‘Turn Off Your Lights’: Luxury Cruise Passengers Hear Dire ‘pirate Alert’ at Sea

Cruise-goers say it wasn't as scary as it sounds

Mar 28, 2025 - 14:49

There are plenty of things people worry about when cruising, like seasickness, crowded restaurants, or even risks like cholera and norovirus. But passengers on a recent Cunard Line cruise through the Philippines, sailing from Darwin, Australia. Passengers were aboard the Queen Anne when the captain made an announcement passengers weren’t expecting: he was implementing a “heightened level of security alertness” for a pirate alert, as the ship was sailing through the Sulu-Celebes Sea, an area known for pirate activity.

During the pirate alert, the external walking decks would be closed from 9 PM to 5 AM, and external lighting would be reduced to make the ship harder to spot from afar. The ship also positioned water cannons at the ready, making them able to shoot a high-pressure stream of water at any boats attempting to approach. Guests were also asked to make changes to their behavior, with the captain asking that they close their stateroom curtains and turn off lights in their rooms.

@lillydapink I am not worried at all. In fact, it’s quite an interesting experience. The ship is safe and well protected, so I will sleep well tonight. Unless the pirate alarm goes off, of course #cruisetok #fyp #cunard ♬ оригинальный звук – Music tour

A representative for the cruise line told The Today Show that the warning was out of an abundance of caution only. “There was no specific threat to the ship or its guests, and our onboard experience remained uninterrupted.” One TikToker shared several videos of the experience, nothing that the next morning, several passengers took to the balcony with binoculars to search the high seas for suspicious boats.

Other passengers on board reported that while the pirate alert was a little alarming, it wasn’t as scary as it may sound, and that the actual crossing was uneventful and pirate-free.

The Queen Anne is a relatively new ship, launched in 2024 and currently on its first “Around the World” voyage, visiting 30 different ports over the course of 108 days. It carries just under 3,000 passengers and is 1,058 feet long, with 14 restaurants and more than 1,000 crew members.

Cruise ships and modern-day piracy

Certain areas around the world. like the Sulu Sea, have a slightly increased chance of pirate activity. Photo: Nokuru/Shutterstock

Globally, piracy is a booming business. According to Europol, piracy generates hundreds of millions in euros since 2000. In the first nine months of 2024, there were 99 reported instances of piracy, up from 90 in 2023. Numbers have climbed in waters like those off the Somali Coast, following the reduction of international anti-piracy forces that had previously kept such threats in line.

While the reasons for a growth in piracy are complicated, there are a few general factors places with high piracy have in common. That includes access to an ocean with ideal piracy conditions, like numerous islands, narrow passages, and geographic features that force larger ships to slow their speed and operate with poor lines of sight. Economic hardship in coastal areas can also lead people toward piracy as a means of survival, especially around countries with weak governance, ineffective maritime law enforcement, high levels of corruption, and territorial disputes.

Countries with known pirate issues often have coastal guards to patrol the shorelines near land. Photo: Vladimir Melnik/Shutterstock

Though it may seem antiquated, maritime piracy actually is an ongoing concern for commercial cruise lines in these specific higher-risk regions of the world, though actual attacks on passenger vessels are extremely rare. The primary piracy hotspots include the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa, and waters in Southeast Asia, particularly the Sulu-Celebes Sea and the Malacca Strait, where the Cunard ship was. Despite only six reported pirate attacks on cruise ships in modern history, cruise lines still plan and prep for what to do if pirates are near.

That includes not just issuing pirate alerts, but measures like adjusting routes to avoid high-risk areas, introducing enhanced on-board surveillance technology, using water cannon systems and longer-range acoustic devices, and training crew members on how to respond, just in case. As cruise ships become larger and larger, they also become more difficult to board, especially for pirate ships that benefit from being small and nimble.

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