Cruise lines reconsidering East Africa itineraries

The attack earlier this week on a cruise liner by Somali pirates is causing a number of companies to consider dropping East African routes.

Cruise lines are looking at re-routing their voyages that pass through the troubled waters in the Gulf of Aden off the Somalia coast, as incidents of pirate attacks on ships in the region increase.

The concerns follow the attempted attack on 30 November on Oceania Cruises’ Nautica, when pirates approached the ship in two small boats, chasing it and firing a total of eight shots from a distance of 300 yards. The ship was able to out-run the attackers and no damage to the ship or injuries to the passengers were reported.

Before this attack, however, cruise lines had already been considering the safety of sailing through the pirate-infested waters.

Hebridean International, an upscale cruise line is contemplating the cancellation of a sailing from Oman to Egypt in April, with a final decision anticipated by Christmas. This week, customers booked on the cruise are being consulted.

According to the managing director of the company, Mike Deegan, unless safety in the area improves significantly, it is not expected that the cruise will go ahead.

“The safety of our guests, crew and vessels is paramount and we would not take any guests into an area where there was the slightest chance that they might be in some danger or at some risk,” he said.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.oceaniacruises.com