I could not help noticing that USA travel writer Gene Sloan’s article today entitled Afraid to cruise in Europe? Nuts! Now’s a great time to go seems to be sponsored by Viking River Cruises. The don’t-worry-be-happy article starts after a 65 photo portfolio as part of an introductory summary of "Cruise ship tours: Viking River Cruises’ Viking Skirnir" and then is followed by another 99 photos which were part of another article promoting Viking – "First look: Inside Viking Cruises’ new Viking Sea." Just two days ago, Gene was hawking Viking cruises in another article – New Viking line plans epic, 141-day world cruise.
There’s no question that cruising to Europe seems to be lagging behind cruises to other locations 
which are perceived to be safer, like the Caribbean. We all know from comments by the cruise executives at Royal Caribbean following its last quarter that Americans Are Cruising Closer to U.S. Waters, due to the terrorist activities in Paris and Brussels.
The number one location that we are asked about is Turkey. To respond to such inquiries, we mention prior terrorist attacks there and the issue of immigrants from Syria and other countries, but the reader has to make up their own mind whether it is reasonably safe based on their own risk assessment.
But it’s naive to think that cruising to the Caribbean is safer than cruising to Europe. I can readily say that cruising to the Caribbean will take you to some of the most dangerous ports of call in the world, not from terrorists mind you, but from common criminals. Some of the Caribbean ports have a lot of crime and high murder rates which make cruising to Nassau, St. Thomas and Roatan like cruising to East St. Louis, Baltimore and Detroit except most U.S. citizens don’t know any better. Europe is far safer than the Caribbean in terms of rape, murder, harassment and theft.
Regarding the threat of terrorism, we have written many articles pointing out what the true experts are saying, like U.S. and British naval commanders who are reporting about the threats of ISIS to Europe from North Africa. Take a moment and read the recent article by Captain Robert N. Hein, a career Surface Warfare Officer – Terrorists on the Ocean: Sea Monsters in the 21st Century via the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). Captain Hein previously commanded the USS Gettysburg (a guided-missile cruiser) and the USS Nitze (a destroyer). I also suggest that travelers consider the warning of retired U.S. Admiral James Stavridis or the warning from the U.K. naval commander for NATO that ISIS presents a threat to shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.
Most experts seems to say it’s just a matter of when and where, not if, ISIS will attack. The highly respected gCaptain reported yesterday that Captain William Nault, Chief of Staff with the multi-national Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), told Reuters that Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch remains a powerful force and poses a growing risk to ships.
We have seen other don’t-worry-about-a-thing articles from travel writers before, like the article in the Telegraph in February – Are Cruise Holidays Safe from Terrorism? written by U.K. cruise travel specialist Jane Archer, who appeared to us to ignore history and down-play the threat of terror.
Chances are remote, of course, that you will be attacked by terrorists when you cruise in or around Europe. The chances of being a victim of crime in the Caribbean are greater. But as far as cruises in either part of the world, you certainly aren’t nuts if you decide to vacation somewhere else this summer.
Photo credit: By Viking Cruises – Viking Cruises, CC0, commons / wikimedia.org