Military.com reports that retired U.S. Admiral James Stavridis stated at a naval / private industry conference that the next attack by Islamic State militants may be directed to a navy ship or a cruise ship.
The military.com website quotes the distinguished retired naval commander saying: "We have an organization that has demonstrated they are highly innovative
News accounts are reporting that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested a cruise passenger in Miami on charges that he has outstanding arrest warrants for kidnapping as well as assault and battery.
The charges involve criminal allegations made in South Carolina. The newspaper said the unidentified person is now awaiting extradition to South
Multiple news outlets in the U.K. are reporting that the U.K. naval commander for NATO is warning that ISIS presents a threat to shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.
The popular Daily Mail published UK Commander Warns Mediterranean Cruise Ships Could be Terror Targets.
It’s a topic we cover often. It is our belief that
Yahoo Travel just interviewed me for its article Is Your Cruise Ship Prepared for a Terrorist Attack?
There are nearly 500 comments to the article some of which are quite interesting to read.
The Yahoo article does not really touch upon the issue that cruise ships are largely unarmed. So regardless how you feel about
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A Greek newspaper is reporting that the MSC Fantasia has been subjected to a search for explosives today after calling on Haifa.
The MSC cruise ship arrived today in the Bay of Souda near Chania in Crete. A Greek newspaper in Athens "To Vima" reports that suspicious passengers or explosives may be on board the
The U.S. State Department has alerted its citizens of possible risks of travel due to increased terrorist threats. "Current information suggests that ISIL (aka Da’esh), al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics, using conventional and non-conventional weapons and
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Two articles caught my attention this morning.
Cruise Industry Believe Red Tape and Visa Restrictions are a Bigger Threat than Terrorism, written by cruise fan and Mirror blogger Captain Greybeard, suggests that the cruise line CEO’s were downplaying the threat of terrorism this week at the Seatrade Europe conference held in Hamburg.
Celebrity Cruises canceled a stop in Istanbul earlier this week because of concerns with terrorism. We were the first to report on the cancellation involving the Equinox.
Today, Celebrity canceled more port stops, announcing that the Reflection will not stay in Istanbul on August 31st and will depart earlier in the day. Celebrity will
Today I received a message from a passenger aboard the Celebrity Equinox that the Equinox was skipping the port of Istanbul because of the threat of terrorism.
Gabriele Giambrone commented that "Celebrity Equinox canceled our planned stop in Istanbul tomorrow due to terrorist fears and high security alerts. We will be having a day at
The images posted on Twitter yesterday of ISIS blowing up an Egyptian Navy frigate are frightening.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The SITE Intel Group says that the terrorists destroyed the naval ship with a guided missile. The images were widely broadcast. Time and Al Jazeera and many other newspapers and news stations published
MSC and Costa sailed their guests into danger in March when terrorists slaughtered cruise tourists as they exited into the Tunis museum excursion site from cruise buses transporting them from the port. The cruise lines neither provided nor arranged security for their customers or, for that matter, announced even a single warning of the risks
National Geographical’s ombudsman Christopher Elliott just published the article which I wrote for Yahoo Travel tilted Is Cruising Safe? A Chilling Look at an Industry Under Siege.
Elliott’s article is titled Terrorists Target Cruise Ships — Here’s What You Need to Know Now.
He asks this question at the end of the article:
Is
Security failed the tourists from the Costa and MSC cruise ships visiting Tunisia last week. The result: 17 dead cruise passengers and two dozen injured.
Tunisia acknowledges it. The risk of jihadists attacking tourists was readily foreseeable. Security analysts and security forces blew it.
In response to this failure, Tunisia fired the country’s leading security
For the past couple of years I’ve been troubled by the increasing violence in North Africa and the Middle East and the unprecedented nature of the cruelty of jihadist terrorists who have beheaded and burned “infidels” alive. I have worried about various scenarios where cruise passengers are at risk of attack.
We already know that
The cruise industry’s favorite publication, Travel Weekly, just published an article titled After Tunis attack, Impact on Cruise Sales Pondered.
The article speculates whether cruise sales will drop following the Islamic State’s massacre of cruise passenger’s in Tunis last week.
In the last couple of years, first quarter "wave" sales were negatively impacted by
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As the death toll increases in Tunis, the former Director of Princess Cruises says that cruise security was lax and the cruise lines failed to assess the danger associated with sailing passengers into Tunis.
Commander Mark Gaouette told IHS Maritime that cruise security measures for passengers should have been stronger.
"I believe the risk management
Newspapers are reporting that several gunmen stormed a popular museum in Tunis, Tunisia today killing 17 tourists, as well as a police officer and Tunisian civilians. Some news accounts report that as many as two dozen people were also injured.
Two cruise ships were in port and had sent thousands of passengers into the city on
One question I am asked frequently is whether Islamic terrorists pose a threat to cruise ships. I received a couple of such inquiries in the last week. One from a mother in the U.K. whose son works on a cruise ship sailing the Mediterranean, and another from the father of a family in the U.S.
