Is the Caribbean getting too dangerous?

[jody75]

Passengers from MSC Preziosa and P&O Britannia were attacked in Antigua last week.

https://antiguaobserver.com/hatton-youth-charged-for-attack-on-cruise-visitors/

[jeanlyon]

Could happen anywhere in my opinion.  Even at home!

[john watson]

Caribbean islands are particularly careful about protecting tourists.  It is big business and if one island generated a reputation for being dangerous because of robbers their economy would decline.  I cannot think of anywhere in the UK which has a uniformed police presence on the beach keeping good order.

 

Cruise passengers are generally only on the islands during the daytime to early evening when they need to return to the ship to sail.  So this type of tourist is even less at risk than a tourist who books a week in a local hotel etc.  Most crime happens in the late evening and overnight.

 

Regards John

[Fick1995]

I can see that also the it will be more dangerous.

[jh1809]

13 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Could happen anywhere in my opinion.  Even at home!

Agreed. If one worried too much, one would never go anywhere.

[Zombatar]

I have been to many Caribbean Islands on many cruises and also on land based holidays. Never felt threatened once but as Jean said it could happen anywhere. Whilst I feel perfectly safe on the Islands, I wont go to London any more!

 

Peter

[Clodia]

I would hesitate to go ashore alone on some Caribbean islands. In Dominica I was with a friend and we took a minibus to the main town, but didn't feel safe wandering round the streets. So after a quick coffee we took a taxi back to the ship. The driver asked for payment in advance which we gave, but when we arrived at the dock he demanded further money which we refused to give, and had to make an escape from the car and run back through the dockside.

I will stay on the ship next time I go there. That was also the island where an organised P and O excursion on the same day resulted in the death of one passenger and injuries to several others, some of whom were left on the island in hospital. The local minibuses have no seatbelts and feel unsafe.

We found Grenada and Barbados felt much safer but not St Lucia.

[jeanlyon]

Such a shame, we really loved Dominica, visited there on a sailing boat.

[ann141]

2 hours ago, Clodia said:

I would hesitate to go ashore alone on some Caribbean islands. In Dominica I was with a friend and we took a minibus to the main town, but didn't feel safe wandering round the streets. So after a quick coffee we took a taxi back to the ship. The driver asked for payment in advance which we gave, but when we arrived at the dock he demanded further money which we refused to give, and had to make an escape from the car and run back through the dockside.

I will stay on the ship next time I go there. That was also the island where an organised P and O excursion on the same day resulted in the death of one passenger and injuries to several others, some of whom were left on the island in hospital. The local minibuses have no seatbelts and feel unsafe.

We found Grenada and Barbados felt much safer but not St Lucia.

I have just returned from the Caribbean and would not hesitate to return(though I wouldn t wander about alone)One thing that concerned me and that I left on my feedback form is that despite the fatal minibus accident in Dominica a couple of years ago although the minibus on our P and O excursion had seatbelts, they weren t all working.The roads are so winding with sharp bends that I wouldn t have been happy not to wear a seatbelt.

[MickD]

Just don’t do silly things like wear expensive jewellery 

As the passenger on oceana found when he was wearing a £10.000 Rolex on Margarita island and got shot in the chest when he wouldn’t hand it over.

missed his heart by millimetres, and unbelievably after a trip to hospital he managed to rejoin the ship

[woodley]

I have been on many cruises to the Caribbean and there are certainly some islands that feel less safe than others.  Nassau is a port that most ships stop at and over the last 20 years there is a definite decline in the feeling of safety.  At one time I wandered this port area without hesitation but in the last few years the atmosphere has changed and you have to be more careful and streetwise.  Dominica Jamaica and Belize are three other ports that I also have concerns over.  

As others have said it could happen anywhere.  We take the following precautions, only carry a small amount of money and one credit card, I and my husband wear no jewelry, wedding/engagement rings or watches, my husband carries a dummy wallet and I never carry a purse or handbag.  The camera we carry is kept in our pockets not around our necks.  We also try and avoid areas such as alleys and if we start to feel unsure of an area we leave.

 

 

 

[haroldk]

I definitely do not take high-end jewelry, watches or handbags when my wife and travel to the Caribbean. I have however taken my Rolex Submariner when we traveled to Europe in the past but now that I think about it I most likely will not on my next trip.

[darknightsdespiser]

Have honestly never given it a thought and felt safe 99per cent of the time - didn't like the atmosphere on the beach in St Lucia.  In fact we laughed at the reluctance of American guests to even leave the ship in Jamaica!  I however am reluctant to visit the knife capital that is London so its maybe all about perception.

 

I wonder however if other factors are at play in making people scared; I was in my 40s when I cruised for the first time and came with a background of "real" travel - backpacking etc. Maybe as people start with the luxury at an earlier age there is an expectation that the world should all be like the West and like a cruise ship?

[woodley]

1 hour ago, haroldk said:

I definitely do not take high-end jewelry, watches or handbags when my wife and travel to the Caribbean. I have however taken my Rolex Submariner when we traveled to Europe in the past but now that I think about it I most likely will not on my next trip.

Probably wise, the only place I have ever been robbed was Amsterdam, it happened on a busy street in the early evening, there were lots of people around.

[Cristaltips]

The only place we've ever felt intimidated was Ocho Rios in Jamaica. It was horrible. We were hounded by really pushy people wanting to sell us their wares or transport us from one place to another. We've said that if a cruise we were on called in there again, we’d stay on the ship. It was some years ago and, who knows, it may be better now but I'm still scarred from last time.

[SquishTheWhale]

Antigua felt very developed and safe when we were there so I'm surprised, but I guess crime happens everywhere.

 

When we visited the Western Caribbean, places like Roatan and Costa Maya felt unsafe to me to be wandering on your own. It didn't stop us visiting them, we just took excursions. I also felt a little wary in St Kitts when we ended up in a local market, but I think that was just paranoia as when interacting with the locals they were all very friendly and welcoming. To be fair I'm sure most of it is paranoia, as said above London is just as dangerous.

[jh1809]

Even forty or so years ago, it seems that Jamaica wasn't 100% safe for unwary tourists, if the lyrics of 10cc's "Dreadlocks Holiday" are any guide.

[haroldk]

9 hours ago, woodley said:

Probably wise, the only place I have ever been robbed was Amsterdam, it happened on a busy street in the early evening, there were lots of people around.

I'm sorry to hear, how did it happen?

[woodley]

We had just arrived and were getting out of the taxi  outside our hotel, a man on a peddle bike rode by on the pavement and pushed me and snatched my purse.  Luckily my husband (who was a young and  fit rugby player at that time) took off running after him and rugby tackled him off his bike about 800 yards away.  The thief was wearing a trench coat with deep inside pockets.  My husband sat on him and pulled my purse as well as a number of others out of the pockets.  (Just thankful the robber didn't have a knife or a gun).  At that point my husband  realized he had left me on the street and got off the man who rode off on his bike.  We reported it to the police we were shaken but not hurt and relieved we had my purse back as it had most of our money, tickets, credit cards and most importantly our passports in it.  At breakfast the next morning we found out that three other people staying at our hotel had been robbed.

 

The hotel was in a good area of the city it was about 7pm and there were lots of people walking around.  I guess we were just unlucky.