Tough life on the Sea Princess World Cruise (news article on piracy)

[Wehwalt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/08/cruise-passengers-ordered-switch-lights-music-night-prepared/#comments

[Colo Cruiser]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/08/cruise-passengers-ordered-switch-lights-music-night-prepared/#comments

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2530999

[lovevacadays]

I have read live from threads on the world cruise and/or cruises that cruise the area this ship sailed in. It seems this is not an uncommon practice for this particular portion of the journey. Safety first. And, some research on the cruise you are booking might have prepared passengers.

[Aus Traveller]

I have read live from threads on the world cruise and/or cruises that cruise the area this ship sailed in. It seems this is not an uncommon practice for this particular portion of the journey. Safety first. And, some research on the cruise you are booking might have prepared passengers.

I do not believe passengers were upset about the pirate drills. Pirate drills are held on other ships sailing through this area of the world. We are all accustomed to drills of every kind being held on the ship so crew and passengers will know what to do. Blogs from the cruise do not even mention the pirate drills so I do not believe passengers were upset, unless the author of the article stirred a few up. Unfortunately the article is full of inaccuracies and has been highly sensationalized.

[paul929207]

We have been on several Princess cruises thru the area mentioned. We always had a pirate drill a day or two before entering the area. We often had a naval vessel within sight.

 

As I recall 2 passengers were so upset on one cruise that they disembarked before we reached the area.

[frugaltravel]

I was on an HAL ship through the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden. Never had any such drill, though we did get a note from the Captain about what to do in such a case. Had extra security on board as well. No curtailment of activities. Seems like the Captain of the Sea Princess went to an extreme in a situation with no specific threat. But that is his choice.

[RDC1]

I was on an HAL ship through the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden. Never had any such drill, though we did get a note from the Captain about what to do in such a case. Had extra security on board as well. No curtailment of activities. Seems like the Captain of the Sea Princess went to an extreme in a situation with no specific threat. But that is his choice.

 

It is rather funny that there has been no mention of such extremes on the Roll call for the cruise. Nor any comments from any other source, except this one travel "journalist". Considering that we have people report just about anything and everything even slightly unusual here on CC. From the roll call we know that there are cc participants on the cruise. Yet no comments.

 

I suspect there was a fair amount of hyperbole in her article.

[frugaltravel]

I suspect there was a fair amount of hyperbole in her article.

 

Fair enough and quite true. Also true that there is a lot of hyperbole here on Cruise Critic :D

[Aus Traveller]

It is rather funny that there has been no mention of such extremes on the Roll call for the cruise. Nor any comments from any other source, except this one travel "journalist". Considering that we have people report just about anything and everything even slightly unusual here on CC. From the roll call we know that there are cc participants on the cruise. Yet no comments.

 

I suspect there was a fair amount of hyperbole in her article.

Her article was sensationalized rubbish. It was full of inaccuracies. Many people on the cruise have been on previous world cruises and know what is usual. In their blogs they have not reported anything so I think it is safe to assume there were just the usual precautions.

 

BTW, it is only by ships travelling through the area making it too difficult for the pirates to attack that they won't be tempted to take up piracy again.

[Mary Ann 2]

I was not on the Sea Princess for this segment described, but did just get off on July 27 after 17 days. One person mentioned something about pirates and drills, but no one else said anything about it so they couldn't have been too upset as we met quite a few passengers and talked to many. Our roll call has been pretty quiet about everything since they embarked on May 20th.

 

Wonderful cruise from Dover and most onboard have traveled extensively and many have done multiple world cruises.

 

Six years ago we did a similar segment from Dover on a World Cruise and were told by passengers about these pirated drills then. So it is not something new or unexpected.

[Alter Ego]

I agree with everyone posting and, in fact, have commented as such on Facebook posts that I've seen on the article.

 

I am happy to see a thread about it as I did have a question. 10 days seemed excessive particularly as it doesn't even take that long to cross the Atlantic. Was that an exaggeration? Or, did this part of the itinerary really have (I assume) 10 sea days? The article not surprisingly doesn't include much detail.

[hillslife]

We had a Pirate drill in 2009 on our WC on the Tahitian Princess...we found it exciting and adventurous. The LRADs and high power water hoses were set up on the open decks for several days...we were instructed what to do in case of an attack and how all the ships equipment worked. It was a new experience for us.

 

We were in the area the same time Capt Phillips ship was taken over, but we didn't know it at the time:confused:

 

After we left the area, one CC member in a suite had a "say goodbye to the pirate party" complete with eye patches and goodie bags....the whole experience added a new deminsion to our cruising and we still talk about our pirate drill:cool:

[cruzsnooze]

Fair enough and quite true. Also true that there is a lot of hyperbole here on Cruise Critic :D

Must be the trickle down theory.