Usually, warnings about cruise ports come from the US State Department.
The actual country involved does not say anything about its situation because it still wants the tourism dollars. That’s not the case in this situation where a top government official warned tourists away from visiting his nation.
That’s an unprecedented situation, but cruise lines still plan to visit the troubled nation.
Currently, the US State Department does have the country under a Level 3: Reconsider Travel advisory.
“Reconsider travel to Trinidad and Tobago due to crime. Exercise increased caution in Trinidad and Tobago due to terrorism and kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk…Violent crime, such as murder, robbery, assault, sexual assault, home invasion, and kidnapping is common. Gang activity, such as narcotics trafficking, is common. A significant portion of violent crime is gang-related,” the State Dept. shared.
Nine cruise lines, however, still have stops planned for the nation’s three cruise ports. Jason from Travel Scouts has the full story as well as more cruise news.
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9 cruise lines headed for troubled cruise port
Transcript:
Cruise News, a state of emergency, has been declared in one Caribbean nation.
They have made it very clear that public safety will be endangered.
“The TTPS intelligence that was provided to the Minister of National Security are likely to immediately increase their brazen acts of violence in reprisal shootings on a scale so extensive that it threatens persons and will endanger public safety.”
It is also important to know that there are currently nine different cruise lines scheduled to visit this nation in the coming days. I’m going to get you the details.
Plus, I have some exciting news on cruise deals and opportunities that will be available in this coming year.
I’ve got the top cruise news updates from across the cruise industry and I’m going to get you the information fast coming up. Welcome to the Travel Scouts. My name is Jason.
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Carnival says goodbye, Royal Caribbean shares European sailings
Let’s go ahead and kick things off with number one. Carnival Cruise Line has embarked from Charleston, South Carolina for the final time. The Carnival Sunshine cruise ship departed Charleston for the final time yesterday.
The cruise line has operated from Charleston for the past 14 years. However, the port authorities now have new plans for the pier. Cruise ships will be able to make visits to Charleston.
They just will not be able to homeport there. After its current voyage, the Carnival Sunshine will go to dry dock, and it will then begin offering cruises from Norfolk, Virginia. Then, number two, Royal Caribbean revealed when they will open bookings for more of their 2026 and 2027 sailings.
They will open up more European sailings the week of January 27. More short Caribbean cruises and West Coast U.S. cruises will be available the week of February 17th and their Australia cruises will open up the week of March 31.
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Cruise passenger dies tragically, MSC plans special voyage
Next sad news, number three, an 82-year-old cruise passenger tragically died last Thursday in St. Martin is located in the Northeastern Caribbean.
The woman’s cruise ship was docked in Phillipsburg at the time. She was riding an electric wheelchair and reports are that it may have malfunctioned in some way, she ran off the pier into the water. Personnel responded quickly, however, she was unable to be revived.
It is unclear if she owned the wheelchair she was using or whether it was rented. Let’s pray for the lady’s family.
Then, number four, another cheap cruise, has been spotted.
I like to share these with you from time to time. My personal travel agent, Kelly, cued me into this one. The cruise is on the MSC Virtuosa cruise ship.
It is a 23-night voyage that departs on March 29th of 2025 from Martinique. Along the way, the ship will stop at 12 ports of call and I like these because a lot of these are not the typical ones that you get the opportunity to stop at. The stops include places such as Guadalupe, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Barbados, St. Vincent, Portugal, Spain, and France.
The sailing concludes in Southampton, England on April 21st. The cost for the 23-day cruise is $1,209 per person, which comes out to $52.56 per person per day. Okay, I have more cruise news pieces remaining, including the top headlines of the day, but now it is time for our fast mid-show check-in.
In the last video, I asked how you would prefer for gratuities to be handled. I received input from more than 6,000 of you, and here are the results. 9% of you wanted to continue the way most cruise lines do now, that is for them to be automatically charged but not included in the advertised price.
The majority of you, 66%, wanted to include them in the price and a good portion of you, 25%, preferred for them not to be charged and instead allow cruisers to give as they choose. Thanks for your input on that, and there were lots of great comments as well. Here is today’s question.
It is just one that I have never asked before and that is approximately how old were you when you went on your first cruise?
For me, I was 23 years old and it was when Kelly and I went on our honeymoon. What about you? Let me know down in the comments. I will enjoy reading that, but now on with the cruise news.
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Celebrity captain shares sad news, MSC adds world cruise
Number five. Popular cruise ship captain Kate McCue has shared the sad news that her famous cat has passed away. Captain Kate is the captain of the Celebrity Beyond Cruise Ship and she is always accompanied by her cat, Bug Naked.
The cat itself was a star on social media. Captain Kate said Bug passed away from complications following a routine dental cleaning and tooth extraction. Bug will be missed.
Sympathies for Captain Kate at this time.
Next, number six. MSC Cruises has opened bookings for their 2027 world cruise.
It will be aboard their MSC Musica cruise ship. And one thing about MSC’s world cruises is that they are typically among the cheapest of the world cruises. The price tag for this one starts at $19,999 per person.
And that is still a lot of money, but for world cruises, that is pretty good. That price includes all fees and taxes. It includes the dine and drink package and 15 excursions are included as well.
So getting some of those extras is good. And as far as the sailing itself goes, it is 121 nights long. During those four months, you will visit five continents, 25 countries, and 45 ports of call.
And you could knock out quite a few bucket list items. What I’m going to do now is I’m going to put up a map of the journey. I’m going to point out a few things that some of you have pointed out as bucket list items.
First, you can check that Mediterranean cruise off your list. Then you visit Africa. Do the first of two transatlantic crossings.
You could spend a lot of time exploring South America. You cross the Drake Passage. Complete a trans-Pacific crossing.
Visit French Polynesia. Then there is Australia and New Zealand. Next, check off that Hawaiian cruise and do a Panama Canal crossing.
So $20,000, it is definitely a lot of money. But if you divided all of those experiences into separate cruises and then paid your airfare and everything for each of those, it would likely be a lot more money.
Related: Get the best cruise tips, deals, and news on the ships from our expert cruiser
Trinidad and Tobago declares state of emergency
And then, for our top story, a state of emergency has been declared in Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago is located in the Southeastern Caribbean, and gang violence has erupted in the nation. In a moment, I’m going to share with you information on the cruise lines that have stops scheduled there in the next several weeks.
But first, I want you to hear the report directly from Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security.
“So in a nutshell, what we were faced with is a decision being provided with the information by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service that there was going to be heightened criminal activity with the expected use of high-powered caliber, high-velocity assault weapons in reprisal attacks between gangs. As we now all know, in these types of incidents, very often, too often for us as a government, innocent people would be affected. As a result of that, and after very careful consideration, the decision was taken calling for the declaration and the proclamation of a state of emergency.”
The TTPS intelligence that was provided to the Minister of National Security throughout Trinidad and possibly Tobago are likely to immediately increase their brazen acts of violence in reprisal shootings on a scale so extensive that it threatens persons and will endanger public safety. So it does seem to be a serious situation and one that cruise passengers need to be aware of. Trinidad and Tobago has three primary cruise ports.
One is the Port of Spain. It is the capital of the nation, and it is located on the island of Trinidad. The other two are Scarborough and Charlottesville.
Both of those are located on the island of Tobago. Now just in the month of January, nine different cruise lines have planned stops at one of these three ports. If you will be on one of those voyages, you need to take note.
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On the screen right now is the list of the cruise ships along with the port and the date the vessel is planned to be there. You can, of course, pause the video if you want to take a closer look at those. As of the current time, there has been no word from these cruise lines regarding the situation.
I’m sure they are taking a closer look into it, and we hope to hear from them soon. If you are on one of these cruises and the cruise line does not cancel, please be aware of the issues that are going on in Trinidad and Tobago, which seem to be worse on the island of Trinidad. If you go to either island, I would encourage you to remain in the secure port area, and any excursion would be best if it is with the cruise line or a reputable excursion company.
And finally, as we are all getting started in 2025, I want to quickly say that we are thankful for you and the opportunity to share a portion of our life with you by video. So we want to wish each and every one of you a great new year.
Take care, and we’ll catch you in the next video.
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