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17 People robbed on Conquest Jamaica excursion


oakbend

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Just of the Conquest today Sunday June 17th and we had Seventeen people robbed on a Jamaica excursion booked thru the Conquest! I have pesonally talked to four of the people who was robbed at GUNPOINT and MACHETTES in Jamaica on Wednesday 6-13-07!!!! Some women were roughed up and one had a camera cut off her neck with a machette when she did not hand it over to the two robbers! Four children under the age of 12 were hysterical beyond expantion. Neil our super shopper stands up on Tuesday and tells everyone how safe Jamaica is when you book thru Carnival and how great and safe the shopping is in the main plaza to shop. THANKS to you great folks here a CC I knew better and refused to take my family to the central market to shop and more horrot stories with the ULTRA aggressive and just mean people to deal with. No one on our cruise would EVER go back to Jamaica and all have promised to write Carnival and every cruise line to get rid of this port of call. If you are going to Jamaica soon, remember NO ONE can or will help you once you pass thru the Terminal Gates and if you do not want to expose your children and family to this type of trauma I would suggest that you do not leave the ship. Future cruisers should call their PVP/Carnival ASAP and ask if they will pass this port of call. If they say no ask them if they will be 100% responsible for your safety and 100% liable as well. These are FACTS, I was there and talked to the victims and how traumatized they were days later. DO NOT subject you family/kids to this type of environment. I will be posting a complete review at a later time, we had a GREAT cruise other than Jamaica!!!!

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Just of the Conquest today Sunday June 17th and we had Seventeen people robbed on a Jamaica excursion booked thru the Conquest! I have pesonally talked to four of the people who was robbed at GUNPOINT and MACHETTES in Jamaica on Wednesday 6-13-07!!!! Some women were roughed up and one had a camera cut off her neck with a machette when she did not hand it over to the two robbers! Four children under the age of 12 were hysterical beyond expantion. Neil our super shopper stands up on Tuesday and tells everyone how safe Jamaica is when you book thru Carnival and how great and safe the shopping is in the main plaza to shop. THANKS to you great folks here a CC I knew better and refused to take my family to the central market to shop and more horrot stories with the ULTRA aggressive and just mean people to deal with. No one on our cruise would EVER go back to Jamaica and all have promised to write Carnival and every cruise line to get rid of this port of call. If you are going to Jamaica soon, remember NO ONE can or will help you once you pass thru the Terminal Gates and if you do not want to expose your children and family to this type of trauma I would suggest that you do not leave the ship. Future cruisers should call their PVP/Carnival ASAP and ask if they will pass this port of call. If they say no ask them if they will be 100% responsible for your safety and 100% liable as well. These are FACTS, I was there and talked to the victims and how traumatized they were days later. DO NOT subject you family/kids to this type of environment. I will be posting a complete review at a later time, we had a GREAT cruise other than Jamaica!!!!

 

 

Thanks for posting :) Jamaica has been nasty for some time. This was bound to happen sooner or later. :cool:

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Montego Bay and YES this was booke thru Carnival and had a tour operator guiding the tour. They were VERY VERY mean and actually hit and roughed up some of the women. There was a 14 year Police Veteran there as well with his Eight year old daughter and with his experience he kept everyone calm, he has a brother in the Galveston Police Department as well. I can assure you after talking to these victims this will not go away. I want all of you to imagine if this was your family or kids!!!!:mad:

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Was the tour Guide EMPLOYED by Carnival or was it just the EXCURSION that was BOOKED by Carnival?

 

I realize that Jamaica, is a very poor area that has a high crime rate , but so are a LOT of other places.(the southside of Oklahoma City, for instance)

I Fail to see How/Why you THINK Carnival could/should be blamed for the criminal acts that was bestowed upon several passengers.

YES, it's Carnival's responsibility to Protect the passengers while OnBoard the ship or on any of Carnival Property.(if the criminal acts happened away from Carnival Property, how/why would Carnival be held responsible.)

MY Opinion, is that each person should be WARNED & AWARE that they are taking a RISK by getting OFF the ship.(if you took a taxi to NYC or Los Angeles & got out of the taxi & was robbed, would you blame the cabbie for dropping you off?)

As with nearly ANY city you go to.....You Enter At Your Own Risk!

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I am by no means trying to downplay this. Yes, it was a truly horrible thing to happen. But it doesn't mean no ship should ever go there again. Things similar like this happen in your own town. We have home invasions all the time. If you're not safe in your own home then where can you be safe:confused: True, I have never heard of people stopping a bus of people at gunpoint in the states, but bad things happen everywhere. It makes it worse that it was a bus full of people, instead of just a couple out touring on their own. As I said, it was horrible, but I don't feel ships should stop going.

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I had heard bad reports about Ocho Rios...this is the first I've heard about Montego Bay. We were there and on a tour without a problem. However, I appreciate the knowledge that this took place. (having not heard it on the news)

 

I didn't doubt that there was a tour guide...I just wonder what the tour guide and bus driver were doing when all this happened. Granted if guns were involved the thing to do is to keep everyone from getting hurt. If Carnival doesn't know about what happened by now...every one should let them know. For now...perhaps all that should be done is that that particular excursion be discontinued. Although I feel sorry for the people who run the excursion and they lose their income. It's really a tough call. I personally am not sure how it should be handled.

 

gypsyrose...you may not have heard of anyone in the states stopping a bus at gun point...but we've seen planes taken over that way.

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Desperate people do desperate things. No matter where you are, it can and will happen. I don't think it warrants pulling a cruise ship from that port of call. Jamaica has had a civil war going on for as long as I can remember. It just hasn't spread out to the resort areas, it's been kept to the Kingston region.

 

I have shopped in the central shopping area and felt very safe. I had no problem whatsoever shopping there.

 

Crime is up all over the U.S. and unfortunately, when people cruise, they have a tendency to forget they're going to another country and sometimes it's a 3rd world country where there are few laws. If there are laws, lawmen are corrupt and payoffs are necessary.

 

Like the previous poster said, you enter at your own risk.

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:rolleyes: I can definately think of a few other ways to get FREE cruise/excursion compensation than to conjure up a "story" such as this. :rolleyes:

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT Doubting whether it happened or not...I'm just saying that I find it a little hard to swallow that things happened the way that the OP stated that it happened.

 

BTW...I'm Glad Nothing Happened to US when we went to Jamaica.

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Mo Bay is not my favorite stop off in the Western Carribean routes......we took a Carnival sponsored tour of the local area and didn't feel too darned safe stopping off to tour an old church. The beautiful old church was very impressive; but there were shady looking characters on the benches in the surrounding park.....and they seemed to get their eyes full of us for sure. If they had just stayed asleep on the benches or just talking with each other and not looked like they were going to pounce on us, things wouldn't have felt so scary. I realize that this is an area that is cursed with it's share of poverty and I definitely sympathize with that; but along with the poverty usually comes the crime they sometimes use to survive. I don't want any part of that and plan to stay on the ship the next time it is on our cruise itinerary. I must say that the tour was a very interesting quick glimpse of life and culture in Jamaica; but that's as close as I want to get.

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I actually ready about this on another board. First this is not a problem with the ship itself. I am sure I would have just as a delightful time on Carnival as any other line I have cruised.

I am going to state a caveat that I think applies to this situation, when you book a ships tour besides assuming you will get back to the ship on time, you also will be safe.

This does make the line responsible since it is ship sponsored. To correct this problem if ships have to pull out of Jamaica for the safety of the passengers then yes the lines need to do that. It is not forever, just to make a point. In an ideal world violence should never happen.

If it is true that women were roughed up what cowardly thugs. If you can not think your are safe getting off the ship in a port why stop there.

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I actually ready about this on another board. First this is not a problem with the ship itself. I am sure I would have just as a delightful time on Carnival as any other line I have cruised.

I am going to state a caveat that I think applies to this situation, when you book a ships tour besides assuming you will get back to the ship on time, you also will be safe.

This does make the line responsible since it is ship sponsored. To correct this problem if ships have to pull out of Jamaica for the safety of the passengers then yes the lines need to do that. It is not forever, just to make a point. In an ideal world violence should never happen.

If it is true that women were roughed up what cowardly thugs. If you can not think your are safe getting off the ship in a port why stop there.

 

 

 

Your post is right on the money. Ditto! :)

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Was the tour Guide EMPLOYED by Carnival or was it just the EXCURSION that was BOOKED by Carnival?

 

I Fail to see How/Why you THINK Carnival could/should be blamed for the criminal acts that was bestowed upon several passengers.

First all the tours are contracted by Carnival and not owned by them.

 

But, I disagree with you on responsibility. Carnival, in the shore talk pushes that the only "safe" way to tour Jamacia is with them. If they use safety as the main issue in pushing their tours at this stop as, they have been doing since at least 1994, than they should accept responsibility for that safty.

 

Well said Ula!!!

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Just of the Conquest today Sunday June 17th and we had Seventeen people robbed on a Jamaica excursion booked thru the Conquest! I have pesonally talked to four of the people who was robbed at GUNPOINT and MACHETTES in Jamaica on Wednesday 6-13-07!!!! Some women were roughed up and one had a camera cut off her neck with a machette when she did not hand it over to the two robbers! Four children under the age of 12 were hysterical beyond expantion. Neil our super shopper stands up on Tuesday and tells everyone how safe Jamaica is when you book thru Carnival and how great and safe the shopping is in the main plaza to shop. THANKS to you great folks here a CC I knew better and refused to take my family to the central market to shop and more horrot stories with the ULTRA aggressive and just mean people to deal with. No one on our cruise would EVER go back to Jamaica and all have promised to write Carnival and every cruise line to get rid of this port of call. If you are going to Jamaica soon, remember NO ONE can or will help you once you pass thru the Terminal Gates and if you do not want to expose your children and family to this type of trauma I would suggest that you do not leave the ship. Future cruisers should call their PVP/Carnival ASAP and ask if they will pass this port of call. If they say no ask them if they will be 100% responsible for your safety and 100% liable as well. These are FACTS, I was there and talked to the victims and how traumatized they were days later. DO NOT subject you family/kids to this type of environment. I will be posting a complete review at a later time, we had a GREAT cruise other than Jamaica!!!!
Can happen anywhere, anytime.

Maybe I shouldn't be a tourest near where you live. Heavens, there was a shooting there last week and the victim is critical.

http://www.herald-coaster.com/articles/2007/06/12/news/news03.txt

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Okay, now that I know that the incident DID happen....I still stand by my original statement that I personally do not feel that Carnival should be held liable.

Although, it would not surprise me if Carnival, compensated these passengers somehow.(I'm sure that whatever Carnival do, it would not be enough for SOME of the people.)

Unless I missed it somewhere....the article didn't say if there were any injuries to the passengers or not.

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I have refused to go on a ship that went to Jamaica for years. It is a beautiful country but the aggressiveness of the people there should have been stopped years ago. The only way to stop it, is to never patronize them until this behaviourstops. Te only way I know to stop this is to refuse to go. I would like to see Roatan or some other port added years ago in place of jamica.

 

Sure, it could happen here and it does, but we do attempt to prosecute criminals here. that's not happening in Jamaica..at least not as far as I have been able to tell. The situation there has gotten worse, instead of better.

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Since this was a Carnival sponsored excursion, then they need to know what happened. You still take an excursion at your own risk, but Carnival can also not do business with the tour guide. Carnival wants everyone to be safe, but on land they cannot guarantee that this will be. Everyone involved needs to write Carnival so they can investigate this to try and make sure it does not happen again.

 

I am glad no one from the cruise suffered major injuries. I have a cruise on the Conquest in September and do not plan on getting off the ship in MoBay. have been there 2 times already and do not feel safe even in the terminal.

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Iv hired someone to take me personally shopping, just me and a driver for safety and leaving my family behind, I am only going to the store to buy Blue Mountain coffee and back to the ship.

 

Iv already taken as many precautions as possible to be safe. sorry, but I still want to stop at this port to shop.

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This does make the line responsible since it is ship sponsored. To correct this problem if ships have to pull out of Jamaica for the safety of the passengers then yes the lines need to do that. It is not forever, just to make a point. In an ideal world violence should never happen.

Back in February, Carnival announced they were suspending stops in Limon, Costa Rica after a group of passengers on our 2/17 Liberty sailing were held up and one of the passengers killed one of the robbers. (It wasn't a ship-sponsored excursion.) They changed their minds less than a week later - I think one cruise skipped Limon in the end. The CC news report quoted Carnival as stating that Costa Rican officials had been in contact and had offered assurances they were taking protective measures for passenger safety. And Costa Rica didn't even have Jamaica's reputation as a potentially dangerous stop!

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