Mississippi River Making Gains with New Line, New Ships

New Article on Cruise Critic:

Mississippi River Making Gains with New Line, New Ships

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7058

New Article on Cruise Critic:

Mississippi River Making Gains with New Line, New Ships

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7058

Quoting a paragraph from the article:

"There are a lot of people who have found out they can have the same quality here without having to get on a 24-hour flight or deal with currency issues," said Ted Sykes, president of American Queen Steamboat Company. "People are preferring to stay closer to home with the safety and security of traveling in America."

 

The homicide rate in Germany is less than 1 per 100,000 population. In the US it is about 4.5 per 100,000. In St. Louis it is about 9 per 100,000. I might take a Mississippi River cruise, but I will not be making that choice based on safety and security.

 

Mr. Sykes is using scare tactics to sell his product.

 

Thom

Mr. Sykes is probably quoting what they hear from their guests, since that is the general perception in the US. And I won't say that it is wrong: the general homicide rate is a meaningless statistic, because most of the homicides are clustered in certain neighborhoods and involve people who either knew one another or lived close to each other. The relevant statistics would be the tourist homicide rate, but I don't believe I have seen that published.

The perception is the only part that counts in the individual decision making.

 

For those that want to actually discuss it, I would agree with an earlier poster that murder numbers are very skewed. Study after study show a very high number of murders are among people that know each other. And not tourists.

 

Still, decisions are based on perceptions, not reality.

 

And, the health safety is a real issue, especially for older folks.

to Cruise Critic Chris,

 

I enjoyed reading your review of the new Mississippi cruise lines. My DH and I have traveled around the world many times in the past 50 years and are now looking into "seeing America". I've checked out the cruises from Portland doing the "Lewis and Clark" cruise which were very interesting. My friends and I are really well traveled and most of my friends will NOT travel out of the country anymore because of the tiresome traveling and fear of terrorists. I think the people you interviewed were also afraid of leaving the USA for that fear and for getting good medical care. My DH and I carry medical evacuation coverage which is expensive and the average person doesn't want to buy. I just booked a cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back to Los Angeles because I can't stand the airports and the jet lag that follows a long flight. Keep writing these articles because I love to be informed.

 

Sheila

Actually due to the current attacks in Turkey and Europe the bookings for ocean cruises but also for river cruises (remember Brussels) have gone down (regarding the bookings from the US). So a US river cruise might be an option for those not feeling comfortable to book a cruise in Europe.

 

I do feel save but what´s my choice... I do live here. But I won´t hesitate a minute to fly to the US and visit my friends along the US rivers (mainly Ohio and Upper Miss rivers) including St. Louis!

 

steamboats

Mr. Sykes is probably quoting what they hear from their guests, since that is the general perception in the US. And I won't say that it is wrong: the general homicide rate is a meaningless statistic, because most of the homicides are clustered in certain neighborhoods and involve people who either knew one another or lived close to each other. The relevant statistics would be the tourist homicide rate, but I don't believe I have seen that published.

Hi, I wrote the article. I'm just getting off the Mississippi and met several passengers who told me they chose a domestic cruise because they didn't feel comfortable going to Europe. I don't agree with them, but the sentiment is out there.

Chris: I have NO doubt that passengers are saying that, having been IMO brainwashed into thinking that the US is a zone of safety in this cruel world. I readily agree that my comment (just like that from the president of American Queen) represented far less than than the entire story. But those who think that the good ole USA is the land of safety amid a world of terrorism and general crime are deluding themselves. I have traveled to 130 countries and only a few of those countries (and only in limited places) are as dangerous as many significant areas of large cities in the US.

 

I too would be interested in not only tourist homicide (and other violent crime) rates, but also in crime rates against people who are cognizant of their surroundings and neighborhoods versus clueless tourists; I have seen far to many clueless people who think nothing of wandering down dark streets in the middle of the night (whether in the US or elsewhere) and then are surprised by what I pretty much could have told them would happen. No one has the right to steal my Rolex (fortunately I do not own one), but if I wander down a dark street in DC at 3am I should not be surprised if someone relieves me of it.

 

I don't disagree that the drudgery of intercontinental flying is off putting, but I have $100,000 of medical evacuation insurance (which can also be used for medical coverage) at ~$150 per year, which I for one do NOT consider expensive relative to the amount I spend on travel per year.

 

Thom

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2186821

Considering current level of service IMO the time hasn't come yet for Mississippi river cruises.

Edited June 7, 2016 by id est