http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/05/somalia.pirates/index.html

Debbie

Thanks for posting that Debbie - I haven't seen anything about it on the news this morning - Joanna

I saw the article earlier and passed to Arlene. This isn't surprising; their used to be problems with pirates in the Eastern Indian Ocean including Straights of Malacca, too. Good thing Voyager 2007 World Cruise isn't getting close to Somalia coastline.

Scary event. I am relieved they were able to evade this attack.

Holy smokes! I am glad no one got hurt!

Rogers said, "we're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for."

That may be enough to keep you from cruising that part of the world for awhile. Very scary :eek:

I just read on the CC Seabourn board that MarthaB has a friend on this sailing. She has sent him an email but I believe Seabourn has the old system like Radisson had before they got internet access. You email the ship and they send the email to your room. It would be very interesting to hear a passenger's first hand account.

Karen,
The article's quotes from Rogers were those of a passenger onboard. I wonder if he posts on any message boards?!
Of course, CC message board is down now..., but earlier I read a post from MarthaB's friend Norm. (The Last Post was the title of the thread.) He had posted that he was leaving Spirit the next day in Mombasa (the day before the attack). So, Spirit was attacked going from Mombasa to the Seychelles.
Marc, Voyager's 2007 WC in April goes from Mombasa to the Seychelles too, so probably on the same route. Voyager's 2006 WC does not go there, but you cannot go through the Suez Canal and Red Sea without going between Yemen and Somalia. Voyager's 2007 WC also follows that path later on its return to the US in April.
Beth, I agree with Rogers, we probably would not look for that much adventure. But, we know anything can happen anywhere and we are just on for the ride. Hope this doesn't repeat and put a damper on cruising schedules.
Keeping fingers crossed. We leave home in 7 weeks for our Voyager WC!!
Debbie

I just looked at one of the articles posted on the Seabourn cc board (the longer one) which has a map and more information. The "attack" spot isn't too far from Mombasa which is on the 2007 WC. The spirit's stop in Mombasa was canceled.

Peggy

As good a time as any to thank Karen for pointing out the spell checker on the Google task bar . . for people like me - bad spellers and bad typists . . very important.

Thank you Karen! :banana:

Peggy, I laugh every time I spell check my LCT posts. There is always at least one misspelled word!!

There is absolutely no reason to go near Somali coast going from Mombassa to Seychelles. The Spirit was off of Somalia because she was sailing down from Suez Canal. I bet next time she will sail farther off coast.

The Gulf of Aden is well patrolled; I can't imagine a pirate danger there.

Here are a few more articles with some new details.

1 Tue Cruising the Red Sea
2 Wed Cruising the Gulf of Aden
3 Thu Cruising the Indian Ocean
4 Fri Cruising the Indian Ocean
5 Sat Cruising the Indian Ocean
6 Sun Cruising the Indian Ocean
7 Mon Mombasa, Kenya Arrive 7:00 am
8 Tue Mombasa, Kenya

I just copied this from the Seabourn site. The Spirit was on it's way TO Mombasa so there should be some more information at some point

Yes, very scary . . . .

Peggy

Pegy, it looks like they are skipping Mombasa. I wonder where the ship will have it's minor damage repaired?

"A scheduled stop in Mombasa, in neighbouring Kenya, has been cancelled and the cruise, which began in the Egyptian port of Alexandria is now due to end in the Seychelles on Monday."

I was finally able to get CC's message board back again. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=251873
Peggy is right, the CC bunch have posted a bunch more articles with maps. Karen's articles have the same info. Correction: Spirit was heading to Mombasa from Alexandria when it was attacked, 100 miles off the coast of Somalia. The Mombasa stop was cancelled and they headed straight for the Seychelles after the attack. I guess Norm is happy to be alive but sad that he missed his safari!! They must not have internet access, it sounds like Martha is frantic to hear from him, understandably. I am sure he would reply to her if he could.
Debbie

And I'm booking segment 5 for the '07 ? :eek: Same itinerary basically and close to Iraq and Iran....I like to live dangerously.

My gosh,

Who is the genius in Seabourn in charge of itinerary planning?

What a frightening experience that could have had tragic consequences.

Time for cruiselines to rethink their itinerary planning - don't you think? To intentionally enter areas in harm's way and volatile is asking for trouble. I know there are those who like adventure, but situations such as these takes adventure-seeking to a whole new level.

I'm with you Denise - it would ruin my trip if I thought the ship were venturing into unsafe waters - Joanna

My husband just called me over to the TV where CNN was reporting that the Spirit's Captain and Crew were able to deflect and outrun the pirates ... sounds like the pirates had rocket- propelled grenades and other fire power. How scary is that!!!!

On my Silver Shadow cruise, we sailed the Straits of Malacca, and the captain made no bones about the fact that pirates are often in these waters. But he said they never bother with cruise ships because they are so outnumbered by the staff aboard. Guess that's not so off the coast of Somalia.

I knew if I popped in over here you guys would have all the gossip on this. Sorry, I don't post much anymore. I get a little depressed when I don't have a cruise planned or even budgeted but I'm hoping for summer of 2007 so I'll be back about a year before then (when I have the money saved).

Anyway, thanks, Karen for the links. Ted and I were wondering just how armed are cruise ship officers. Have they got anything more than a few sidearms? How the heck do you deal with rocket launchers?

Here's the latest from cc poster Norman:
Solicitor Norman Fisher, 55, from Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London was onboard the Seabourn Spirit 100 miles off Somalia in Africa when the attack from small boats took place.

The first many bleary-eyed passengers knew of the dawn raid was when captain Sven Erik Pedersen came on the PA system and said: "Stay inside, we`re under attack."

Terrified passengers, including 18 from Britain, were told to go to the restaurant as the sound of the grenade and gunfire from two 25ft rigid inflatable boats filled the air.

"I was awake doing some work when I heard what sounded like a crack from outside at 5.50am," said Mr Fisher.

"I looked out of the window and saw a small boat with about five people in it about 20 yards away.

"One of them clearly had a rifle. Later I realised that two of them had rifles and one had some kind of rocket launcher.

"They were firing the rifle and then fired the rocket launcher twice. One of the rockets certainly hit the ship - it went through the side of the liner into a passenger`s suite. The couple were in there at the time so it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

"Fortunately they weren`t hurt but you can just imagine what it would have been like if they had been standing up because obviously the cabin was very badly damaged.

"I only saw one boat, although the captain said there were two. At first I didn`t know what was going on, but when I saw the rocket launcher I started getting a bit scared."

Mr Fisher went on: "I suppose I had a little bit of adrenaline, particularly because I was trying to take photographs.

"Afterwards, particularly when I looked at the photos and realised the guy was loading the rocket launcher right in front of me, which I hadn`t seen with the naked eye, then you do feel a certain amount of tension about what might have happened."

Mr Fisher said the captain tried to ram one of the boats in an attempt to capsize it and stop them getting aboard.

"The captain didn`t sound the usual alarm because he was worried that people would run up on the deck thinking it was a fire, and that would be the worst place to be," Mr Fisher explained.

"Instead he made an announcement at five past six, saying: `Stay inside, stay inside, we are under attack`.

"Then he told us to go the restaurant in the middle of the ship and wait.

"The atmosphere in the restaurant was a little tense. People were pretty good and they weren`t panicking, but one or two were certainly looking nervous," Mr Fisher said.

"Most people were wearing dressing gowns and were quite bleary-eyed. Some sat on the floor for extra safety and others sat in the chairs. After a while they started bringing in water and coffee for us.

"The captain came in at about 6.30am and explained what was going on and said he was reasonably confident we had lost them. Of course he got a massive round of applause."

He added: "It was all a very surreal experience - not the kind of thing you expect on a cruise."

The Bahamas-registered ship was carrying 302 passengers and crew at the time, but there was only one casualty - a crew member suffered minor injuries from flying debris.

David Dingle, a spokesman for the Miami-based company Seabourn Cruises, owned by US cruise giant Carnival, claimed the rocket did not hit the ship but it was struck by small arms fire. The vessel escaped with only minor damage, he added.

The crew also used an on-board loud acoustic bang to repel the attackers who finally sped off without managing to board the liner. They did not return fire at the pirates.

The drama happened in an area notorious for pirate activity, leading to warnings to stay away from the coast where bandits board ships and demand ransoms.

Somalia has had no recognised government since 1991 and at least 23 hijackings or attempted raids have been tried off the East African country`s coast this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

The ship was en route to Mombasa in Kenya on a 16-day cruise out of Alexandria in Egypt.

The 10,000-ton liner offers the height of luxury, with huge suites, marble bathrooms and more than one crew member to each passenger on board. Most of the passengers are believed to be American.

Mr Dingle said: "The ship`s crew immediately initiated a trained response and as a result of protective and evasive measures taken the occupants of the small craft were unable to gain access to the ship."

He said that when the rocket propelled grenade-type weapon was fired at the ship, the crew and passengers remained calm.

"The passengers were somewhat surprised and shocked because it happened at 5.30am in the morning and they were woken," he explained.

"The passengers were mustered in a public room, told what was going on and reassured that we were fighting off the attack. They were shocked but no passengers were injured whatsoever.

"We are extremely pleased that all the measures worked.
The captain and crew did a fantastic job."

The ship has now cancelled its stop at Mombasa and will end the cruise in the Seychelles on Monday.

Mr Dingle said the company had no reason to believe it was a terrorist attack and all the evidence pointed to pirates.

Despite the incident the area is not the most notorious for pirate attacks, which are increasing being executed by ruthless organised and well resourced criminal gangs.

Indonesian waters are the most dangerous with 93 attacks in 2004. Overall though the IMB said incidents worldwide have decreased over the last few years but still 30 crew were murdered last year by pirates with many others beaten and held to ransom.

Thanks Beth. While scary, that article is fascinating. Can you just imagine mustering in the dining room while being attacked?

I wonder exactly what this means, is it some kind of fake attack noise to scare the pirates?

"The crew also used an on-board loud acoustic bang to repel the attackers who finally sped off without managing to board the liner. They did not return fire at the pirates."

Karen, Over at CC it was mentioned that gurkhas were security guards on cruise ships. I find this quite interesting. This is news to me.

This from the Princess website:

"Each Princess ship carries a security staff of between 3 to 12 personnel depending upon the size of the ship and the area in which the ship is cruising.

A unique aspect of Princess' onboard security team are the security watchmen, those security personnel mostly seen at the gangways of each Princess ship while in port. These watchmen are from Nepal and are all ex-British Army Gurkha soldiers, a legendary fighting force that has been a part of the British Army for nearly 200 years. Upon completion of their British Army service in the legendary Brigade of Gurkhas, they are recruited by Princess and are assigned on board as part of the ship's regular security staff. In recognition of their service, and in keeping with their history and tradition, their shoulder flashes depict the famous crossed khukris, the legendary fighting knife of the Gurkha."

Oh yes, there are gurkhas aboard RSSC ships as well. You can tell by the pins they wear. On the WC that Marcie was on, some of the pax even got them from the security personnel!

Thanks, Olivia. That's reassuring to know. I wonder how many were on the Spirit?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=251873

Hopefully the above link will work. If it doesn't - then go to the cruise critic seabourn boards. The passenger who is quoted above and who witnessed the attempted attack has posted a picture of one of the pirate boats. It is an incredible picture - you can clearly see the rocket propelled grenade launcher pointed straight at the camera! The passengers and crew have had a fortunate escape.

Makes you realise just how dangerous and lawless certain parts of the world really are..

You can have all the security you want on the ship but when muslim extremists are using RPG's they do not have to get very close to the ship. If you heard the news these extremists were attacking a ship that was 100 miles off shore. It is only a matter of time before a tragedy will happen again. i.e. Achillo Laurio when they shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer. The bottom line is if you travel in these parts of the world you are p-rey to these terrorists. I know all about the BS about any city, any country etc but the degree that these people will go to to kill or harm innocents far outways any urban problems. I speak from personal knowledge is all I am allowed to say.

Look at the faces of the men in that boat, they look like triplets. Very scary indeed.

Norm, the passenger on the Spirit, has now posted more photos on CC, p.3 of the relevant post.

I think this is a trip that Jean and Clyde Noll are on. They booked when I was not booking Seabourn and I am pretty certain this was their ship. They joined in Egypt and were doing the Seychelles and left just before I did so that is bound to be the ship. What a scary thing. I am now in Sydney in the Hyatt Hotel and trying to catch up on things.

Those pictures were quite chilling.

Ngaire,

You're right! I just went to the "roll call" section and found Jean's post describing their Seabourn cruise starting 10/23 in Cairo! They're going to all the way to Singapore.

Oh they must have been a nervous wreck - they are so wonderful they will fill us in when they return - Joanna

After reading that post, I am soooo glad that I left that board. What a bunch of morons. They will bitch and gripe over anything over there.

God forbid if you have a dissenting opinion!!!


If I need to edit this, let me know..

Anthony

just like on the cc RSSC board, you get a bit of everything over there. I think what rankles some of them is that the one who is most critical of the line has never sailed Seabourn before. God forbid you would have a group cruise lined up with others. You might get boycotted for dinner!

I thought of Jean the other day, that we hadn't heard from her lately (and her cute dog!) Hope they are coping well although I'm pretty sure I'd be "all shook up!"

Wow, Jean and Clyde!! Thank God no one was hurt!! Godspeed and hopefully the rest of the cruise will be smooth!

AP reports that a rocket propeller grenade was lodged in one of the passengers cabins and that it'll be disarmed by US officials when they arrive to the Seychelles islands. :ohmy:

Wonder if the passengers were told and if they left the grenade in the passenger's cabin?