Cruise lines take on a lot of responsibility when it comes to the safety of their customers.
That brief includes keeping them healthy on the ship, ensuring they don't engage in dangerous behavior, and protecting them while in port.
The health issue has been in focus in recent years as the rare outbreak of norovirus on ships tends to overshadow the industry's efforts to keep its customers healthy.
Covid, of course, created a unique situation for the industry, with companies including Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) , and Norwegian spending hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance their health protocols.
Related: Royal Caribbean makes a big change some passengers won't like
Port security has also recently been a major focus in countries including the Bahamas, a destination for many cruises out of Florida, Texas and any East Coast port.
The U.S. State Department's warning sounds scary and puts added pressure on the cruise lines.
"Violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assaults, occur in both tourist and non-tourist areas," the U.S. government said. The warning specifically named Nassau, Bahamas, one of the world's busiest cruise ports.
All major cruise lines pass those warnings onto passengers and encourage them to book cruise-line-operated excursions. In all cases, the cruise companies work to safeguard their passengers, and that starts on land, according to a new post from Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival wants to keep its customers safe
Heald has become one of the faces of the cruise industry, due to his popular Facebook page. He spends most days answering questions and fielding complaints from Carnival customers about their cruises.
It's a thankless job. While thousands of posts on his site are supportive, Heald often has to deal with very angry passengers. He does that all day, often six days a week, maintaining his trademark self-deprecating humor.
His concerns for his followers and Carnival's customers extend beyond their time at sea, according to a March 4 post.
"And now for something far more serious. Please, please, please remember this Facebook page where you are reading this is the only real page I have," he wrote. "If any of you see other pages please completely ignore it. They are fake pages and they are made only as some kind of scam to extract money from you using my name."
Heald shared an example of the type of scams people are trying to pull off in his name.
"Another example of this happened this past weekend when a lady was asked for a large sum of money not to have her cruise canceled, allegedly by me. I am so sorry 'S' and my colleagues will be taking care of you today," he added.
Carnival's Heald shares online safety tips
As a very public figure Heald is not unique, and many of the tips he outlined apply to other well-known social-media figures as well. His warning, however, got into the specifics of his personal social-media presence:
- This is the only page I have. It has the Blue Check Mark.
- I do not have Facebook Messenger.
- I do not send Facebook friend requests
- I do have an Instagram account, which is johnhealdccl.
- I do not have a TikTok account
"These fake pages (there are many) have been reported many times but they are for some extraordinary reason allowed to continue. They are run by heartless, soulless people who have no more right to live on God’s green earth than a Dung Beetle," he added.
Heald's Facebook page now requires people to follow him for 24 hours before they can comment. That's an attempt to cut down on fake posts and people trolling actual commenters.
"I love the note added regarding 'follow this Page for more than 24 hours' has been added," Tina Ensley replied. "It was terrible to receive the replies from fake pages to friend them or even worse suggestions. Thanks for keeping your page safe. Everyone enjoys following you and now we can do so safely."
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