# Cruises along the African coast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292 "2005-11-09T22:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/1 "2005-11-09T22:11:17Z")
Recently there were a bunch of news stories about pirates attacking a cruise ship off the Somali coast. My reaction: “They have cruises off the Somali coast??” Anyone know anything about this? What you see, where you sail from – that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/2 "2005-11-09T22:17:47Z")
I don’t think they are necessarily cruises along the African coast. Instead, they are re-positioning cruises to get vessels from the Mediterranean to south or southeast Asia. In order to move the ship between these areas, they need to traverse the Red Sea and hence pass by the coast of Somali. That cruise ship that recently got attacked off Somali was en route to Mombasa, Kenya. I imagine a few cruise ships call in there as well as Zanzibar. After the attack, the ship re-routed to the Seychelles. ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/3 "2005-11-10T01:17:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I don’t think they are necessarily cruises along the African coast. Instead, they are re-positioning cruises to get vessels from the Mediterranean to south or southeast Asia. In order to move the ship between these areas, they need to traverse the Red Sea and hence pass by the coast of Somali. > > That cruise ship that recently got attacked off Somali was en route to Mombasa, Kenya. I imagine a few cruise ships call in there as well as Zanzibar. After the attack, the ship re-routed to the Seychelles. Actually, it had passengers and it was a paid cruise. \*Natansohn said efforts were under way Saturday to locate the pirates. “We have notified U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities because most of our passengers come from those three countries, as well as local authorities in Africa.” “Seabourn ‘Spirit’ has offered itineraries in that part of the world before, but we’ll obviously be looking at the incident to determine what to do in the future,” she said.\* - [CNN link](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/05/somalia.pirates/) \*A pirate attack on a ship full of Western holidaymakers has jolted East Africa’s bomb-scarred tourist industry and reminded the world of the threat posed by Somalia, an anarchic state awash with weapons. Woken by machinegun fire and a rocket-propelled grenade crashing into their cruise ship at dawn on Saturday, the tourists gazed in disbelief as attackers in two small boats tried, but eventually failed, to seize their vessel.\* - [Reuters Link](http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L06458352) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/4 "2005-11-10T01:47:27Z")
They still take passengers for repositioning cruises. Sometimes you can catch a deal on a one-day cruise from San Francisco to Los Angeles when they have to move boats around. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/5 "2005-11-10T03:15:14Z")
> [@Blueapple](#): > > Actually, it had passengers and it was a paid cruise. Yes, I know that. I didn’t say they were just moving the ship, but that it was a repositioning _cruise_. This is a cruise, with paying passengers, that the company runs between two regular cruising areas that may be used in different seasons. Some companies, for example, do trans-Atlantic cruises when they are moving ships between the Caribbean and Europe seasonally. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/6 "2005-11-10T03:26:26Z")
Here’s a selection of [repositioning cruises](http://cruises.about.com/od/cruisedestinations/a/repositioning_2.htm) offered by various companies. ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/7 "2005-11-10T03:36:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, I know that. I didn’t say they were just moving the ship, but that it was a repositioning _cruise_. This is a cruise, with paying passengers, that the company runs between two regular cruising areas that may be used in different seasons. Some companies, for example, do trans-Atlantic cruises when they are moving ships between the Caribbean and Europe seasonally. Looks like they were repositing the ship from Kenya (neighbor to Somalia) for a couple of cruises out of Singapore. Here is a link of the itinerary: [http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31551](http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31551) ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/8 "2005-11-10T03:38:37Z")
I meant _repositioning_ the ship. Gee, wish I had edit capability. ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/9 "2005-11-10T03:49:37Z")
Here is a better itinerary: [http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31517](http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31517) ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/10 "2005-11-10T03:54:17Z")
Thanks all. It seems that the answer to “what do you see?” is “the boat”, for long periods of time. The only place on mainland Africa that they stop at, other than Egypt, is Kenya. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/11 "2005-11-10T03:58:46Z")
> [@jsmith](#): > > Here is a better itinerary: > > [http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31517](http://res.destinationoceans.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=31517) Thanks. As the itinerary shows, they were basically repositioning the ship from the eastern Mediterranean to Singapore, with a two-day stopover in Mombasa, Kenya. That route would have put them off the coast of Somalia for about 4 to 5 days. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruises-along-the-african-coast/330292/12 "2005-11-10T04:01:17Z")
Looks like the cruise ship was not entirely unprepared for pirates: [Cruise ship attacked by pirates used sonic weapon](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-11-07-cruise-blast_x.htm) > [@](#): > > The crew of a luxury cruise ship used a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam while being attacked by a gang of pirates off Africa this weekend, the cruise line said Monday. > The Seabourn Spirit had a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, installed as a part of its defense systems, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line. > > … > > Device maker American Technology Corp. said earsplitting “bangs” were directed by trained security personnel toward the pirates. That, combined with ship maneuvers, caused the attackers to leave the area, the company said. > > The LRAD is a so-called “non-lethal weapon” developed for the U.S. military after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships. > > The military version is a 45-pound, dish-shaped device that can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD’s operators or others in the immediate area are affected. > > American Technology, based in San Diego, compares its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels, while smoke alarms are about 80 to 90 decibels.