Norwegian Cruise Line is resuming calls this week in Roatan, Honduras after canceling last week’s stops following the murder of one of its crew members in port earlier this month.
NCL noted on their facebook page last week that stops were canceled out of “an abundance of caution for our guests and crew, we have cancelled calls to Roatan this week for Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Jewel.”
The suggestion that Roatan is safer this week than it was last week when the cruises skipped the port, or the previous week when the crew member was murdered during a robbery, is foolish. When NCL pulled it’s ships it wasn’t out of an abundance of caution, it was to send Roatan a message. As an economy dependent on tourism, losing thousands of cruise passengers eager to spend money on excursions and souvenirs is a big blow to the small island of about 50,000 people.
While the tactic may be effective in eventually reducing crime-rates, nothing is fixed in a week’s time (though they have arrested a suspect), and we wish the cruise lines were more honest about their methods and educate guests on the potential dangers that still exist. Sure, murders happen in cities around the US, and one incident shouldn’t dissuade you from traveling the world. However, here are some of the homicide/murder rates of popular cruise destinations compared to home port countries and some ‘dangerous’ US cities:
Homicide Rates (per 100,000 people):
Honduras: 90.4
Detroit: 54.6
New Orleans: 53.2
Belize: 44.7
Jamaica: 39.3
St. Louis: 35.5
Mexico: 21.5
United States: 4.7
Canada: 1.6
United Kingdom: 1
Several other major cruise lines continue to sail to Roatan including Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Regent Seven Seas – despite travel warnings from the US State Department than warn of high levels of violent crime (murders, robberies, and kidnappings) and crooked authorities.