Cruise liner fends off pirate attack (Spirit)

[blackbird71]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa...tes/index.html

Cruise liner fends off pirate attack

By CNNRadio's Matt Cherry and Amanda Moyer

(CNN) -- A luxury cruise line will re-evaluate whether to offer future cruises off the coast of Somalia after pirates attempted to attack one of its ships early Saturday.
The modern-day pirates were in two small boats and carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio.
The ship was carrying 150 passengers and a crew of about 160.
The ship, she said, immediately instituted its emergency response system. "The occupants of those boats did not succeed in boarding the ship and eventually turned away ... our captain and crew did a terrific job taking responsive action."
Passenger Mike Rogers of Vancouver, Canada, said the pirates were shooting and sending rockets at the boat.
"The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 25 feet long," he told CNNRadio affiliate CKNW in Vancouver.
"Each one had four or five people on it, and (the captain) said he was going to do anything to keep them from getting on board."
The captain, however, did not hit the alarm button to alert passengers of the emergency, Rogers said.
"He announced it over the speakers, because he was scared people would run up on deck, and he didn't want people on deck because they would have been shot."
The cruise ship eventually outran the pirates' boats, Natansohn said. One person suffered minor injuries, she said, but did not elaborate.
"There's some minor damage done to the ship," Rogers said. "There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."
The boat is now en route to the Seychelles Islands, Natansohn said.
On Thursday, the United Nations' World Food Programme warned that hijackings off the coast of Somalia were restricting the delivery of needed food assistance to the country.
"The southern Somali coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world," the WFP said on its Web site.
"In recent months, WFP's operations in Somalia have been sabotaged by the hijackings of two vessels carrying relief food. Ship owners are now demanding armed escorts to travel in these waters."
Natansohn said efforts were underway Saturday to locate the pirates. "We have notified U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities, because most of our passengers come from those three countries, as well as local authorities in Africa."
"Seabourn 'Spirit' has offered itineraries in that part of the world before, but we'll obviously be looking at the incident to determine what to do in the future," she said.
Rogers said, "we're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for."

[Martita B.]

Thanks for the report.......how scarey!!!
I believe Norman is still on board.......hope the Spirit didn't receive too much damage. I can not imagine such a thing........

Martita

[blackbird71]

Longer and more info http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4409662.stm

"
One crew member was lightly injured in the early-morning incident in waters notorious for pirate attacks.
The ship was hit by bullets but not, apparently, by the rocket-propelled grenade.
It used an on-board loud acoustic bang to deter the gunmen."



"

"The passengers were mustered in a public room, told what was going on and reassured that we were fighting off the attack," he said.
"They were shocked but no passengers were injured whatsoever.
"We are extremely pleased that all the measures worked."

[CruisinMatt]

I'm shocked - It sounds like things could have been far worse, I hope all the passengers are ok.

[Host Dan]

Wow,
I'm so glad no one was hurt! Very scary stuff...

Host Dan

[blackbird71]

Sounds like the Captain and crew were on their toes. A couple boats coming by a ship in the early morning hours, could have been overlooked.

Three cheers for the Captain and crew.

[Martita B.]

I just e-mailed Norman......I'm sure the Radio/Comm. Officer however, has much more important business than to deliver my message......
If I do receive a reply I will post Norman's reply.
This is VERY scarey......I am very thankful that no Guests nor Staff were seriously injured.

MB

[blackbird71]

Does anybody know what Seabourn uses for security. I know Radisson is proud of their Gurkhas. But I found them lacking on my Mariner cruise. ie Never checked returning crew members, only light checking of pax and then only in some ports not all.

[greatam]

Don't know the exact circumstances why the ship was where it was, but from this article, it appears that the dangers were known.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4283396.stm

[LovesCruisin]

I have been reading Norms postings from the Spirit and looking at his gorgeous photos. Oddly enough his last thread was the "Last Post". Thankfully that really isnt true but it could have been if those pirates were successful.

I am so glad the Captain took whatever action he was able to in order to keep the passengers and crew safe. That must have been quite a scary experience.

[Prunella]

I know that the Security Officer on board is ex Royal Navy, because my husband knows him from a "previous life".

How frightening this must have been for everyone on board, thank goodness they are all OK, it could have been so much worse and doesn't bear thinking about.

[Martita B.]

I am wondering now Norman's plans as the Spirit has cancelled the Port of Mombasa and will go directly to the Seycheles. He was so looking to his safari. But, under the circumstances, I know he will simply be happy for "plan B."
I e-mailed him directly......I will post his reply.
MB

[canadagal]

I was thinking the same thing when reading Norm's "Last Post" thankfully the Pirates did not succeed and all the passengers are fine. Bravo to the crew!!!
More adventure then I'm sure any of them would want and kudos to the Captain for trying to run over one of the boats....... that's the kind of moxy I like to see.
Pat

[blackbird71]

Does anybody know the real top end of these ships. I was on the small Cunard Countess in the early 80s and she was like 17,000 tons. But I was talking to a ship's officer (British ) and he said it could do 30 knots and had done it a couple times when they had medical emergencies onboard.

[Bruther]

when cruising through the Straits of Malacca, on the Spirit earlier this year, we decided to go on-deck late one evening, to our surprise we encountered a couple of Gurkhas. They were very friendly but also very professional, and responded that there were a number of them on-board while in this area of the world. Captain Pederson was also in charge, he is very professional and an extremely nice person.

[SuziClue]

Just checking the boards because I'd heard the news. Did want to let you know that Norman is quoted in Cruise Critic's own news report....

Really curious to see what affect this will have on cruises to places like Mombasa....

Suzi

[Martita B.]

I just received a reply from Norman. He is fine.......but was very scared.
And yes, the pirates were shooting at the Spirit. He said, "even had a rocket launcher!"
He was talking on the phone (probably with news reporters) and he said he would e-mail me the details later.
MB

[venicecruiser]

My friend Marla Sanders, who many of you know, was scheduled to fly to Mombasa tomorrow to board Spirit for her next contract. She was already a bit nervous about flying to this part of the world. She just emailed me and she has emailed the Entertainment Director to find out what she is supposed to do as the Spirit will apparently be bypassing Mombasa.

So glad to hear that Norm is ok.........

Claudia

[Prunella]

I just turned on Sky News to hear Norman giving a very descriptive account of the incident with a still photo that he took, it appeared to have a rocket launcher pointing right at him!!

I only tuned in half way through so did not hear it all, but from what he was saying I think everybody was more scared after when they realised what could have happened.

Well done Norm, keep the pictures coming.

[Martita B.]

In the e-mail that Norman sent a while ago he said, "I was on my computer at 5:30 this morning and I heard a LOUD CRACK......I went and looked out my window and there was a boat firing at the ship. I started taking pictures.......they even had a rocket launcher."........
How scarey is this?
MB