By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas has been named by a popular international travel website as one of the Caribbean’s most dangerous cruise stops with the winter tourist season approaching.
Yahoo Travel listed the Bahamas along with St Lucia, Antigua, St Kitts and Guatemala as “problematic”, citing the latest US State Department's crime warning to its citizens about escalating criminal activity in the capital.
The international travel website also alluded to an ongoing spat between Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe and Democratic National Alliance leader Branville McCartney, who alleged that the minister refused to discuss crime woes with the leading cruise lines. Mr McCartney said this would lead to another crime warning to cruise ship passengers.
This information was contained in a private email to Mr Wilchcombe. He later addressed the issue during a House of Assembly session, revealing that the matter was turned over to the police to determine the how the email was leaked.
Miami Attorney Jim Walker, who has represented a number of former passengers in lawsuits against the cruise ship industry, is quoted by Yahoo Travel as saying “Please don’t go to Nassau. I see it as a hotspot. It’s just a place that we hear about quite often.
“Every week we get a call of some sort from a Caribbean island,” Walker tells Yahoo Travel. “There’s been a sexual assault of a minor in a place that otherwise seemed safe. Or someone’s been robbed. Or someone’s been sexually assaulted.
“If someone came to me and said, ‘I’m going [on a cruise] from Spain to Italy, or a cruise from Seattle to Ketchikan [Alaska] or I’m going to go to Nassau,’ I’d say, 'Please, don’t go to Nassau.’” he says. “I see it as a hotspot. It’s just a place that we hear about quite often.”
Yahoo Travel notes that Nassau has a relatively high murder overall murder rate - 30 per 100,000 people, which is comparable to or better than a few US cities, including Miami and Baltimore.
Despite this, visits to the Caribbean and the Bahamas account for more than a third of the 22 million cruise passenger industry’s global deployment capacity. Most of those Caribbean cruise passengers have fun, incident-free vacations.
Mr Walker made several recommendation to visitors who may wish to visit the Bahamas saying cruisers should read up on crime reports for the destinations, either by searching advisories by the State Department or even reading their destinations’ local newspapers online.
He said once your cruise vacation begins, keep an eye on your children (especially young teenagers).
“Don’t leave the tourist areas. Don’t go sightseeing by yourself or anything like that. If it looks dangerous, it’s probably more dangerous than you think. You can always go back to the ship,” he said.
Comments
Cobalt 8 years, 6 months ago
There's nothing going on in the Bahamas that isnt going on in the United States.
The reason that our crime crisis seems so profound is because our populace is concentrated and confined to a 7 by 21 island. Plus unlike the U.S. tourism is our number one industry. However, this gives them no right to take shots at us especially when they're responsible for the consumption of over 80% of the global narcotics consumption!
They want to talk about dangerous????? What other country in the western hemesphere do you know of where your children, even toddlers, can be riddled to death with high caliber weapons while attending school (ie Sandy Hook Elementary, Colombine Colorado)???? The United States needs to address their own problems before they address ours. Because the last time I checked, the Bahamas doesn't make guns. Instead, they're made and smuggled out of the United States. So why doesn't yahoo print that.
asiseeit 8 years, 6 months ago
Blah, Blah, Blah, it boils down to the fact that The Bahamas depends on the U.S. for 80% of our tourist dollar while the U.S. depends on The Bahamas for NOTHING. See we need them, they do not need us, why do you think Cuba is opening up!
JohnBrown 8 years, 6 months ago
It is quite unfortunate that the politicians and silent, selfish, educated, blood-sucking Bahamian vultures within the right circle have brought us to this critical low in the tourist arena: through your folly the goose that was supposed to continuously lay the golden eggs has died. Cuba has made hay with the U:S while the sun shone brightly on them and are now light years ahead of us. The lies you short-sighted elitist salesmen used to impoverish the masses in this nation my nation and intentionally deceived those investors that sought a reasonable return on their investment in a peaceful climate, have collectively sparked Judgement Day! On a positive note, we are at a cross-road where every living Bahamian will continuously experience the wrath of nature activated in their daily life and will have to either sink or thoroughly change what is.
paul_vincent_zecchino 8 years, 6 months ago
As radio talk host Michael Savage stated, 'yahoo news is written for the psychopathic children of old hippies'.
Yahoo? Seriously? You're taking Yahoo's clearly skewed opinion at face value?
Ask yourself, 'cui bono' - who benefits by condemning the Bahamas and other long popular destinations in the Caribbean and Atlantic?
The Castro crime syndicate, that's who. Look, once you understand that the big tech companies are 'all in' with the present administration's putsch to promote all things castro and Cuba, you can see this clearly.
They drive is on to promote American tourism and business ventures in Cuba. It's a tough sell, as the castro's criminal regime has a long history which speaks for itself.
So, using the tactics of their idol, saul alinsky, those who are 'on the team' promote Cuba by insulting all the other islands.
Does Nassau in particular have a crime problem? Yeah, sure, but it seems confined to young males in the drug trade who are settling business and personal differences among themselves in their traditional manner - by plugging one another.
Your article said it, there are millions of tourists who visit the Bahamas every year, and one was killed when he intervened in a fight? One out of millions?
Bahamas, you're being played by Yahoo and the techie cronies who support our present regime's efforts to prop up the castro regime at all costs, including that of knocking our friends in the Bahamas.
Don't fall for this.
As for crime and 'mass shootings' in America, this again is another political gag being pulled by leftist politicians and their rotten, lickspittle, marxstream media.
America has a very low homicide rate and mass shootings have occurred exclusively in 'gun free zones' in which citizens who can otherwise lawfully carry firearms are prohibited from so doing.
Criminals have stated over and over, they prefer disarmed, defenseless targets rather than citizens who can defend themselves.
Anders Brevik killed far more people in one session on an island off Norway, where even the cops were disarmed, than any ten American mass shooters.
When you study the issue rather than parrot emotional slogans and lies gassed off by our communist media, you quickly realize that America is a very safe nation and the safest states are those which recognize citizens' right to keep and bear arms.
You want less crime? Arm the citizenry, that's what the research bears out.
And please, forget Yahoo. They're all in, just promoting the castro's by condemning the Bahamas.
Americans after seven years of these upside-down alinskyite propaganda tricks are wide awake and not having any more of it.
A comparatively small number of druggies killing one another does not constitute a massive crime threat to tourists, as the absurdly low number of victims per 100,000 tourists demonstrates.
paul_vincent_zecchino 8 years, 6 months ago
And why, you ask, is promoting cuba so bloody important to some that they'd stab their friends to do it?
Simple: the castro crime syndicate offers a 'product' which other decent Caribbean islands do not: child prostitutes, the 'jinitera trade' as it's known, and it's a very big money maker for the castro thugocracy.
And we've plenty of fat old billionaires who can't wait to avail themselves of its services.
sealice 8 years, 6 months ago
AAHHH!!!! it's a republican cuban scheme...... Marco Rubio's probably behind it all
GrassRoot 8 years, 6 months ago
As I stated previously in the comment section of similar articles: sitting in the Bahamas, taking on a Bahamian perspective and lamenting about these things, blogs, interviews, news happening to us, is like pissing in the Ocean. Perception is reality. The good news is we have a choice: if we don't like or ignore the reality, we should at least try to work on changing the Perception these bloggers, tourist experts, news people have of our country... StrongerBahamas, my a##.
John 8 years, 6 months ago
Seems like all the blogs above were written by the same problem. Nassau we do have a problem. Yes with crime but the average tourist visiting the Bahamas is as safe or more safe than most major cities around the world. Of the 5 million plus tourist visiting the Bahamas only a very small amount are exposed to crime and violence. Unfortunately there was a killing on Potters Cay last night that may have been witnessed by tourists. Several persons were shot and one is confirmed dead. It appears The murder count will hit 151 this year and this is scary and should concern everyone. Some believe a lot of these murders are a result of gang warfare but the police seem to have made little or no effort to stem gang activity in the country.
John 8 years, 6 months ago
The fact is that the police must come up with more effective means of policing and gain the support of the community. Strip searching young men in public is not an effective response to crime, it is demeaning, dehumanizing, embarrassing and counterproductive. At least 90 percent of persons strip searched by police have committed no crime. This was a tactic used in the US against Blacks to restrict their movement and intimidate them. They were racially profiled and stopped and strip searched by police then thrown in jail, sometimes under planted evidence. The effect of seeing young black men being strip searched "all over the place" by police have the impression that black men were troublesome and criminals. It was also used in apartheid South Africa to restrict the movement of black folk and for the police to effectively discriminate against them. Black peoples were required to carry a national ID card, which was seldom issued to them . When they were stopped by the police and did not have this I'd, they were beaten and thrown in jail. Some were never seen again. If strip searching young men in public was an effective policing tool then why is the crime rate increasing, murder especially. It's more like someone's sick sex fantasy to be undressing young men in the streets. Making them take off their shoes and stand in rain-soaked streets and digging down in their drawers and even their wallets. What effect does this have on young persons coming from school every evening and seeing young men spread eagle across vehicles and being searched in the most violating and demeaning manner. Many who pass and see it do not view the police as the good guys, especially since many of their attitudes are rotten to the fore. Some block intersections with their vehicles with no consideration when they do these searches and threaten to lock up persons for only looking their way. You cannot intimidate people in this way and espect them to respect you as a peace officer. Some stop trucks loaded with construction workers and strip search everyone. Such a lack luster form of policing that rarely yield results. Send some officers downtown and search the tourist in this manner and see how quickly Nassau becomes a ghost town.
Chucky 8 years, 6 months ago
What's with all the denials, we all know crime is way out of hand here? I for one do not go downtown Nassau anymore, unless I absolutely have to. I don't go out at night anymore unless I have to. We are to blame, our country is a mess. Our murder rate per capita is 10 times worse than that of USA. Who you all trying to fool???? I wouldn't like it if the cruise lines stopped coming because it would severely hurt our economy, but I'd surely understand it if they said they weren't coming!!!!!
banker 8 years, 6 months ago
That's a sad way to live, and yet Bahamians accept it. When I visit my friends near the bend at Eastern Road where it meets Yamacraw Road, you can see people out walking at night carrying sticks to protect themselves from potcakes -- both human and animal. Many of my friends carry brass knuckles, folding billy sticks or pepper spray.
It's not just the young gang members plugging each other. The young criminals will rob you and then shoot you. I was driving down Shirley Street near Soldier Road at night, and three punks tried to box me in with their cars with the intent of robbing me. I saved myself by turning into Harbour Bay at the last minute as I sped away.
As previously mentioned I was shocked to hear clean-cut stock boys in a supermarket discuss the pro and cons of a Glock pistol over a Smith & Wesson. I later Googled what I heard, and it turns out they did know what they were talking about.
Those who say that we are just like any other major city have it wrong. I was in New York City recently, and I was walking in downtown Manhattan at 1 AM, and the city was alive, and safe. Last call at the bars is 4 AM and they are still rocking, and nobody gets shot or robbed.
Chucky 8 years, 6 months ago
Most of us who live on New Providence, don't go down town Nassau at night. I'm very careful all the time. The crime here is terrible. Tourists who stay at a hotel here with your young daughter, wil be lucky if she doesn't get raped by the hotel security or grounds keepers. Keep your wives, sisters and daughters safe if you come here, don't let them out of your sight, especially not at night. Also, most of this crime is either not reported to police, or if it is, it's deliberately kept out of the news. Read the travel blogs about Nassau, see what women say about how they get targeted. This place is not safe for women to be alone in public.
John 8 years, 6 months ago
Chucky you know what you are saying is the most beautiful Bull$shit and riddled with lies. How long can a hotel security keep a job if he is raping hotel guests? absolute fantasy land lies! it is people with warped imaginations, like yours, and extremely twisted truths, that add fuel to the fire and try to bring this country down. Young people, for the most part, want a job, and want to be productive law abiding citizens. When gun manufacturers can sell an illegal weapon for 3-5 times the price illegally as what he can sell a legal weapon for, then there becomes a large black market. And when he can advertise and promote his product by glamorizing and glorifying all sorts of guns in music and movies and video games he can triple his sales. Then he pay to have rappers put "its ok to kill your homie' among other things, in their songs. Why in over 40 years of illegal handgun orchestrated crimes hardly anyone is brought before the courtsand sent to jailfor importing illegal weapons? #organized crime. President Obama is currently under fire for suggesting stricter gun control laws in the US. Follow the money trail and see who is flooding the US and the Caribbean and the Bahamas with illegal weapons.
Chucky 8 years, 6 months ago
Hey John
What's your rant about guns got to do with anything? You telling me you don't know about hotel workers raping tourists? You saying you have not heard about this?
We all know what happens here, we also know that our taxi drivers are extremely rude at the airport, we know that our service we provide is crap, our products and food are crap. Our general population work ethic is crap , etc etc etc
If that weren't all true, we'd have a booming & thriving economy, but we don't.
Men having babies with all different kinda woman, women forced to leave kids unsupervised because they gotta eek out a living to feed them cause their men aint no where to be found. Murder robbery on every corner, most committed by young men less than 25. A blonde girl walking down the street is treated like a piece of meat by any and all of our men who cross her path. This place aint safe no more, you know it, I know, God knows it!
Chucky 8 years, 6 months ago
Here's some "in the news today" headlines: And they say we have a crime problem, I think the only problem is that they report and keep statistics, if we can stop reporting crime, and stop keeping statistics all should be normal and safe!
Dead Man Found Floating In Lyford Cay Canal
Armed Robbers Take Woman's Car In Freeport
Gunman Shoots Victim Then Speeds Off On Motorcycle
82-Year-Old Woman Stabbed In Her Home
Keod Smith Contempt Case Delayed Until December
Two Men Shot At Potter's Cay, One Dead
Witness Tells Court Of American Sailor's Shooting
Updated: Man Shot Dead In Old Boat Alley
Killer Of Marco Archer ‘Could Not Receive Fair Trial’
Mistrial Over Man Accused Of Killing Woman During Hurricane
Handbag Found In Yard After Us Man Shot Trying To Stop Mugging
Officer Tells Of Accused’S Testimony Over Murder Of Tourist
Two Murders Since Friday Take Year’S Total To 116
Breaking News: Man Found Dead In Gamble Heights
Donna Vasyli Guilty Of Murder
Lawyers Get More Time For Discussions In Sex Assault Case
Woman Killed After Domestic Dispute
Murder Suspect Dies In Rand Memorial Hospital
TruePeople 8 years, 6 months ago
bey dis bey like he love di islands, but like a slighted love nah all he wan do is diss jhed
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