Q – As potential new cruisers, we found your site extremely helpful. But we did notice the absence of any information on boat safety and who has the safest river boats. Given the Concordia and other mishaps at sea, we wonder why the omission? We’ve never cruised before and we’re rather nervous about all this. Any advice would be appreciated.
A – It might be safer to stay home since the most statistically dangerous part of your trip will be your drive to the airport on your way to Europe. As we always try to point out, driving accidents abroad kill far more Americans than all the terrorist acts or crimes against tourists combined. You always want to pay attention to the condition of the vehicle and the driver when traveling out of the United States.
You should never be “nervous” about a vacation so we would probably advise you to do something else like pretend you’re in Europe while visiting Disney World. If you don’t take this advise, know that we don’t discuss safety on river boats because it’s been pretty much a non-issue. You are always in sight of land and help is always available. Sea Sickness is an absolute non-issue. River boat accidents are rare and not worthy of concern. River boats do not stop at ports where tourism criime is an issue.
We don’t talk about river boat safety because there is nothing to talk about. If something happens onbard that makes you uncomfortable, just dive off the balcony and swin ashore.
