Cruising through Pirate Alley.

Yesterday, we co-hosted a World Cruise event with HSBC Bank. We were grateful to five of our cruise line partners for participating: Cunard Line, Crystal Cruises, Silversea, Holland America Line, and Princess. At the end of the event, we held a question and answer session with the cruise lines. One member of the audience asked a very timely question that no doubt is on the minds of many sophisticated cruisers who are looking for exotic cruise itineraries, but concerned with safety in certain parts of the world.

The question was how are the cruise lines traversing the Gulf of Aden, otherwise known as Pirate Alley. Alley is a bit if a misnomer. In reality, the size of the area we are talking about is roughly equivalent to the State of Texas; in other words, an immense area. Each of the cruise lines gave assurances -- they conduct real-time monitoring of events and modify itineraries as necessary to deal with any known threats. Paul Girouard of Crystal Cruises, however, offered the most comprehensive explanation and arguably the greatest assurance to guests.

Girouard explained that within the Gulf of Aden is a main shipping channel, and cruise ships stay within that channel. It is within that channel that a multi-national navy fleet patrols to ward off any potential pirates. As Girourad explained, it is when ships (typically freighters, cargo ships and fishing vessels) stray from the main channel that they run into problems. What is more, Crystal's ships are escorted by the United States Navy through these troubled waters.

Crystal, however, goes beyond even this assurance. For its guests who still are uncomfortable with sailing through those waters, Crystal allows them to debark the ship at the port prior to sailing through them. Crystal will then provide the guests with a flight to the first port of call available after traversing the Gulf of Aden, and put guests up in a hotel (on the World Cruise, for three nights) until the ship catches up, where they can reboard the vessel. Charge for this service? Nothing. It is signature Crystal.