NASSAU, Bahamas — A major cruise line has agreed to withdraw a crime warning that threatened to “unduly bring fear to passengers coming to Nassau”, a Cabinet minister has revealed, The Tribune reported December 31.
Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that “gentle nudging” by his ministry had prompted Royal Caribbean to drop the “unwarranted” passenger advisory that branded the Arawak Cay Fish Fry as a “particular area of concern” for crime.
The cruise line, in a message sent to the minister, said the advisory would be replaced “effective immediately” with a generalised warning to Royal Caribbean passengers that does not mention Nassau by name and could be taken as referring to any of its ports of call.
“Effective immediately, the travel advisory letter to all Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines guests will be replaced with the following text in the Cruise Compass newsletter,” the cruise line wrote, referring to language that encouraged passengers to “use the same common sense you would in any major city”.
Referring passengers to US and other government websites if they needed more information, Royal Caribbean added: “We will begin with replacing the letters in all Royal Caribbean International ships calling on The Bahamas, and review for the remainder of the global fleet beginning early 2019.”
Mr D’Aguilar said it was unclear how long Royal Caribbean had been issuing warnings similar to the one provided by its Anthem of the Seas vessel on December 26, which sparked the controversy when it was published on a well-known cruise industry website. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/dec/31/royal-backdown-over-crime-alert/
