Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

The local news media is reporting that Royal Caribbean recently received a bomb threat aboard the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship.

According to a news release by the U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Caribbean's reservation center in Wichita, Kansas received a call reporting a bomb aboard the cruise ship around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 15th.  Crew members searched the ship but did not find anything.  The Liberty of the Seas proceeded on with the cruise and arrived back in Miami around 6:00 a.m. the next morning.  FBI, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection agents then boarded the cruise ship to look for explosives, but they did not find anything. 

There have been a number of bomb threat hoaxes recently.  Perhaps the most publicized one was when a passenger from Virginia named Ibrahim Khalil Zarou who was reportedly quite intoxicated - Bomb Hoax Gets Drunken Carnival Cruise Passenger Arrested

Fortunately, these bomb threats turned out to be hoaxes.  But what if they were real? 

In this most recent bomb threat, the FBI and other federal agencies did not board the cruise ship until eleven hours later. 

Are cruise lines equipped to handle a real terrorist threat on the high seas?  Most cruise lines have as few as 2 or 3 security guards on duty at night and some lines do not monitor their surveillance cameras (except in the casinos).   Is this adequate security for 3,000 to 4,000 passengers and crew?

Our experience suggests that the few security personnel on cruise ships have a difficult enough time deterring or responding to bar fights between drunken passengers.  A real terrorist threat on the high seas will pose a real problem to the cruise industry. 

For additional information, please read:

Terror on the High Seas

CBP Will Study Costs of Requiring Cruise Ships to Hand Over Their Passenger Reservation Data

Credits

Liberty of the Seas photograph           News 7 Miami

• Comments

Reuters is reporting that the Carnival Sensation cruise ship's arrival back in Port Canaveral today was delayed for several hours as authorities responded to what some are saying is a bomb hoax.

The cruise ship was heading back to Port Canaveral after a three-day cruise to the Bahamas when a passenger allegedly overheard another passenger make a "bomb threat."  

Reuters quoted the passenger allegedly saying:

"We are jihad. Come to the top deck and watch the bomb. The bomb is going to blow."

The FBI, U.S. Coast Guard and Brevard County sheriff's deputies boarded the cruise ship at around 9:30 a.m. (approximately 5 - 6 hours after the incident) according to a U.S. Coast Guard press release.  Passenger Ibrahim Khalil Zarou, 31, a U.S. citizen, of Leesburg, Virginia, was arrested.

There are conflicting stories about how the FBI is handling the matter.  One newspaper suggests that a FBI agent later stated that there was no criminal conduct and the incident was just a "mis-communication" between passengers.  But other sources say that Mr. Zarou had to post a $10,000 bail and will be prosecuted.  

Passengers report the passenger was "highly intoxicated" - not an unusual thing on the Carnival fun ships, particularly early in the morning when the incident was reported.  It is unknown whether the passengers reporting the incident were also drunk.  It would be interesting to see how much money Carnival charged him for the booze sold during the cruise.

One thing to consider:  Although this was a hoax or "mis-communication," U.S. authorities did not board the cruise ship until around 5 - 6 hours later - even though the cruise ship was sailing from Nassau back to Florida.  Imagine if this had been a real jihadist attack, and the cruise ship was not near a U.S. port.  How long would it take for U.S. authorities to appear?   

Credits:

Photograph           Loudouni.com

Video         WSVN 7

• Comments (1)