Cruisin'

The terrorists have shown us that they can handily defeat our airport non-security. But what travel industry has security even worse than airport security? Cruise ships.

I took a cruise a few years ago. There was no baggage screening, no metal detectors. Nothing at all. Just show up, bring your luggage, and hop on.

Cruise ships present excellent targets. With a big enough bomb, you might be able to sink a huge ship in the middle of the ocean, with thousands of people on board and not enough rescue ships. It wouldn't even have to be a suicide bomb, as the terrorist could pretend to be innocent victims like everyone else. The life boat drills they conduct are pitiful -- they didn't have life jackets that were the right size for my children on the cruise I was on.

We should be forward-thinking and re-think cruise ship security before something awful happens.

Les

It should be noted that even on a good day, with flooding in the city and a strong following wind, it's unlikely that a cruise ship can take out a skyscraper!

Texas

Ah, but Les, many cruise ships share the same waters & dock at the same ports used by shipping interests. Ports where oil tankers sit. A hijacked ocean liner pointed at a coastal city could indeed do major damage, son.

Don

Texas, is Les your son?

Sam

I urge everyone to read the following two pieces on the abysmal state of airport/airline security:

'Paying The Price'by Paul Krugman

http://nytimes.com/2001/09/16/opinion/16KRUG.html

'Even Workers Can See Flaws in Airlines' Screening System' By
STEVEN GREENHOUSE and CHRISTOPHER DREW,
NY Times, Sept. 14, 2001
http://nytimes.com/2001/09/14/national/14SECU.html

Dawn Ct

On our cruise on the Voyager of the Seas, RCCL, we boarded the ship in a similar way that we board flights. We went through baggage check and screening. We had to show ID and then have our photo taken and scanned onto our card and every time we returned to the ship, we went through the same security and identification. I felt very secure.

xxx

Dawn, what kind of screening did they do to make sure an employee didn't bring an Uzi on board? What did they do to make sure an employee didn't board with a bomb, leave it, and then disembark, leaving the rest of you to be blown to bits?

The fact that anyone would take comfort in the very same screening that allowed the WTC disaster is a surprise to me.

Jim

We worry too much about these things. xxx, what's to say it won't happen in your church? kid's school? carpool lane? McDonald's drive through? Nothing! All we can do is take the most prudent precautions and live with the extra security offered by travel providers, etc. I'm a cancer survivor...a few bad guys in the world don't stop my life.

jeannie

This is a little off the subgect, but thought it may be interesting to some. In 1998, I took a Mediterrean cruise on Costa Our itinerary originally included Egypt, but there had been a recent massacre at a popular tourist site, so Egypt was ommited from the cruise. When we docked in Israel, officials came aboard and all passengers wanting to disembark had to appear in one of the large meeting rooms on the ship for "screening." The officials had our passport, and one by one we went through a line. As a 39 year old female traveling with her parents, I must have seemed a risk. I was asked several questions. Most were the usual questions asked at airport check-in, but they also asked me if I had ever been to Isreal before, did I know anyone there, did anyone in the U.S. give me anything to bring along, etc.