Is the cruise industry going to be able to continue to regard checked luggage differently than the TSA does carry on luggage on air-transports?

Not just the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea and North Africa being impacted either, Celebrity Solstice just canceled their stop in Bali. As noted in the article this really hurts some of the crew as it gives their families a chance to come on board and see them. In late 2007 we were on the Amsterdam for a two day stop there. It amazed me to see all the Indonesian families that had traveled far to meet with family who crewed on our vessel. Sad.

At the World Affairs Council luncheon two weeks ago an expert on Turkey, Isis, and mid-east unrest spoke to us. He didn't have a political agenda to press but really knew what was going on. In short--what a mess. Very complicated without clear solutions other than it is politically very dicey and doing the wrong thing can result in much more political destabilization world wide.

This is not a positive for world cruising, let me tell you.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/03/articles/terrorism-1/celebrity-solstice-cancels-stop-in-bali-due-to-concern-of-terrorism/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-15/blaxland-what-the-jakarta-attacks-tells-us-about-terrorism-today/7090290

https://smartraveller.gov.au/countries/indonesia

Remember this one in 1985?

"The Achille Lauro left Genoa, Italy, on October 3 for a 12-day cruise of the Mediterranean Sea. Aboard were 748 passengers and several hundred crew. On October 7 the ship docked at Alexandria, Egypt, and 651 passengers disembarked to tour the pyramids, intending to rendezvous with the ship at Port Said that night. After the sightseers had gone ashore, four men brandishing AK-47 machine guns corralled the crew and the remaining 97 passengers and forced the captain to leave port. They allowed crew members to continue with their duties."

The hijackers murdered Leon Klinghoffer, a retired, wheelchair-bound Jewish American businessman, shooting him in the forehead and chest. They then forced the ship's barber and a waiter to throw his body and wheelchair overboard. Klinghoffer's wife, Marilyn, who did not witness the shooting, was told by the hijackers that he had been moved to the infirmary. She only learned the truth after the hijackers left the ship at Port Said. PLO Foreign Secretary Faroug Qaddumi later denied that the hijackers were responsible for the murder, and suggested that Marilyn had killed her husband for insurance money. Over a decade later, in April 1996, PLF leader Muhammad Zaidan accepted responsibility, and in 1997, the PLO reached a financial settlement with the Klinghoffer family.

The men—who had been posing as passengers—were members of a PLF faction "

http://www.britannica.com/event/Achille-Lauro-hijacking

This might help, or lead to more confusion:

Here is an excerpt, read the entire article though:

"We reduce risk by deciding what we believe is necessary for a completed bomb -- the core of the 100ml (3.4 ounce) limit. Extensive testing began the morning of August 10, 2006 -- the day the liquids plot was made public -- to determine if there is a level at which any liquid brought onboard a plane represents little risk. These were tests by multiple government agencies, National Laboratories and other nations and they assisted in the 3-1-1 formulation. We announced 3-1-1 on September 26, 2006 and that allowed travelers to go on overnight trips without having to check a bag. That is the trade-off: if 3-1-1 is too complicated, you can always just check your bag." http://blog.tsa.gov/2008/02/more-on-liquid-rules-why-we-do-things.html

On the airlines one can exceed the 3.4 ounces if it is a prescription medication.

Interesting history behind the 3.4 ounce limitation, I'll try to find it and post it here. If I recall correctly it was a discovery in Britain originally by INTERPOL. A lot of logic behind it.

I would be very upset if I could not bring my own hair spray bottle, cough medicine and other over the counter health aids. Why would they be exempt? Passengers could pour something into them, too. I am taking longer cruises now, my next one is 115 days. I would be up a creek with any more stringent restrictions. Everything costs more on ships and stores really don't carry enough supplies if everyone had to purchase such Items on board. Last year the ship on my Grand Voyage ran out of essentials like cough medicine.

We just never got around to opening it. When we travelled in a large group, 12+, everyone brought a bottle of something. We would actually discuss this months in advance. Then the rules changed. I should say, they were now enforcing the rules. I just didn't know it. I found out in the room. When I went in, they just didn't ask me the right questions. And I wasn't going to volunteer any info. That's a NYC construction worker mindset . When I went up on deck, our friend looked at me and said, " lost your booze huh ?" I looked at him, and said no. I still have it. And then told everyone what had transpired. His girlfriend looked at him with disdain and just shook her head. My wife laughed.

Years ago we went to Antigua and my wife packed some ankle weights as she was doing some rehab. The lead bar type that go into slots. Well, I knew what they were going to look like on X Ray, so I put them right on top. That bag didn't get halfway through the scanner and I swear I could see the eyes of the security people fly out of their heads. I just laughed ( they didn't ) and I quickly opened up my bag and showed them the weights.

I got pulled aside one time and was asked to identify something they saw. I looked at it and I had no idea what it was. Note: don't ever say you have no idea what something in your bag is. Things deteriorate quickly. Anyway, we opened the bag, and it was the cord to a hair dryer that had tangled around a few things. My wife pipes in, oh I put that in last night.........the security guy and I just looked at each other and shook our heads.

In general I wonder about the security in areas of the globe that have been hit by terrorist acts. In Europe, the recent trouble will surely affect the River Cruise industry, as the trouble last year at the Turkish Museum where cruise ship guest were at the scene, affected a few cruise lines who cancelled stops there. I look to areas that are relatively safe to cruise compared to middle east areas. I am going to be a little too trusting when I assume that the cruise lines will not want to endanger their vessels or passengers for the sake of a wider profit margin.

Has this ever been a concern for other posters here?

Excellent observations and questions Cruising CM.

If when boarding the ship one is relegated to bringing on board (In both hand carry and checked luggage) only the equivalent of what is now allowed on the airlines in hand carry (Once again, disregard what the airlines allow in checked luggage as the passenger is not reunited with their checked luggage until outside of the secured areas of the terminals), in my opinion this is really going to impact the cruise experience.

The cruise lines won't have to worry about disembarkation though, as it will be legal to take as much off the ship in checked luggage as one desires, as it will be stuff purchased on the ship or brought on the ship legally. In other words, you can fill your suitcase with their expensive duty free booze as much as you want to.

The reason I bring this scenario up at all, is not to panic everybody but because there is rapidly increasing evidence that this is afoot. For instance:

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/03/articles/terrorism-1/how-the-next-jihadist-terror-attack-against-cruise-passengers-will-happen/

". . . This isn't about the ports and the safety of them. A terrorist could be among you at the buffet, laying by the pool, playing slots, drinking at the bar … they lay in wait. They're completely legitimate looking like one of us. 50 of them could board a ship as a passenger with a clean record. They've been trained in other countries. They've lived in the countries they're in for years and they lay in wait anticipating their marching orders. Then three days into the cruise, they take over the ship and start killing passengers . . . And that's how it'll go down."

"The cruise industry needs to wake up. Tunis was preventable. (Islamic terrorists killed 32 cruise passengers in Tunisia earlier this year when Costa and MSC cruised blindly into the Goulette port in Tunis.) Despite the foreseeable risk of danger presented by Islamic terrorists active in the country and in nearby Libya, the cruise lines provided absolutely no security or warnings to their guests. Greater attention to Al Qaeda and ISIS is necessary to avoid a similar if not worse attack on innocent passengers. Dangerous ports need to be avoided. In the past, Princess Cruises used security teams / police to accompany tour bus excursions in Egypt. Maritime security teams are also required in foreign ports of call to address the risk of waterborne attacks. Cruise lines are overflowing with cash. The cruise industry collects around $40 billion a year, pay their crew members peanuts and doesn't pay U.S. taxes. The industry needs to start investing some of those tens of millions of dollars into substantial security to keep their guests safe."

"Cruise ship security screening currently pales in comparison to that of air travel, but that gap in strictness could be shrinking soon, according to IHS market analyst Jared Bickenbach.

That's because the U.S. Coast Guard recently announced plans to create the Terminal Screening Program (TSP) in an effort to systematize security screening procedures at cruise ship terminals across the country.

The creation of the TSP is expected to bolster security at cruise ship terminals by... developing "a standardized list of prohibited items and training standards to consolidate requirements for screeners." The program is also expected to require the screening of all passenger, crew, and visitors' baggage and personal items in order to achieve the goal of improved security.

Currently, many cruise ship terminals rely on a combination of procedures, including X-ray, canine teams and manual inspections to screen for dangerous items like explosives, weapons and contraband.However, a recently published report by IHS on the explosives, weapons and contraband detection equipment market, the seaports market is forecast to experience a compound annual growth rate of "6.7 percent to $241.6 million in 2018."

While TSP requirements are certain to change the way future cruise ship passengers are screened by security personnel, the long-term outlook on the cruise market appears promising as it will ensure better safety for travelers.

Plus, added regulations in the U.S. are likely to lead to similar ones in other parts of the world."

Love that story BAK 1061. Made my day. The only part I can't understand is why you never opened the bourbon, seems like it would have tasted better yet with all that spirit of adventure added.

I had almost the same thing happen at the end of October, except it wasn't as exciting and they didn't call me to the "naughty" room. We were on one of these "Cruise Tours" with Princess where the first week was on a coach, staying at various hotels, ect. On the morning of our last coach day, when we left the hotel, I got confused and thought that before we boarded our ship in Quebec City we would see our checked luggage again.

We had 2.5 bags checked and in one I had half a bottle of Jack. In the others I had our legal allotment of wine plus a couple more bottles of Wayne Gretzky (You know,"The Great One") red wine from his vineyards, which I had purchased in Toronto to bring home to our hockey nut son. I had planned to give the Jack to our excellent guide who had been with us for about a week.

When our luggage arrived at our cabin, the Jack was gone from the one bag. In its place was a pre-printed Princess "naughty note". The other bags, with the wine, had been opened too and notes left in them as well, they had found the wine. But they just explained why they had opened the bags and that all was okay. They didn't even charge us for the extra Gretzky wines, which I had planned to pay them the $15.00 per bottle for.