Safety at Nassau

[casey49781]

After reading this article I am concerned about safety on a future trip. Does anyone know if there upping there security there.


I strongly recommend against going off on your own at Nassau, Bahamas. Violent crime against tourists has been increasing, with bold armed robberies becoming all too common. The robberies have even been aimed at tour groups. For example, on November 20, 2009, 18 people, half of whom were on an official Disney excursion, were robbed at gunpoint. A shot was fired and several people in the group were assaulted. Unfortunately that was only one of several daylight armed robberies of tourists on Nassau. If you want to get off the ship in Nassau, I recommend spending the day at Atlantis Resort or on an organized group beach excursion. If you really want to do something on your own, you could walk along Bay Street, sticking to busy parts of downtown Nassau and the Straw Market, which should be relatively safe. However, be aware that a large group of tourists was robbed at gunpoint at the Queen's Staircase, a popular tourist destination, so crime can occur anywhere on the island. Also, you can pretty well count on being accosted by aggressive "freelance sales people" and/or drug dealers at some point once you get off the ship.

 

[vicki_c]

What were you trying to link? It's not there. There have been other threads on this, including one with first hand reports from the DCL passengers who were robbed.

We just returned from Nassau and had no problems. My family walked mainly on Bay Street and did some shopping, as you said, though, but we did not feel uncomfortable at all. We really weren't approached by more than a few women doing hair-braiding and a few tour guides right when you get off the ship. And they were all very polite and not threatening in any way. I was prepared for much more aggressive tactics based on things I had read here, but that wasn't our experience at all.

 

[weich1001]

We were there on the Dec 17th DCL Wonder Cruise...this had just happened before we arrived...we were very concerned! Since this was our first time there, we had planned to just walk around downtown awhile and then get back on the ship in the afternoon. The streets were busy but Bahmian cops were honestly on every street corner. And while "sales people" stood in front of their stores and tried to get you to come in...that was about the only "harassment" of any kind I could see going on.

Did I feel 100% safe...no, but was it "safe enough to do the touristy thing". Yeah, I was fine, stay vigilent and you probably won't enocounter any more crime then you possibly would in any major metroplitan city in the US.

 

[Jennifer in MI]

We were there 1/15 and 1/18. We got off and did excursions by ourselves both times. We felt perfectly safe!! We walked around both times and didn't get too far from the port. No problems!

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Friscorays]

I hope this is not a repost but I saw this pertinent piece on this topic over on the Time Magazine web site titled "Cruise-Ship Port Call: Gauging Crime in the Bahamas" and thought it might be of interest / use to some:

http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1992105,00.html

 

[Stitchnut]

We took our first cruise last July on the Wonder and stopped in Nassau. We did not do any excursions or Atlantis- we walked around the busier shops looking at the jewerly. As some of the op said, we were asked by several men if we needed escorts/transportation and we said no assertively and moved on. While walking, we did notice some "seedy" looking people and we just kept to the tourist shops. None of us were impressed with the area and decided to head back to the ship. We did get our daughter's hair braided after bartering with the women on a reasonable price. We plan on going next year on the Dream. We really want to see the new ship, unfortunately, it's the same itinerary. This time we do not plan to get off in Nassau, rather we will stay on the ship and enjoy the aqua duck! Good luck

 

[ilovepooh]

I hope this is not a repost but I saw this pertinent piece on this topic over on the Time Magazine web site titled "Cruise-Ship Port Call: Gauging Crime in the Bahamas" and thought it might be of interest / use to some:

http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1992105,00.html

Thank you for this informative article. I knew about the crimes in the Bahamas, but had no idea that Jamaica is considered the most dangerous country in the Caribbean.

 

[Friscorays]

Thank you for this informative article. I knew about the crimes in the Bahamas, but had no idea that Jamaica is considered the most dangerous country in the Caribbean.

Apparently the tourist areas in Jamaica are safe:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1006/gallery.troubled_vacation_spots/2.html

 

[ButterflyDisneyMom]

Is the Hard Rock Cafe in the safer area around Bay street?

 

[disney1990]

The Hard Rock is very close to port and we have walked to it every time we sail. We sailed this past January and had no problems walking - we also went to Starbucks and Del Sol.

 

[mimmiepnp]

Just got back last week from Nassau. We had no problems. My DS was basically on his own in the town (he just graduated college) and was fine.