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Dangerous Cruise Ports To Stay Far, Far Away From (2024)
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Jun 26, 2024
Experiences on my two last cruises reminded me that just because my cruise ship is calling into a port does not mean that I can assume it's safe for me to get off and explore. In fact, even in the two most popular cruising regions, the Caribbean and Mediterranean, many of the most visited ports are amongst the riskiest. Welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bembridge and I’m going to tell you what dangerous ports in these two regions to avoid, and how to keep yourself safe if you've got a cruise booked that's going to one of them. Link mentioned in the video: Carole Copeland Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/conversations-with-carole/id218435600 For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: ---------------------------------------------------
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Experiences on my last two cruises reminded me that just because my cruise ship is calling
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into a port does not mean that I can assume it is safe for me to get off and explore
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In fact, even in the two most popular cruising regions, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean
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many of the most visited ports are amongst the riskiest anywhere in the world
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Welcome aboard, I am Gary Bembridge and I am going to tell you what dangerous ports in these two regions to avoid and how to keep yourself safe if you have a cruise booked
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that is going to one of them. Let's start in the Caribbean. It is the most popular cruising region and so it is easy
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to get lulled into a sense of false security. But poverty is widespread, there is increasing
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gang activity and political instability, and that has created six dangerous ports there
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And those two recent Caribbean back-to-back cruises I called into all six of them
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In fact, in the run-up to the first of those cruises, which was on Symphony of the Seas
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the US State Department raised the Travel Advisory warning on all ports I was going
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to be calling into on that cruise. Haiti was the first. Haiti shares the island of Hispanola with the Dominican Republic and gets around three
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quarters of a million cruise visitors a year. Just before I headed there, the US State Department increased the Travel Advisory to level 4
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which is Do Not Travel, due to kidnapping, crime and civil unrest. In fact, they told
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US citizens to leave. Just as we headed there, gangs had overthrown the Prime Minister, there was widespread lawlessness
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and violent gangs battling for control. Haiti has been troubled and dangerous for many years, and so cruisers calling there
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avoid the urban areas by going to Labadee, which is the Royal Caribbean-owned resort
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on a remote peninsula fenced off from the mainland. It is a stunning place, though we
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were one of the last ships to call there as the situation deteriorated even more
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At the time of recording, ships are still not calling there, and even when they do
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Haiti will remain a volatile and risky country. The second port we called onto was Jamaica, another island with many issues
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Jamaica is about 100 miles west of Haiti and 90 miles south of Cuba, and is a popular cruise
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island, getting up to 1.4 million cruise passengers a year. Just before I went there, the US State Department raised its Travel Advice to level 3, which
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is Reconsider Travel, due to the rising crime levels. There are five cruise ports in Jamaica, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Falmouth, Port Antonio and
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Kingston. Simply with the seas I was on, we went into Montego Bay
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I had seen lots of online advice about avoiding self-exploring outside the secure port area
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and some who did on my trip came back and told me that they had felt unsafe, were harassed
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and quickly hurried back to the ship itself. As a reminder, I will be giving advice later on what to do in each of these risky and dangerous
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ports like this one. The third port we went to on Simply with the Seas was the Bahamas, another one with many issues
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The Bahamas is the closest Caribbean island cluster to the United States
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It is lying roughly between Cuba and Florida, making it enormously popular as a cruise stop
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Nassau alone gets around 4 million cruise passengers a year, with 20,000 to 25,000 passengers
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often in port each day. Just before I went, the US State Department also raised its advice here, but this was
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to level 2, which is Exercise Increased Caution, due to the rising crime and murders
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On that site, they reported that in the month before I went there, there had been 18 murders
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including in broad daylight on the streets, mostly related to gang violence
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In addition, a few weeks before I arrived, two female passengers on Carnival Elation
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had gone to Pirate's Cove Resort on the Grand Bahama Island and said they were drugged
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and raped by employees. The area, despite its beauty and enormous popularity, has risk, and I did go out self-exploring
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alone in Nassau, but not for long as those warnings made me feel less secure
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The issues in the area, and the fact that it is so beautiful, is why I am sure many
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cruise lines are now creating their own private islands in the Bahamas
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For example, I have been to Holland America's Half Moon Cay several times, which is stunning
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I felt secure there, and there are many others in the Bahamas, including the famous Royal
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Caribbean Perfect Day at Coco Cay, MSC's Ocean Cay, Disney's Castaway Cay and so on
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After disembarking simply at the seas, I boarded Oceania Vista, thinking I had put all the
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risky ports behind me. But I soon discovered that two of the ports I went to on that cruise had elevated travel
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advisories against them, and one of the previously safe ports was no longer one
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Let me talk about that one first. That is Cozumel in Mexico
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Cozumel has been considered one of the safer ports as it is an island located off the east
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coast of Mexico near Playa del Carmen. Around 3 million cruise passengers visit Cozumel every year
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While parts of Mexico have strong warnings about travel from the US State Department
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due to crime, gang issues and kidnapping, Cozumel was for the longest time seen as way
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safer because it is not on the route that drug cartels and gangs use to move drugs up
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from South America into the US. But that seems to have changed
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Seven days before my stop there, I read of escalating gang issues, with what appears
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to be a gang hit where a man having lunch with his family at a restaurant not far from
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the Punta Langosta cruise port where I docked was shot dead having lunch
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The increase in gang battles and crime was so serious that the Mexican authorities sent
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in their National Guard and Army and even State Police to run raids and try and take control
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This was covered really well by Jason in his video on his The Travel Scouts channel
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The next call on Oceana Vista was to Honduras, another risky island
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Honduras is a Central American country lying between Guatemala and Nicaragua. It gets around 1 million cruise visitors every year
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However, it is seen as a country with issues, and the US State Department has a Level 3
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warning which is reconsider travel due to crime and kidnapping. Some areas have way more risk than others, which is where Roatan, where the cruise ships
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call into comes into play. Roatan is an island and is seen as having way less risk
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There are two key ports here, Mahogany Bay, which is carnival operated and owned, and
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Coxon Hole, which is where we called on as a non-carnival group line
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I have been to both of those ports, and on further checking before this trip, I saw lots
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of warnings that the areas outside the enclosed port shopping and entertainment areas has
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risen levels of crime and harassment, including by prostitutes. Our next port of call, which also had issues, was Belize
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Belize is another Central American country with Mexico and Guatemala on its borders
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It receives around 1 million cruise visitors a year, because often the same cruises call
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on both Roatan and Belize. The US State Department has a Level 2 warning here, which to remind you means exercise increased
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caution due to crime, some of which is gang related. If going to Belize as a cruise passenger, a lot of it hinges on which cruise line you
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are going with. I was on Oceania, which is part of the Norwegian group, and so we called into their secure
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private island, Harvest Cay, which is just off the coast. It was safe there and very beautiful
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The tours there all seem to be ocean based, not visiting the mainland either
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However, I have also been to Belize City on a cruise, which falls in the area with high
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risk of crime, and it was recommended that we do not go out self exploring
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So what should you do in a port like this and the others I have mentioned
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More on that later, but before I get into that, I want to move from the Caribbean to the next biggest cruise region, the Mediterranean, because that too has risky ports, but for
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some very specific regions. These ports to watch out for are not only the main embarkation and disembarkation points
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in the Med, but several will also be on whatever Mediterranean itinerary you do, because they
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are major cities. And here it is mostly about big city crimes, like pickpocketing and theft
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I have seen or know people who have been victims in every single one of these I am going to
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talk about. The first is Barcelona, which is the busiest cruise port in the Mediterranean, with around
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3.5 million people as cruise visitors every year. The greatest place of risk is the Ramblas, which is where everybody heads, because it
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is near the cruise port, is famous, gets busy and is an absolute pickpocketers dream
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The next is Rome, where most cruise passengers head to from the port of Tuvijavecchia to
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explore the historic city. On my last visit there, I was on a tour of an MSC cruise, and during our tour of the
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main sites, including Colosseum, Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, two people on our
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tour were pickpocketed at different spots. The other prime one is Venice, which gets around 2 million cruise passengers every year
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Tourists are jam packed together, jostled in the small alleyways and even in the large
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St Marks Square. Again on my last visit there, I was on a tour of Viking Sky, and one of the passengers on
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the tour there was also pickpocketed. I had never thought of Athens as being an issue, until a follower and patron of my channel
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Carol Copeland Thomas, had a traumatic experience being pickpocketed on public transport where
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even her passport was taken, meaning she could not embark on her cruise as planned
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She talks about it on her Conversations With Carol podcast in more detail
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If you are heading to Livorno, the gateway port to explore Florence and Pisa, those are
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two other cities well known for pickpocketing and thefts. So, if you are going to any of the ports in either of those regions I have spoken about
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what should you do? First, it is essential that you check the latest advice just before you go, because
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things change fast, as you will have heard from my experiences around Haiti, Cozumel
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Jamaica and others. I check the US State Department and UK Foreign Office sites, both make it easy to search
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for the country and are constantly updated. I like the UK site, because it allows me to sign up for email alerts by country, so if
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anything changes, it is easy because they just send an email saying something has changed
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I also check ports on whatsinport.com, because they often have the latest safety issues listed
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there and various bits of advice. I also check the Daily Programme and go to the Port Talks, because they should give warnings
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although I would advise you to not overly rely on these, because I feel they downplay them
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On my Symphony of the Seas cruise, for example, for those places with increased travel advisories
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that I mentioned, they only had rather nondescript vague references to raised warnings
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Second if you are going to any of these ports, I do recommend booking a cruise line excursion
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or book one through a very trusted provider and avoid self exploring
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That includes even just walking out and using taxis or those people that stand by the ports
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offering taxi tours, because there are many scams related to those that I cover in another
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video I'll talk about shortly. Third which is what I usually do in these ports is stay on board or enjoy the ship or
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spend time in the secure port area. For example, there was a large one in Jamaica with shops, bars, places to eat and some entertainment
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In Roatan, both Mahogany Bay and Coxon Hole do too, the latter even having a recently
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opened pool with a bar. If you are planning to self explore, take the daily program with details of the local
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port agent in. They will be key if something happens to help you sort it out
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Of course, don't wear valuables, stay alert and stay in busy tourist filled areas
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But even if you are going to ports considered safer, there are still risks around scams
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so join me in this video where I cover them, starting with the one thing that catches passengers
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out more than anything else. See you over there
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