Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Sea Bird has twice stopped in Haines this year while carrying an active norovirus outbreak.
The boat’s most recent outbreak affected 20 of the 95 people aboard the ship. During that outbreak, the ship docked in Haines for 8 hours on June 23. The company did not immediately return a request for more information on Friday.
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that is the leading cause of vomiting, diarrhea and foodborne illness in the United States. It is the most common virus reported on cruise ships, including 17 of the 23 outbreaks reported in 2025.
During a previous outbreak, the ship stopped in Haines on May 28 while twelve passengers were infected. That’s according to Centers for Disease Control reports about the outbreaks, which the agency released earlier this week. The CDC’s reporting threshold for outbreaks is 3% of the people on board.
Separately, 125 of the 4,176 people aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship that traveled from San Francisco to Alaska from June 12 to July 2 were infected with norovirus. The Ruby Princess next sailing will see it visiting Haines for the first time this season on July 6. The ship arrived in its homeport of San Francisco on Thursday, but new passengers were delayed in getting on board as the company was disinfecting the boat, according to CruiseHive.
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program monitored the Ruby Princess outbreak from afar, but sent investigators aboard the Sea Bird after its second outbreak, according to CruiseHive.
Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska port manager Leslie Ross said Friday she has notified borough tourism director Rebecca Hylton and the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Clinic of the Ruby Princess’ coming arrival and recent outbreak.
Ross said she was also aware of the outbreaks on the Sea Bird, which has been visiting Haines since mid-May. That ship moors at the Chilkoot Indian Association dock when it’s in town.
“They don’t have a medical [team] on board and they’re not a foreign-flagged ship so I don’t have as much interface with them,” Ross said.
Tourism director Hylton said the borough doesn’t generally get notifications about active outbreaks on ships like the Sea Bird, though the tour operators should.
Hylton said it’s standard practice for cruise lines to notify tour operators of disease outbreaks but not for ports and the general public. Port Community of Alaska, a professional organization based in Juneau focused on collaboration between cities impacted by cruise ship activities, is advocating for a standard protocol for all ports, she said.
Ross said cruise ships are not supposed to let infected passengers on a ship come to shore, but she’s unclear on the legality of restricting a person’s movement to the ship. She also said she wasn’t sure what the specific requirements were for ships to notify ports when they’re coming in with passengers that are infected with a contagious disease.
Ross said generally Haines’ tourism department would notify the community if there was anything to be concerned about, but that cruise operators should take precautions regardless.
“Wash your hands, wipe down everything after they get off. Don’t shake hands. Don’t share an ice cream cone with anyone,” she said.
When a ship does stop in Haines mid-outbreak of anything like the flu or norovirus, Ross said she asks them not to send any passengers who are sick to the local clinic.
“We’re a small town without a lot of resources to deal with that,” she said.
The Juneau Independent’s Mark Sabbatini contributed reporting to this story.