French authorities have ordered more than 1,700 passengers and crew members to stay aboard a cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after dozens on board became ill, health officials said.
Around 50 people have so far been sickened with symptoms “consistent with an acute gastrointestinal infection” on the ship, an Ambassador Cruise Line vessel named Ambition, officials said.
There was no evidence to suggest any link to the deadly hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius, a cruise ship that anchored off the Canary Islands in Spain on Sunday, French health officials said. Still, the ship’s passengers and crew have been marooned on the ship in Bordeaux since arriving on Wednesday morning, and it was unclear when the ship would be allowed to continue on its journey (it was scheduled to travel to Santander, Spain, for its next stop).
“We would like to reassure guests that we take any illnesses aboard our fleet extremely seriously,” Ambassador Cruise Line said in a statement.
The wave of sickness on the Ambition — which was on a two-week expedition with stops in England, France and Spain — began shortly after it departed Belfast on May 8.
On the second day of its voyage, after a stop in Liverpool to pick up more passengers, the ship’s medical staff recorded an increase in people with symptoms of gastrointestinal illness, the cruise line said.
Earlier reports that the illnesses were caused by a norovirus were not confirmed, and French authorities said they were working to determine the cause. The affected passengers were treated and isolated in their cabins, French health officials said.
After the ship arrived in Bordeaux, it advised the French health authorities that passengers aboard were ill, the cruise line said. A medical team was dispatched to the ship, and samples were taken and sent to the infectious diseases department of the Bordeaux University Hospital for testing, health officials said.
As a precautionary measure, local officials in France decided to prevent the ship’s passengers and crew members from disembarking and limit their contact with the port, health officials said.
A 92-year-old British man died on the Ambition on Monday, local health officials said, but the cause was cardiac arrest and his death was not related to the illness affecting other passengers.
It is not unusual to implement restrictions on passenger movements at ports when illness outbreaks have been reported, and French health authorities said the measures in Bordeaux would be reassessed after an investigation was complete.
In recent years there have been several high-profile outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships. Last week, 115 people fell ill on a cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises, and in March, nearly 200 people were sickened on board another Princess Cruises ship. In 2025, more than 2,200 people were sickened in 18 norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, according to C.D.C. figures.
Cruise ships can be potent vectors for noroviruses because they hold large groups of people in sustained contact in a self-contained environment. The viruses are highly contagious, and can cause diarrhea, vomiting, aching and fever. There is no treatment, and most people recover in a few days.
