While pirates might live in our collective imagination as relics of the 18th century, they still roam certain hotspots and attack massive ships with small dinghies and skiffs. To deter pirate attacks on Queen Anne’s maiden around-the-world voyage, Cunard Line advised passengers last week to turn off their room’s lights and shut the curtains at night as the vessel steamed through Southeast Asia. With the modern Cunard Line being a successor to the White Star Line, Titanic’s operator, I wouldn’t take any chances on a maiden voyage either.
Passengers onboard the 111-day cruise shared an address from Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge on social media, Business Insider reports. She stated, “This area is known for piracy threats… Therefore, we will be operating at a heightened level of security alertness during this period.” The nearly 3,000 people on Queen Anne were then told to take several precautions to limit the ship’s visibility. Queen Anne was traveling through the Celebes Sea between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Pirates aren’t a significant threat for most cruises
Thorhauge, the first female captain in Cunard’s 185-year history, reassured passengers that the likelihood of a pirate on a ship of Queen Anne’s size was extremely low. The Cunard vessel, launched in 2013, is a 13-deck behemoth. The idea of brazen armed pirates seizing Queen Anne and somehow wrangling thousands of passengers seems more like the premise of an action movie, not a serious attempt at piracy. Large ships easily overwhelm tiny pirate skiffs with their wake and water cannons. Typically, modern-day pirates plan ransom schemes against container ships and oil vessels.
Queen Anne’s voyage started in January as the ship departed Hamburg, Germany. The ship then embarked on Cunard’s traditional transatlantic route from Southampton, England to New York. No icebergs involved. Queen Anne is currently heading to Singapore after transiting the Pacific via Hawaii and Australia. The cruise ship will return to Southampton in late April after visiting Dubai and traversing the Suez Canal.
While most passengers only bought tickets from a portion of the itinerary, at least 1,000 passengers booked a room for the entire cruise. A four-month cruise is child’s play for some cruise lovers. There’s a demand for a perpetual cruise where passengers live onboard. The Villa Vie Odyssey is currently undertaking a three-year cruise. However, the voyage had a rocky start after departure was delayed by three months because of the ship’s lengthy refurbishment. Passengers were stuck living in a Belfast hotel. One woman was essentially voted off the cruise for complaining about the delays in a passengers-only group chat.
