Pirates fired upon Oceania ship - Page 2 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

MD11F · 12-04-2008, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lanky Lad

Yes she is safe

Pirates attack Aussie-bound cruise ship | The Courier-Mail

That's great news.

TristenEugene · 12-04-2008, 07:30 AM

GET SOME!! I wonder if the US was standing by to launch a helo or something in response. It is hard to believe that,, especially with a cruise ship, that pirates could get too close or even board,,

HEY? does anyone know what the cruise ship plan is in the event of attempted boarding? Such as special police, weapons equipped crew onboard and so on?

canarymoon · 12-04-2008, 06:31 PM

Actually, the International Maritime Association strongly discourages weapons abord commercial vessels.

There is, hhowever, a 'sound' system that some cruise ships are equipped with that sends an utterly disabling sound wave at the attackers.

I believe, in the case of the Seabourn Spirit (attacked in 2005), Water Cannons were used.

canarymoon · 12-04-2008, 06:42 PM

Actually, the recent incidents of attempted piracy, plus a couple of other situations, are what prompted us to open a new forum - CRUISE SAFETY with its sub forums of Safety At Sea, and Safety in Ports.

We hope it will give our members a place to discuss incidents that are directly affecting the operations of the cruise industry.

It is also our hope that folks who cruise will be more aware of issuses that might potentially affect their own personal safety at sea and in foreign ports...

It's certainly worth at least some serious thought and sharing of ideas, in our opinion.

TristenEugene · 12-05-2008, 07:15 AM

I, as a cruise patron, am definatly interested in safeguards/etc in preventing unauthorized boarding. The water cannon idea is a good one! Wow!! I can see this happening. In the end, I think it best to have no weapons on board. I am curious though,, E.g. if a 'pirate' group does, indeed, get close enough,, how would they scale the sides of the ship? What is there potential planning for this? IF!!! They were to get this close and, indeed, begin their attempt to scale/penetrate the hull, I wonder what the capabilities of the crew of the attacked vessel are?!?! Are ther,, will there be now?! Maritime marshalls on board?

What can we expect? What is in place to in fact reassure us that we are as safe as can be?!?!

canarymoon · 12-05-2008, 10:46 AM

There is a rather sophisticated defensive system that uses high frequency sound, with which SOME cruise ships are equipped. I believe it may be called a "LARS."

Perhaps someone who is up to snuff on this device can chime in with further information.

canarymoon · 12-05-2008, 10:50 AM

Meanwhile, there are confilcting reports out on whether the MV Athena was attacked by piraates or not.

See this thread for details:
http://www.cruiselinefans.com/safety...gulf-aden.html (Dare you Cruise the Gulf of Aden?)

MD11F · 12-05-2008, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canarymoon

There is a rather sophisticated defensive system that uses high frequency sound, with which SOME cruise ships are equipped. I believe it may be called a "LARS."

Perhaps someone who is up to snuff on this device can chime in with further information.

Sheila, it's called Long Range Acoustic Device(LRAD).(poor LARS, pun intended) I mentioned this in post #2. Click on the links below.

Long range acoustic device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HowStuffWorks "How LRAD Works"

American Technology Corporation - PRODUCT OVERVIEW

canarymoon · 12-05-2008, 09:32 PM

Thanks, Ken!
That may be why I wasn't finding the information... I didn't remember the right name!

Thank goodness you came along to straighten me out on that!

MD11F · 12-29-2008, 02:07 PM

I'm just posting this here as it bears a relationship to the Piracy.

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The president of Somalia's U.N.-backed government resigned Monday amid deepening international pressure, a move that could usher in more chaos as a strengthening Islamic insurgency scrambles for power.

Somali president quits amid international pressure - Yahoo! News