Here is an article from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/...html?hpt=hp_c1
"...Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, was the first to report on the documents. One plan: to seize passenger ships. According to Musharbash, the writer "says that we could hijack a passenger ship and use it to pressurize the public."

Musharbash takes that to mean that the terrorists "would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners."
The plan would include dressing passengers in orange jump suits, as if they were al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and then videotaping their execution..."

Now I am not trying to sow anxiety because I think this would be pretty hard to pull off. But I would like to ask the people who have been on the large ships how security is handled. I have only sailed on Windstar. The one time I remember having to clear any kind of security is embarking on the dock in Istanbul. In the caribbean and in central America, we just walked up to the ship and got on the gangplank.
Thanks.

Got to love CNN. Thinking any of this is new.

In 1985 four people hijacked the 1,400 passenger Achille Lauro and demanded the release of prisoner. When that did not happen, they killed a passenger.

Hijacking cruise ships is nothing new, it's most certainly not an al Qaeda invention. Ships have been working to prevent another incident like that one for decades.

Yes, I remember that incident as well as know about the steps taken for ships traveling past Somalia.

I was more just wondering about security since it did seem rather laissez faire yet the TSA shows up occasionally. People on C Critic spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to smuggle booze aboard and it made me start thinking of the possibilities and whether there are any systems in place.

The whole security charade by some of the cruise lines is for security: Security of the cruise line's profit.

Pirates have tried to attack cruise ships in the past, and the cruise ships have successfully responded with defenses not really publicized.

There are some well trained bad dudes on those ships, for when the situation arises.

Google

Gurkahs cruise ship

for some sites that will explain the security in a bit more detail. As one officer told us a few years ago, though it could have been just the standard PR answer, no matter what you read or hear about cruise ship security, you are only reading or hearing about ten percent of it.

plus "seabourn" and "sonic"

how common armed security is, it should be more common

Relocated to appropriate forum. /Senior Moderator

Yes, security is very tight. Because it was too many problem out there. Must be aware of cruise passengers. This mean they have keep terror out of the cruise ship. The weapons, drugs, explosives is prohibited on the cruise ship. No one would sneaks onto the cruise ship. Must be secured the passengers & crew, too. They have be more protection those passengers & the crew, too.

I was under the impression that the most common and nearly 100% effective anti-piracy weapon aboard cruise ships was called the engines. As in, 1) Don't sail close to pirate waters, and 2) if The Pirates: Band of Misfits, Jack Sparrow, or Eric Cartman and the Somalian Pirates WE! chase after you, FLOOR IT, and outrun their little SeaRays.

Of course, pouring the contents of the ship's septic system over the side on top of any would-be boarders would also be highly effective.

As would the simply locking any doors that are close enough to the waterline for pirate access, and removing exterior ladders that would allow them to climb from the waterline up to the lowest exterior deck (which can be anywhere from 20' to 60' above the waterline on a big ship).

A simple signal flare fired into the middle of their little boat would not sink them, but would blind them, burn them, and probably set their boat on fire; that's a good trick.

Or, maybe cruise ships are simply carrying a few actual guns now and can use them to ward off pirate attacks.

But, hey, I'm just spitballing here!