Cruise ships vs Pirates

Interesting article.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/passengers-threw-tables-and-deckchairs-what-happens-when-cruise-ships-are-attacked-by-pirates/ar-BBzjCFE?ocid=spartandhp

Very interesting article and thanks for posting. As one who often spends over 100 days a year on cruise ships we must admit to not normally being concerned about open sea piracy. But what is somewhat unnerving is the lack of apparent security in many ports (especially smaller ports) around the world. We have a friend (no retired) who used be the Security Officer on several HAL ships (he was previously a Police Chief). He told me he had lost many nights of sleep worrying about the lack of port security in some parts of the world. The next time you are in a US Port, take a look outside and you are likely to see some kind of armed patrol craft...be it the Police, Sheriff's Department, or Coast Guard. We have also seen this type of water borne security in various ports around the world. But more frequently there is no apparent water borne security and the internal port security is often handled by unarmed port staff/security. We have been in European ports where we can drive our rental car right up to the gang plank....with hardly any kind of security check. Go figure.

Hank

Hank, our last cruise in December (NCL) had a stop in Port Canaveral and we had arranged to meet friends who live in Orlando at the port. Much to our amazement, and theirs, they were waiting for us virtually at the bottom of the gangplank. They had driven into the port with minimal security. Somewhat worrying in this day and age I would have thought.

As far as at-sea piracy goes - most cruise ships will do 20+ knots for extended periods if pushed and are a lot more manoeuvrable than cargo ships. The manoeuvrability enables the ships to throw up bloody big fast moving waves; 2 meters or more. That's enough to swamp pretty much any pirate boat.

There are also active measures that can be taken - it's common knowledge that LRADs are on many cruise ships, and the crew are well trained and experienced in using them.

And keeping the pax under control would be more than any small pirate boat's crew could cope with. I've met *many* ex-military passengers on cruises and I wouldn't upset any of them.

The security officers/crew on the ships I travel on all have recent military and anti-terrorist experience and take ongoing training. And I know that many of the other crew are ex-military. One friend of mine (no longer at sea) was a logistics officer; his previous experience was in the Royal Navy as a technical officer. Another friend (still at sea) was a LCDR in the Indian navy, and he's a really nice guy who is always smiling (he really is a genuinely nice bloke) who no one with any sense would mess with.

I've been to parts of the world where port security isn't what it should be.... and in those cases, security provided by the ship is a hell of a lot higher than it otherwise would be. Is it obvious? No. Is it visible? Well.... not really. But it's there. And the bad guys knows it's there... and so, again, I'm not giving away anything that isn't already known to the bad guys.

That said - the cruise lines take all reasonable precautions they can, and I'm glad they do.

Nearly every cruise ship has a security force and there are weapons available .

Shoot them, shoot them all.

Read "The Outlaw Sea"

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thanks for posting the article. Very handy for our November cruise.

According to passengers who were on my last cruise, they had a safety briefing and were also told to follow the crew's instructions in case of unknown small vessels approaching. They also said that extra crew came aboard that didn't look like musicians but had bags that could have been the right size for certain musical instruments.

I was also on a ship with crew that had experienced a pirate attack a few years before. Our cruise director and her husband were on that ship. At that time, the ship outran the pirate vessels. Passengers did not yet know the proper safety procedures that are now in place.

Beware of Pizza Pirates. It is futile to fight and resist them.

There is piracy in the Caribbean - all over the world really, but so far, they have mainly been after yachts and once in a while a container ship or other ship that is fairly easy to board. It is troubling that some of the pirates dress up as local military though considering the port security in some areas. Worldwide 3,806 pirate attacks (but only 13 on passenger ships) between 2002 and 2012 with 7,635 incidents with human victims.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/jtm.12051/asset/jtm12051.pdf;jsessionid=C01D58583BA605DA9654021E77EDA56E.f02t03?v=1&t=j15fva6m&ce8f9d26

http://yachtpals.com/pirates-yachts-4092#brazil