Cruising usually safe, but beware of what can go wrong on board

The cruise industry has given itself one black eye after another over the past few months — from a ship that floated adrift in a storm off Norway, to one that ran up on a dock in Venice, to the mechanical failure that left thousands of vacationers stranded in Barcelona.

Add in recurring incidents like overboard cases and stomach illness, and it’s enough to make some people swear off cruising forever.

With cruises more connected to the internet than ever before, news of a disaster (or even a relatively minor glitch) can go viral fast. But more information doesn’t mean the floating metropolises are becoming less safe.

A study by economic consultant G.P. Wild — commissioned by the cruise industry’s trade group and released in March — makes the case that cruises are getting safer over time. Even as capacity increased 55 percent between 2009 and 2018, the report said, the number of overall “operational incidents” declined 37 percent and the rate of manover board cases dropped 35 percent.

Some of those incidents were industry-changing, including the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia that killed more than 30 people in 2012 and the fire that disabled the Carnival Triumph the following year. But cruise companies have adopted significant operational changes since those crises to keep the disasters from repeating.

Last year, an estimated 29.5 million people took a cruise The G.P. Wild survey found that there were 14 significant operational incidents, 15 minor operational incidents and 23 overboard incidents, 19 of which were fatal. A “significant operational incident” is one that causes a delay of more than 24 hours, fatalities or serious injuries, while a “minor” incident is one that causes a delay of 24 hours or less or minor injuries.

Ross Klein, a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, in Canada, who tracks cruise mishaps and overboard cases at CruiseJunkie.com, said the industry’s history is peppered with mistakes and accidents — which is not to say that cruising is inherently unsafe.

“What it says is that stuff happens,” he says. “And don’t go on a cruise assuming everything is perfect and safe. You have no control over it, [there’s] nothing you can do about it. Take safety precautions.”

Passengers know, for example, to pay attention during the safety drill at the beginning of a cruise that shows where they need to go in case of an emergency. But, Klein said, they should go further.

“They don’t think about, what happens if I can’t get to my muster station?” he said, referring to the gathering place for emergencies. “‘I want to find my partner, where do we find each other if there’s bedlam? Where do we find our kids?’ … What you can control is how you’re going to respond and if you can minimize the most tragic sorts of outcome.”

While the millions who cruise every year are unlikely to encounter significant problems, some of the issues that capture the public’s attention are stomach illness, man-overboard cases, violent storms, delays and itinerary changes.

Statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that sexual assault is the most frequent type of crime alleged on ships that sail from the United States, although those cases make the news less frequently.

Statistics kept by the Department of Transportation show allegations of criminal activity on ships that embark and disembark in the United States. Sexual assault is by far the top alleged offense, the numbers show. There were 82 allegations in 2018, and 18 during the first quarter of this year.

So far this year, at least 817 people on five ships — a small percentage of all those onboard — have come down with gastrointestinal illnesses on ships that visit the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year saw at least 658 people get sick on 11 ships that called on the United States.

Typically, that illness is caused by norovirus, and cruise lines take measures to keep illness in check, with hand sanitizers placed all over ships and a health form that asks about symptoms before people board.

“It’s important to take that seriously,” Colleen McDaniel, editor in chief of the website Cruise Critic, said in an email. “Not every health issue will keep you from boarding, but it’s important that you’re honest with your answers to protect yourself and your fellow guests from any sort of illness.”