrades also will include moving the youth clubs — Splash Academy and Entourage — to a new location.
The ship sails inter-island Hawaii cruises year-round from Honolulu.
Stomach Bugs Impact Two Holland America Line Ships
Two outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses have hit Holland America Line ships Zuiderdam and Eurodam. It is the second such case for Eurodam, which had a viral episode earlier this year.
Zuiderdam is experiencing her first outbreak of 2025 and it is impacting the ship’s 125-night Grand World Voyage that departed Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 4, 2025.
Fifty-five guests of the 1,149 onboard reported diarrhea, as did 14 of the ship’s 751 crew members. The totals represent 4.8% of guests and 1.9% of crew members.
Cruise ships are required to report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when 3% or more of the ship’s population experiences an illness. The cause of the outbreak on Zuiderdam is not yet known.
On Eurodam, the cause was found to be norovirus. The outbreak happened on the ship’s repositioning cruise between Fort Lauderdale and Vancouver, British Columbia. The ship departed on April 12, 2025, and arrived in Canada on May 2, 2025.
Sixty-four guests out of 2,038 (3.1%) and 12 crew members out of a total of 830 (1.5%) reported diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.
In addition to these cases and the earlier Eurodam incident, other outbreaks disrupted Holland America Line cruises earlier this year onboard Rotterdam and Volendam.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Posts Revenue Loss in First Quarter
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, owner of the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2025.
It posted revenue of $2.1 billion, a 3% decline versus the year-ago quarter, and a net loss of $40 million. Occupancy also experienced a small decline, year over year.
However, the line’s executives remain upbeat on future bookings and long-term success.
The revenue drop, they said, could be attributed to mega-ship dry docks and a decrease in guest air fare bookings. On the upside, the company pointed to strong cost control, continued record guest satisfaction scores, and guest repeat rates as signs that its financial outlook is solid.
Advanced ticket sales were $3.9 billion, a 2.6% increase year-over-year, and while growth is predicted to fall below earlier projections for 2025, the company plans to offset the dip with various cost-saving initiatives.
The first quarter, which ended March 31, 2025, saw the delivery of Norwegian Cruise Line’s first Prima Plus-class ship, Norwegian Aqua. The company also announced plans to enhance its private destination, Great Stirrup Cay, with, among other things, a new multi-ship pier.
Cancellation of Labadee Port Call Annoys Guests
Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s popular private destination on Haiti’s north coast, is once again closed to port calls due to the persistent civil unrest that has impacted the island on and off for a year, and some guests are mighty peeved.
The decision in mid-April to suspend visits to the island was based on safety concerns, even though the unrest is limited to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city located 120 miles from the private resort area.
Some guests sailing aboard Icon of the Seas, departing May 3, 2025 from PortMiami, took to Facebook to complain that Labadee was removed from their itinerary and replaced with a sea day.
The ship was to call at Labadee on May 8, 2025, and the change to the 7-night itinerary means that the cruise now has just two port calls — Philipsburg, St. Maarten on May 6, 2025, and Ponce, Puerto Rico, on May 7, 2025.
Why didn’t the cruise line add another destination, rather than have five sea days on a 7-night voyage, the guests wanted to know?
The cruise line has not disclosed the reason, but it could be simply a matter of size, since the 5,600-guest Icon of the Seas is the largest cruise ship sailing and many Caribbean ports cannot accommodate such a big vessel.
Beware Scammers Impersonating Cruise Directors
Some of Carnival Cruise Line’s cruise directors are celebrities in their own right, and that can lead to attempts by unscrupulous people to take advantage of cruise guests. It happened recently to Kyndall “Fire” Magyar, a cruise director on Carnival Jubilee.
Like other cruise directors, Magyar has a huge following on social media, and some scammers have apparently tried to impersonate her with guests — asking for personal information and money.
So Magyar is warning her supporters to beware of any solicitations that appear to be coming from her. She specifically is cautioning guests to look out for any messages from “Kyndall Fire’s Team” or “Kyndall’s Handler.”
In some cases, the scammers request a guest’s full name and photo for a bogus “donor ID card.” This kind of information can lead to identification theft.
Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald, also a popular cruise line figure, confirmed that he, too, has been targeted by scammers using his photo and creating fake accounts in his name. Then, they apparently contact guests pretending to be Heald.
Carnival Guests Banned From Line Following Brawl
What began as a typical cruise ship disembarkation process at the Port of Galveston turned ugly on the morning of April 26, 2025, as guests from Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Jubilee converged at the luggage pick-up area.
Something went awry and a fight broke out, all captured on video and posted on social media. It started when several people began throwing punches at two men and ultimately involved around two dozen people — all of whom are now banned from ever sailing with Carnival Cruise Line again.
The debarkation area at the cruise terminal falls under the jurisdiction of US Customs and Border Patrol, and an investigation is under way by the Port of Galveston Police Department.
Following the viral video some passengers disclosed that there had been two physical altercations during the cruise, one on Deck 4 and another on Deck 10. It is not known whether the terminal brawl had anything to do with the earlier, onboard fights.
The passengers involved with the luggage area fight could be subject to arrest by local authorities, but one thing is for sure: They’ll never embark on a Carnival Cruise Line voyage again.
More Cruise Headlines
Now you’re up to date on the leading stories from the past week but there are even more stories you won’t want to miss on Cruise Hive. We have news about Carnival Cruise Line’s party celebrating 15 years sailing from Seattle; a fire breaking out near the cruise pier in Nassau, Bahamas; two Royal Caribbean ships deploying to Australia in 2026; Port Canaveral making strides on its expansion plans; and MSC Cruises rolling out a slew of new family fun activities for summer 2025.
Cruise News Update: Passenger Brawl, Cancellation, Outbreaks