Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line passengers get a warning

Published 9:45 am Tuesday, February 13, 2024

By Daniel Kline

: Chairs around a cruise ship's main pool can be hard to come by.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival dominate the Caribbean. Both cruise lines have significant portions of their fleet sailing year-round to the Bahamas with many of those ships stopping in Nassau.

That makes sense because Nassau has rolled out the welcome mat for cruise ships with a new $300 million fully renovated port. Nassau rivals Port Canaveral and Port Miami for the title of “World’s Busiest Cruise Port” having served over 4 million passengers in 2023.

It’s not uncommon for both Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Line to have multiple ships in Nassau at the same time since six ships can dock there at once. Those ships will often be joined by ships from all the other major cruise brands including Norwegian, Virgin, Disney, and MSC.

Many regular cruisers consider Nassau a “stay on the ship” port. It’s not that they don’t like shopping, restaurants, and beaches that are walkable from the port, it’s simply because they have been there before.

Nassau has a lot of options, but almost anyone who cruises regularly from the East Coast has been there at least a few times. Now, a new warning issued by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs may lead to more people staying on board when ships stop at the popular port.

Pool decks are usually less crowded on a port day.

Image source: Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

U.S. government issues a warning

Cruise lines make every effort to keep passengers safe. They will broadly share any safety concerns that are specific to a destination before anyone gets off the ship.

Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and every other cruise line would, of course, prefer that passengers only take excursions they sell. That’s partially profit-motivated, but it’s also a question of safety.

In any port in the Bahamas, people can walk around freely. That means that they could stumble into a dangerous area or end up someplace that perhaps they shouldn’t be. It’s not a situation unique to the Bahamas, people get mugged or robbed in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and at every other cruise port, but the U.S. government does not issue travel advisories for its own cities.

The State Department has made Nassau a Level 2 on its travel advisory scale. That means that visitors are advised to “exercise increased caution.” A Level 3 warning would warn people to “reconsider travel,” while a Level 4 would be a full “do not travel” advisory.

“The majority of crime occurs on New Providence (Nassau) and Grand Bahama (Freeport) islands. In Nassau, practice increased vigilance in the ‘Over the Hill’ area (south of Shirley Street) where gang-on-gang violence has resulted in a high homicide rate primarily affecting the local population. Violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assaults, occur in both tourist and non-tourist areas,” the federal agency shared.

This warning is not specific to cruise lines. It applies to any American visiting the island.

Listen to your cruise line

Every cruise line wants to keep its passengers safe. That’s just good for business and cruise lines will cancel port stops or specific excursions if they think that making those stops or sending people on those excursions puts them in danger.

“The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson shared with TheStreet via email. “Our global security teams are closely monitoring the situation in the area. At all times, we remind guests to remain aware of their surroundings while ashore and follow all State Department guidelines. Should any changes be required, guests will be notified directly.”

Royal Caribbean, for example, recently ended a port stop at its own Perfect Day at CocoCay private island due to dangerous weather conditions. The cruise line ordered passengers back to the ship before high winds made the pier impassable as just a short time after it was being washed over with waves.

The company also recently canceled some excursions in Nassau and Freeport for safety-related reasons, according to the Royal Caribbean Blog, which is not affiliated with the cruise line.