Every week, someone asks me some version of the same question: is cruising actually safe? Sometimes it comes from a first-time cruiser who saw a headline. Sometimes it comes from a parent planning a family sailing. As a cruise safety expert and retired NYPD officer, I have learned that the honest answer is not a…
When people worry about cruise safety, this is usually the part they mean. Not norovirus — crime. Falls. The stories that make the news. This article does for cruise ship security what the companion guide did for health: it lays out what the official data says, explains the systems working behind the scenes, and gives…
A cruise ship is a small city that happens to float. Several thousand people from dozens of countries eat, swim, and share elevator buttons in the same space for a week, and staying healthy on a cruise comes down to understanding that environment — manageable from a public health standpoint, but only because a great…
If you’ve spent any time researching your next sailing, you’ve probably seen a headline about a “cruise ship outbreak” and wondered how worried you should actually be. The honest answer is: not very, if you understand what’s actually happening — and a little more informed than you were five minutes ago is exactly where I…
Introduction Most cruise passengers treat cruise ship emergency procedures — starting with the muster drill — as an inconvenience. They show up because they have to, half-listen to the safety briefing, locate their muster station, and head straight to the pool bar the moment it’s over. I understand why. You’re on vacation. The ship is…