What are the chances you’ll need to batten down the hatches?
Passengers aboard Cunard’s Queen Anne cruise ship weren’t expecting their adventures aboard the ship to include a run-in with pirates. However, as the luxury cruise liner sailed from Australia to the Philippines through the Sulu-Celebes Sea, an alarming announcement blared through the ship’s loudspeakers. “This area is known for piracy threats,” a crewmember told the passengers. An influencer who was aboard the Queen Anne when the announcement was made posted a series of videos on TikTok about her experience.
Although the ship did not encounter any pirates, their route took them through dangerous waters. To avoid being spotted by pirates, the crew of Queen Anne asked passengers to keep their curtains drawn, keep their use of lights in their stateroom to a minimum, and avoid the ship’s outdoor promenade decks. The crew set up water cannons to help repel pirates and turned off all but essential lights on other parts of the ship.
A Cunard spokesperson told Fodor’s that although the Queen Anne‘s crew took precautionary measures, “There was no specific threat to the ship or its guests, and our onboard experience remained uninterrupted.”
After the influencer posted videos about her experience preparing for a possible pirate attack, many were shocked to learn both that water cannons still exist outside of amusement parks and that pirates may still pose an active threat to cruise-goers.
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Do Modern-Day Pirates Really Exist?
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Although pirates may seem like a relic of the past, they are still very real, says Peter Lehr, PhD, a piracy expert and senior lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews. Moreover, “while the risk of pirate attacks on cruise ships is relatively low, it is not non-existent,” explains Frank Harrison, a regional security director at World Travel Protection. This information unlocked a new fear for cruisegoers who previously thought a norovirus outbreak was the biggest threat they faced on cruise ships.
The places that are most at risk for pirate attacks “sit at our most important sea lines of communication, basically maritime highways,” Lehr says. “As such, they do pose a problem for all shipping transiting these waters, including cruise ships,” he explains.
Certain regions are more prone to piracy than others, Harrison says. The biggest piracy hotspot is in Somalia, according to Lehr. “Somali pirates kept us busy for a while between about 2005 to 2013 in the Gulf of Aden and the so-called Somali Basin as part of the Arabian Sea,” he says. During this period, pirates were so active that the European Union and NATO sent their own anti-piracy flotillas to the region. A multi-national combined task force was also deployed to the region as part of an anti-piracy operation, Lehr says. However, he says that many of those anti-piracy forces are now gone, and as a result, pirates in Somalia are making a comeback.
According to Harrison, other piracy hotspots include the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean (especially near the Seychelles and Mauritius), the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of Africa, and the waters of Southeast Asia, including the Malacca Strait. “Cruise lines are aware of these risks and usually avoid routes through high-risk areas,” but not always, Harrison says.
Additionally, yachts docked in the Caribbean have “occasionally been plundered,” but pirates have never threatened cruise ships in the region, Lehr explains.
Do Cruise-Goers Really Need to Worry about Pirates?
According to Lehr, pirates pose a real threat to cruise ships, but “not too much and only briefly.” The only true threat pirates pose to cruise ships is when they are in one of the few, relatively small hot spots of pirate activity, he explains.
There have only been six reported pirate attacks on cruise ships in modern history. In 2005, pirates unsuccessfully attempted to board the Seabourn Spirit when it was close to the coast of Somalia. In 2008, Somali pirates attacked the luxury yacht Le Ponant. No passengers were aboard, but pirates held the crew until they received ransom in exchange for their release. The same year, pirates attempted to attack the Oceania Nautica as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden. The following year, the passengers and crew of the MSC Melody thwarted a Somali pirate attack in the Indian Ocean after passengers spotted a skiff heading towards the ship. Passengers hurled deck chairs and tables overboard at the pirates while the crew engaged in evasive maneuvers and used fire hoses and pistols to defend the ship. The pirates opened fire, but no one was hurt, and they eventually gave up. In 2011, pirates chased the Spirit of Adventure while it was sailing off the coast of Tanzania. However, the captain brought the boat up to full speed, and the pirates couldn’t catch the ship. In 2012, several small boats with pirates approached the Azamara Journey off the coast of Oman, but the crew successfully evaded them.
What Are Modern-day Pirates After?
Pirates attack cruise ships for the obvious reason: “Money, of course,” says Lehr. Reassuringly, Lehr shares that pirates rarely hurt passengers or crew.
At times, “Pirate modus operandi is to board a vessel, ransack the crew’s valuables plus the ship’s safe, and then make off again after about 30 minutes,” he says. If pirates followed this modus operandi on a cruise ship to seize personal belongings, the passengers and crew would likely be able “to walk away and tell the tale–as long as they didn’t try to resist,” Lehr says.
However, most pirates aren’t after jewels and petty cash. When pirates attack, they more often target shipping vessels for their cargo and other valuable goods that can be sold on the black market, Harrison explains.
Additionally, Somali pirates have “hijacked whole ships and their crews for ransom,” Lehr explains. However, he notes that this should be reassuring to most passengers since the people they capture are essentially “money on legs.” Because a captured crew’s value depends on them being alive and well, they are likely never in any real danger of being harmed, Lehr explains. That means if pirates attacked a cruise ship, likely, they wouldn’t harm passengers either.
Nevertheless, there is a chance that pirates could have more nefarious intentions. “A much worse scenario would be a maritime terrorist incident in which, say, Islamic State or Al Qaeda terrorists hijack a vessel to raise political demands,” he says. Something similar has happened twice, once in 1961 and again 1985, which Lehr describes as “a murky affair.” However, Lehr is quick to point out that these attacks were made by guerillas and terrorists rather than pirates.
Although no cruise ships have ever been attacked for political purposes, if that happened, it would likely “pan out like a plane hijacking, just with far more hostages.” However, Lehr does not think a terrorist attack on a cruise ship is likely because “the bulk of currently active terrorists are landlubbers,” he says.
What Do Cruise Ships Prepare for?
Although pirate attacks on cruise ships are rare, Lehr says that all cruise ships should, and probably do, have plans to avoid and deter pirates. That’s likely why pirates haven’t been able to successfully board a cruise ship with passengers.
According to Harrison, cruise lines “utilize advanced risk mapping techniques and employ sophisticated surveillance systems and intelligence reports to monitor risks.” They also complete comprehensive crew training programs to enhance awareness and preparedness for potential threats, including pirates, he says.
When traveling through waters where pirates are known to be active, the crew and passengers can take several steps to stay safe. “Going dark and quiet to be less visible and audible is one measure, another one is keeping the vessel’s speed up if possible and having additional crew members on watch,” Lehr explains.
Additionally, most cruise liners have armed personnel on board, he says. This is “not so much because of pirates but to keep the peace on board,” he says. However, a cruise line’s security can help if there were to be a pirate attack.
Nevertheless, if you are concerned about pirates, Lehr suggests checking with the Department of State or your local equivalent. “Be aware of the political situation in those locations the ships touch upon. If in doubt, don’t go,” he says.
Lehr adds that in “the very unlikely case that passengers encounter pirates, don’t play the hero. Bruce Willis, you are not,” he says. Given the low risk of encountering a real-life Jack Sparrow, Lehr thinks taking a cruise almost anywhere in the world is safe. “It’s riskier on land, actually,” he says.
