Nassau- The US Embassy has issued Travel Advisory we did not even get off the ship

I have to say that we were having an absolutely wonderful trip until the night prior to arriving in Nassau. We did not schedule an excursion as we planned on doing our own thing. Imagine our surprise when there was a US Embassy Travel Advisory for this small island. They did not want you to wear "touristy" clothing, flashy jewerly, cameras or walk alone. There have been assaults and robberies on tourists. Furthermore, there have been known instances of robbers coming up to you on jet skis. We were very surprised. And then the next morning when we arrived at Nassau there was an annoucement on the loudspeaker going over the very same informatiion.

We really felt like this was information that they knew prior to our arrival there within the last 7 days or even more. We felt upset that we were not notified upon booking. And felt that one of our vacation days were taken from us. Not that we did not enjoy the ship but we wanted to set foot on Nassau and the biggest reason aside from safety that we did not get off the ship was that if this tiny island could not control this tourist safety issue then we were not giving them our tourist money.

We realize nowhere is perfectly safe but with knowledge this makes it unacceptable.

in my opinion the Bahamas were a dump the first time we were there in 1992 and still were the last time in 2010. you didn't miss anything.

Wow! That is crazy! I'm a little surprised. My mom and I sailed there in the 90's. I have to say, I didn't really like the Bahamas and have had no need to return. The only thing we enjoyed was going over in the evening to the Atlantis Resort so my mom could gamble in the casino. She had such a great time. One of my fondest memories of her.

I have to say that we were having an absolutely wonderful trip until the night prior to arriving in Nassau. We did not schedule an excursion as we planned on doing our own thing. Imagine our surprise when there was a US Embassy Travel Advisory for this small island. They did not want you to wear "touristy" clothing, flashy jewerly, cameras or walk alone. There have been assaults and robberies on tourists. Furthermore, there have been known instances of robbers coming up to you on jet skis. We were very surprised. And then the next morning when we arrived at Nassau there was an annoucement on the loudspeaker going over the very same informatiion.

 

We really felt like this was information that they knew prior to our arrival there within the last 7 days or even more. We felt upset that we were not notified upon booking. And felt that one of our vacation days were taken from us. Not that we did not enjoy the ship but we wanted to set foot on Nassau and the biggest reason aside from safety that we did not get off the ship was that if this tiny island could not control this tourist safety issue then we were not giving them our tourist money.

 

We realize nowhere is perfectly safe but with knowledge this makes it unacceptable.

This is odd - went to http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html and they didn't have anything posted.

Heard anything lately about this island? Problems, etc/ Why are ships still stopping there is it is that bad.....we haven't been back since the 90's either...

Over kill. Nassau is fine during the daytime as long as you take the normal precautions. That advisory is more directed to the tens of thousands of US citizen who spend a week or more on the island and are out and about in all sorts of places and at all times of the day and night.

Perhaps this is too nit-picky, but this is just a restatement of what they've been saying for several years. This is not a formal State Department "Travel Warning," which is a very serious warning not to travel to that country or area because of war, famine, pestilence, epidemic, etc. going on. It's not even a "Travel Alert," which they issue when there is a short-term situation or event that they advise travelers to avoid or take precautions for. This is a "security message." Mostly it's a message to the Bahamas to hire more police and push the crime out of the tourist zones.

Overall, the crime rate in Nassau is relatively similar to crime in several big cities in the US. It's mostly locals committing crimes against other locals in poor areas. The reason the State Department keeps sending these messages out is that there have been a handful of serious incidents in tourist areas and/or involving tourists. Given the sheer number of tourists who arrive in Nassau every day, it really seems like the risk of actually being a victim of crime during the day in regular tourist areas is extremely low.

That's not to say you shouldn't keep your wits about you, but really the concern seems a little too high for the size of the risk. JMHO, obviously.

I went hunting for some stats to see how much more crime-ridden Nassau is than US cities, and the answer is "somewhat more," for sure. It's higher than any of the big cities of over 1M population that gather UCR stats. Robbery rate is definitely higher than other US cities, but not hugely so.

Police force                              Robbery Rate Per 100,000 pop.
San Diego Police Dept                     113.3
San Antonio Police Dept                   135.1
Los Angeles Police Dept                   233.0
Phoenix Police Dept                       236.7
New York City Police Dept                 243.7
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department  258.5
Dallas Police Dept                        329.7
Houston Police Dept                       431.0
Chicago Police Dept                       497.6
Philadelphia Police Dept                  518.8
Nassau Royal Bahamas Police Force         584.6
Detroit Police Dept                       684.9

Murder rate is a different story and looks much worse for Nassau.

Police force                              Murder Rate Per 100,000 pop.
San Diego Police Dept                     3.5
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department  5.1
New York City Police Dept                 5.1
San Antonio Police Dept                   6.4
Los Angeles Police Dept                   7.8
Phoenix Police Dept                       8.3
Houston Police Dept                       10.0
Dallas Police Dept                        12.4
Chicago Police Dept                       18.5
Philadelphia Police Dept                  21.5
Nassau Royal Bahamas Police Force         42.0
Detroit Police Dept                       54.6

However, you're much less likely to be a murder victim overall, especially as a tourist. Most crimes against tourists are robberies. What the murder rate tells you is that you probably don't want to live in Nassau (or Detroit).

These are sobering numbers, but it doesn't seem like Nassau is wildly more dangerous than some big US cities. In any of these places, the likelihood of being a victim of crime in populated tourist areas during the day is very low.

I like Nassau...common sense should prevail wherever you go...there are cities in the us I would not do the "touristy" thing in

We have been to Nassau several times- but always have had excursions booked through the ship. Last year, we went to Blue Lagoon Island and it was very good.

Booking with the ship has been our choice for safety. We take a van cab from the pier area and don't wander around. We stay on the ship at night. There are no guarantees, but we feel safer on a ship's tour.

We take the travel warnings seriously- and wouldn't wander around several of the Caribbean islands- but would book a ship's excursion (in St. Lucia for instance where we saw many aggressive vendors.)

It looks to have a similar murder rate as Newark, NJ, close to where we live. Dd18 will be taking some summer classes down there this summer, taking light rail in. Fingers crossed! She takes a train from college to Newark a lot during the school year, takes a bus back and forth to Boston. We didn't hesitate to get off the ship in Nassau.