Imagine going on a luxury cruise on Cunard’s Queen Anne which holds more than 3,350 passengers and fares for its first-ever world voyage begin at $16,379 per person, only to be ordered to hide on the ship for two days when passing through the Sulu and Celebes seas? Would you knowingly sign up for this?
Recently, there have been a number of articles published about preparing cruise ships for attacks by pirates as the ships pass through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb into and out of the Gulf of Aden.
Cruise blogger Danielle Fear published, via Cruise Critic, an article yesterday titled Blackout on Black Watch: Pirates, Razor Wire and Water
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According to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, cruise ships are required to have "acoustic hailing and warning devices" in certain high risk areas. These devices emit a high pitched noise that is directed toward approaching vessels and causes intense pain to the ears of the vessel’s occupants.
The reason for this law is
A newspaper in Oman published a report today indicating that a cruise ship, approximately 15 nautical miles off Masirah Island (east of Oman) "was aggressively approached by two skiffs suspected of belonging to Somali pirates" on November 23rd. The newspaper reports that the two skiffs ended their pursuit only when a shipboard private security team fired
Pirate attacks against cruise ships have occurred and will continue to occur in the future. It’s a subject we have written about: Cruise Line Liability for Injuries to Passengers and Crew Members Caused by Pirate Attacks, Are Cruise Lines Taking Adequate Steps to Protect Passengers from Pirate Attacks?, and Somali Pirates – A
An article today by Wolfgang H. Thome of eTurboNews (ETN) raises two disturbing scenarios:
1. It is only a matter of time before Somali pirates hijack a cruise ship, and
2. There are no plans in place to rescue the passengers when this happens.
The article is entitled "Somali Piracy – a Problem from Hell – What is the Naval Coalition Doing
Today, six crew members filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries sustained when the Maersk Alabama was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. The crew members sued Maersk Line 
Ltd., the operator of the vessel, and Waterman Steamship Corp., the crewing company which hired them. They are seeking damages for physical and mental injuries and loss of income.
The seaman allege that Maersk failed to