Homeland Security?

[ulmo]

I was watching the news today and saw that the department of Homeland Security is starting new port security guidelines and ships that visit ports that don't comply to the new standards may not be allowed into the US. They went on to say that many of the ports not up to standards were poorer Central and Southern American and Caribean ports.

 

This concerns me because I'm leaving on the Inspiration on the eleventh. Does anyone have any good information on cruising ports that may not be up to standard or changed itineraries?

 

Thanks in advance.

[hstrybuf]

I saw the report on CNN yesterday about this and the Coast Guard boarding all foreign-flagged ships. Their report said that 89% of cruiseships have a certificate that they are in compliance with the rules and regs that are a concern here. They did not mention which ports are not in compliance, but I would think that Carnival would be sure that their ships are in compliance and sailing from ports which are also.

[Arlene F]

What exactly is your concern? Cruise ship security (as least Carnival) seems to be very strict as far as passengers are concerned. Before you can enter a visiting port terminal you must show your sign and sale card. For a while you had to have a picture ID with your sign and sale card but that practice seems to have relaxed a bit.

 

You are still advised to bring ID with you when disembark at port but the only place our picture ID was checked was Cozumel.

 

I did hear on our cruise that one girl was left in Grand Cayman because she lost her purse and had no form of ID whatsoever. She was not allowed back on board.

 

Upon entering the terminal in Cozumel to re-board our ship a very intoxicated young man was being detained because he didn't have ID on him. I'm not sure if he made it back on board.

 

I guess to better answer your question you may have to be more specific about port concerns.

 

Arlene

[ulmo]

What exactly is your concern? Cruise ship security (as least Carnival) seems to be very strict as far as passengers are concerned. Before you can enter a visiting port terminal you must show your sign and sale card. For a while you had to have a picture ID with your sign and sale card but that practice seems to have relaxed a bit.

 

You are still advised to bring ID with you when disembark at port but the only place our picture ID was checked was Cozumel.

 

I did hear on our cruise that one girl was left in Grand Cayman because she lost her purse and had no form of ID whatsoever. She was not allowed back on board.

 

Upon entering the terminal in Cozumel to re-board our ship a very intoxicated young man was being detained because he didn't have ID on him. I'm not sure if he made it back on board.

 

I guess to better answer your question you may have to be more specific about port concerns.

 

Arlene

Oh, I'm not concerned about security on the ship at all. I'm concerned about having ports dropped from the itinerary (cough, cough, Belize, cough) because the ports haven't had their safety clearance yet.

 

I know there's nothing I can do about it one way or the other, but if someone can tell me that those ports are in compliance then I'll sleep a little bit easier.

[hstrybuf]

I found the article at CNN and hope this will put your concerns to rest. Pay particular attention to the paragraph that states that "the Agency has no enforcement powers".

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/29/port.security.ap/index.html

[OhioJeff]

I found the article at CNN and hope this will put your concerns to rest. Pay particular attention to the paragraph that states that "the Agency has no enforcement powers".

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/29/port.security.ap/index.html

Looks like the Coast Guard turned away 6 vessels today according to this news report.

 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5569421

 

In the article you posted the "Agency that has no enforcement powers" is the IMO, not the Coast Guard, or is that what you meant?

 

I doubt this will effect cruise ship travel, negatively.

So plan on going to Belize :)

[ulmo]

I found the article at CNN and hope this will put your concerns to rest. Pay particular attention to the paragraph that states that "the Agency has no enforcement powers".

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/29/port.security.ap/index.html

that's true, but it's the coast guard that would be turning away the ship, not the IMO.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all worried about the ship or the cruise getting cancelled, I'm just concerned that Belize or Cozumel might not be up to standard and Carnival decides to add a "fun day at sea" instead of risking any Coast Guard impediments.

 

Although if those ports are in compliance then I have nothing to wory about.

[hstrybuf]

ulmo, I hope you don't miss any ports because of this, but if you do, please let us know. I'm curious as to which if any ports that are used by cruiselines are not up to the standards.

 

SAC, thanks for the link. Hopefully none of those ships were cruiseships!

[ulmo]

Ok, so this story is kind of comforting and distressing at the same time. NONE of my upcoming cruise's ports of call are on the list of ports expected to make the deadline. But it may not matter. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/interests/intarticle.cfm?ID=48

[GAndie]

I don't think the US Coast Guard has any jurisdiction in foreign ports.

[betsyrossapk]

They don't have jurisdiction in foreign ports, but potentially if your ship visits a port that does not comply with the new guidelines, it may not be let back into the US. It's just like the airlines had the problem. An airline may stopover, say in Athens & then fly into London. If the Athens airport did not have the proper security, then the airplane may be considered unsafe. If a port of call did not have proper security, it could be a potential for unsafe things to happen.

[ulmo]

They don't have jurisdiction in foreign ports, but potentially if your ship visits a port that does not comply with the new guidelines, it may not be let back into the US. It's just like the airlines had the problem. An airline may stopover, say in Athens & then fly into London. If the Athens airport did not have the proper security, then the airplane may be considered unsafe. If a port of call did not have proper security, it could be a potential for unsafe things to happen.

exactly, some cargo ships have already been turned away for stopping in ports that haven't met the requirements. Although I haven't heard of whether cruise ships have or not. Potentially we should know after the ships arrive back in port this weekend whether they went to ports that aren't up to par.

 

I'm not worried about cruises being canceled, I'm woried about itineraries being juggled. Especially after booking independant shore excursions.

[Lindajlamarre]

Heck, I wouldn't mind if the ship couldn't dock. More time for foo foo drinks on the Lido!

[ulmo]

Heck, I wouldn't mind if the ship couldn't dock. More time for foo foo drinks on the Lido!

That's true, but I've wanted to dive that atoll off of Belize for a LONG time.

[MrPete]

Looks like the Coast Guard turned away 6 vessels today according to this news report.QUOTE]

 

I guess these ships didn't have Sail and Sign cards?