Tom Stieghorst
In 2015, much of the cruise industry was gathered in Miami Beach for the annual Seatrade convention when there was a terrorist attack on a museum in Tunisia.
Twenty tourists were killed, and before long word was spreading that some of them were there on excursion from Costa and MSC Cruises ships docked in Tunis.
While I wasn't shocked, it wasn't the first thing that occurred to me, that cruise passengers would be part of the story. But since then, I've grown more accustomed to thinking that whenever something bad happens in a location that is near the water, there might be unlucky cruisers involved.
So it was with the tragedy last week in New Zealand, a popular spot to visit by ship. I had never heard of White Island, the volcanic cone that turned from peaceful to deadly so quickly that tourists were exploring the island when it erupted.
My first thoughts were more like feelings: pity and sorrow for the victims, and the sober recognition that fate chooses capriciously who will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The question, 'Who's to blame?' also flitted in and out of consciousness.
And then I thought: Were they on an excursion? Is there a cruise ship involved? And the answer was yes. Royal Caribbean International's Ovation of the Seas was docked at a nearby port, and some of the victims were likely from the ship.
It has become a numbers game. There are so many ships in so many places around the world on any given day. In earlier times, when the industry was relatively small, the odds that a cruise was involved in a tragedy were smaller.
Now there's in the neighborhood of 350 cruise ships worldwide, more if the older tonnage belonging to non-CLIA member cruise lines is included. So the chances are much greater that in the future the public will hear of incidents and come to associate cruising with disaster.
This is going to be a growing challenge for cruise suppliers and their agents. The growth in expedition cruising, in particular, means there are going to be more ships in more obscure and potentially dangerous areas of the world going forward.
The established expedition players have a long history of successful safe operations, of taking precautions, of being prepared and erring on the side of safety. But accidents happen, mistakes are made, and there are just more opportunities than ever before.
And the very fact that cruise passengers are involved makes an incident more newsworthy than it might otherwise be. There's more irony in a story of misfortune if it occurs to someone who has every expectation of relaxation and enjoyment on vacation.
I've heard it said that the public is getting better at taking tourism mishaps in stride, not withdrawing into safe mode until they feel the all-clear has been sounded. It may be true. One thing is for sure. There are going to be more and more chances to test this thesis as the global fleet continues to expand.