Carnival Ship's security

[bodog402]

TO joeyancho-

You said-

Also there are hitech devices to keep the bad guys off the ship.

Please explain !

[bodog402]

There are also 3000 cell phones on the ship. Im sure a few passengers will call for help from there cabin or balcony. I also Have a GPS that I take along on cruises that I use in my vehicle. It does give Lat Long. Can call with the ships position.

 

True, but cellular service is worthless if the pirates can immediately take control of the ships communication system.

[StillPooh]

Google "cruise ship repels pirates" and you will find several examples, all off the coast of Somalia, FYI, including the Seabourn Spirit in 2005.

 

Ten High Tech Weapons To Repel Pirates

[joeyancho]

TO joeyancho-

You said-

Also there are hitech devices to keep the bad guys off the ship.

Please explain !

 

I believe that I once read that they have some sort of sound wave/pulse device that they use to repell the bad guys. I believe it was used near Somalia. Also, although not hi tech, they also use fire hoses to push them back.

[*Mach*]

Once entry is made by those claiming to be migrants or lost at sea or any other reason, an opportunity then presents itself for the armed group to force their way onto the ship. What if planted employees already working joins in and assist the Pirates by immediately taking over the ships communication, the ships electrical grid and bridge.

 

Unless they're going to take the ship over with combs or squash I wouldn't worry. Security is always with the boat that's put into the water to retrieve refugees.

 

[SeaScout]

Cruise ships are 'soft targets' and I can assure you that such an eventuality has been considered.

 

They won't tell anyone if there are weapons on board (doubt it...) or what anti-piracy plans might entail (good move...) but I'm betting that boarding a cruise ship in an attempt to hijack it would be difficult.

 

Now, if I were sailing in the Gulf of Aden I'd be a lot more concerned...

 

 

:)

 

There are indeed weapons on board. I've seen them with my own eyes. We came upon a homemade raft off the coast of Cuba. The ship sent security personel out on small boat to assist if needed. The security personel were armed with at least 1 shotgun and military style rifle that I could see.

[dbenlee]

OK OP, just for a moment lets suppose a group of pirates does make it onboard a cruise and since you mentioned it we will also they have some inside help. First you have to realize that the groups of pirates you read about in the media tend to be fairly small in number, less that 20 in the "assaulting" force even less than 10. This alone is a good reason for them to go after cargo ships with small crews (aside from the fact that the cargo ships have the material they are looking forward to sale to make money for their cause). So, even with inside help, which couldn't add much in the way of man power, your still looking a small force to attempt to take control of a large cruise ship.

 

Logistics are another area to consider. The Bridge is not the only place that they would have to breach and gain control of, they would also have to take the Engineering area as well (in order to "cut the power" to the ship). I'm sure there are other areas they would have to take as well, but I don't know enough to even guess. Regardless, these areas are secure, you can't just walk up and open the door. Entry into these areas are secured in a number of different ways and without specific kinds of inside help (ships officers and/or high ranking members of the crew; which is highly unlikely to happen) these areas would be difficult if not impossible to breach, especially before a distress message was sent.

 

Besides logistics, lets just look at numbers. As you mentioned there are 2000 to 3000 passengers. On top of that there area around 1000 crew members. Remember that the passengers on a cruise ship are not packed in like the passengers of an airplane. They have a large area they are free to move about in. Control of the passengers and various crew members is virtually impossible. There is strength in numbers and a small force of pirates against an uncontrolled group of people who are not controlled or secured just isn't possible. Passengers and crew members would band together and retake control from pirates. For proof of this I suggest you look at history and human nature, it has happened many times.

 

As mentioned earlier, the US Coast Guard and US military would come into action. As I mentioned earlier, a distress message would get sent before control was lost so that the outside world was notified of the situation. The US military has several special forces teams that are trained for just such an occurrence and they would be brought into the mix. Failure of the pirate force is all but guaranteed.

 

Most of all, as mentioned by Mach and many others, passenger ships are "soft" targets and the rate of return is to low for the effort and resources that would have to go into the operation. Cargo ships with actual goods that can be sold are what the pirates go after because the rate of return.

 

Also, the things I have mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There is so much more about security for passengers ships that I haven't mentioned and that is not public knowledge. Look "outside the box", imagine worst case scenarios all you want, just remember that the chances of pirates actually taking a passenger ship are astronomically low and stirring up people with the idea that the possibility is higher just isn't nice! :D

[letsgo39]

Dear OP,

 

You have way to much time on your hands!;)

[nrdsb4]

I think the OP has seen too many bad movies.:rolleyes:

 

dbenlee, your post pretty much says it all. Well done.

[lady_cruiser]

With over 16 Carnival cruises under my belt, I have always wondered in the back of my head what type of security carnival offers to its guest regarding a possible hostage incident were a group of highly trained and heavily armed radicals overtakes the ship while out in the middle of the ocean and holds the crew for ransom ? Although I may be very wrong, but in my opinion, eliminating the ships’ top officers, accessing the bridge, eliminating all electronic communication and turning off all the electrical power on the ship would create total chaos and this may be all that is required in highjacking the ship and its passengers. I seriously doubt that the rent-a-cops on the ship would provide any assistance and Carnival’s public image would be destroyed to the point were Carnival would be forced into paying off the pirates. With all the ship highjacking that occurs around the world, I wouldn’t be surprise if some radical group doesn’t have plans on making money overtaking a cruise ship ?

 

Looks like you are having a boring day!

[bodog402]

Thanks for all the replies and for clarification, the weapons I am primarily referring to are viruses, such as computer viruses that can take "virtual" control of the ship. I can assure you, that in the middle of the night, in total darkness, when the ship losses power, the lights go off, the circulating air stops and the pirates start several controlled fires within the ship, I truly believe that there will be unbelievable chaos and the staff will be helpless and not be able to control the situation and this will leave a window of opportunity for a potential attack from pirates. If you believe that my scenario is that far feted, so be it.

[shof515]

One of the things i noticed on the behind the fun tour on the glory is one of the computers in the engine control room was still running Windows 98 (and even the person confirmed it to me when i questioned about the outdated OS). So it can be possible to take virtual control of the computer network if there was a breach in network security. I also got a quick glance and noticed some computers in the bridge and guest services were lucky running Windows XP. Wonder how long it will take them to fully updated to some of the newer versions of windows.

[steveNcindy]

With over 16 Carnival cruises under my belt, I have always wondered in the back of my head what type of security carnival offers to its guest regarding a possible hostage incident were a group of highly trained and heavily armed radicals overtakes the ship while out in the middle of the ocean and holds the crew for ransom ? Although I may be very wrong, but in my opinion, eliminating the ships’ top officers, accessing the bridge, eliminating all electronic communication and turning off all the electrical power on the ship would create total chaos and this may be all that is required in highjacking the ship and its passengers. I seriously doubt that the rent-a-cops on the ship would provide any assistance and Carnival’s public image would be destroyed to the point were Carnival would be forced into paying off the pirates. With all the ship highjacking that occurs around the world, I wouldn’t be surprise if some radical group doesn’t have plans on making money overtaking a cruise ship ?

 

Wow, and I thought I was overthinking the whole 2 rum runners in 1 suitcase scenario :eek:

[Disneycruisers]

thanks for all the replies and for clarification, the weapons i am primarily referring to are viruses, such as computer viruses that can take "virtual" control of the ship. I can assure you, that in the middle of the night, in total darkness, when the ship losses power, the lights go off, the circulating air stops and the pirates start several controlled fires within the ship, i truly believe that there will be unbelievable chaos and the staff will be helpless and not be able to control the situation and this will leave a window of opportunity for a potential attack from pirates. If you believe that my scenario is that far feted, so be it.

 

lmao

[BigRed93]

Cruise ships are not easy to board unless you have a dock under your feet. There have been a few attempts, but none have been successful yet.

 

 

SPIE rig. Now how the helicopters would get that close is questionable, but I haven't seen anti-aircraft weapons on the upper decks.:p

[LemurCat]

Bodog, do you really think that:

a.) there aren't redundancies built into the systems to ensure that doesn't happen,

b.) there isn't a way to take off those systems offline seperately and reboot,

c.) that a group trying to ransom the ship is going to start fires and potentially damage their leverage,

d.) that the disability of the ship's tracking systems isn't going to set off some really freakin' major alarm bells with the NSA that would end in a deployment of Navy SEALs,

e.) that these pirates can get a big enough cache of weapons on board to subdue and control some three-thousand Americans,

f.) that they would gain access to the ship at all,

you need to stop listening to so much Coast2Coast AM.

[bodog402]

[quote name='shof515']One of the things i noticed on the behind the fun tour on the glory is one of the computers in the engine control room was still running Windows 98 (and even the person confirmed it to me when i questioned about the outdated OS). So it can be possible to take virtual control of the computer network if there was a breach in network security. I also got a quick glance and noticed some computers in the bridge and guest services were lucky running Windows XP. Wonder how long it will take them to fully updated to some of the newer versions of windows.[/quote]
Generation 2 Onion Routing is just made for Windows 98, easy entry and easy exit without even xxxxxxx ( haha ) !

[LemurCat]

[quote name='BigRed93']SPIE rig. Now how the helicopters would get that close is questionable, but I haven't seen anti-aircraft weapons on the upper decks.:p[/quote]

Of course you have. It's called a high-pressure fire hose.

[bodog402]

[quote name='LemurCat']Bodog, do you really think that:

a.) there aren't redundancies built into the systems to ensure that doesn't happen,

b.) there isn't a way to take off those systems offline seperately and reboot,

c.) that a group trying to ransom the ship is going to start fires and potentially damage their leverage,

d.) that the disability of the ship's tracking systems isn't going to set off some really freakin' major alarm bells with the NSA that would end in a deployment of Navy SEALs,

e.) that these pirates can get a big enough cache of weapons on board to subdue and control some three-thousand Americans,

f.) that they would gain access to the ship at all,

you need to stop listening to so much Coast2Coast AM.[/quote]
Long Live Art Bell @!

[blindrid]

[quote name='bodog402'][SIZE=4]VERY EASILY ![/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]While in open waters, a small boat claiming to be distressed Cuban migrants[/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]asking for help will immediately draw attention to the ship and while the distressed Cuban migrants are brought onto the ship, the door of opportunity opens for many potential scenarios ! [/SIZE]
[/quote]

Certainly this guy isn't serious but wasting time in preparation writing his next chapter of his fiction book.......

[BigRed93]

[quote name='LemurCat']Of course you have. It's called a high-pressure fire hose.[/quote]

Of course, good point!! Well there's goes my theory -LOL!

[wander]

I have sailed through the Straits of Hormuz, along the coast of Somalia and in the South China (haven for pirate activity for years) around a dozen times in the past 12 years on cruise lines other than Carnival. The visible precautions they take are fascinating, and I suspect there are many that passengers do not see. Particularly at night, passengers are not allowed on outside decks, there are no lights on the lower decks but thee are many lights over the railing lighting to the waterline AND strong flood lights are needed, the siren sound machines are uncovered and aimed outward, crew constantly patrol the deck with binoculars and radios visible. Then there are the fire hoses connected to the water supply laying along the decks. Guns are not evident, but passengers were told that they were available for crew IF necessary on more than one of my cruises. People with cabins on the deck with the walking deck are told to keep their black-out curtains closed. (How can we see all this if we are inside - on the ships i have been on the doors leading onto the decks have small windows one can look out before it goes totally dark outside.)

We have been told that there are two most vulnerable areas on the ship. Decks on passenger levels that could be reached with a gatling hook fired from below AND on the stern, the open areas near the waterline on most cruise ships. Patrols were particularly heavy there we were told. The open areas on the stern are now a thing of the past on many ships. There are chain-link fencing "shutters" that are kept locked over these openings except when they are being used in port.

Yes, just like home, something unexpected can always happen but for me life is too short to worry about all the "what ifs" in the world that I really cannot control IF I am going to live.

[LemurCat]

[quote name='blindrid']Certainly this guy isn't serious but wasting time in preparation writing his next chapter of his fiction book.......[/quote]

And there are no pirates in the Caribbean.

Does anyone want to know why?

No?

Too bad, I'm going to explain way.

It's quite simple. It's called the Roosevelt Corrilary to the Monroe Doctrine.

The Caribbean basin belongs to the US Navy, and anyone pulling any shenanigans will have to deal with said US Navy. It's more or less been this way since the 1930s.

[AdGuyMG]

[quote name='bodog402'][SIZE=4] to the point were Carnival would be forced into paying off the pirates.
[/SIZE][/quote]

Chances are the pirates would be offered a future cruise credit that MUST be used within 2 years of the original hijacking.

[jerseyralph]

[quote name='AdGuyMG']Chances are the pirates would be offered a future cruise credit that MUST be used within 2 years of the original hijacking.[/quote]

[I]I am laughing so hard that tears are running down my face.[/I]