- Many Maryland residents have been travelors on the cruise ship Celebrity Mercury. THE CHESAPEAKE staff photo
Passengers from the Celebrity Mercury were robbed this past weekend when their cruise ship stopped at St. Kitts in the Caribbean. Local heathens put a tree across the road and blocked the path of a tour bus filled with passengers on an excursion from the ship.
The Mercury is in its second year of conducting cruises to the Bahamas and the Caribbean from Baltimore. 
The ship has been sold to a German cruise line and will leave Celebrity service in February after operating on cruises around the world since 1997.
The robbery of 17 passengers at St. Kitts 
is the latest incident involving robberies and murder affecting passengers of cruise ships in the Caribbean.
Police in St. Kitts report having made 4 arrests thus far while several cruise lines have cancelled stops at St. Kitts and switched port visits to Antiqua, which itself was the scene of a murder of a cruise line passenger who was visiting the island nation.
A 14-year-old girl was killed when she was caught in a shootout between gangs in the U. S. Virgin Islands, on St. Thomas, this past summer.
While police claim to have violence under control, a claim often heard in American cities, the best protection for travelors is to be aware of where crime takes place and to be cautious.
But while criminals in the island paradises such as St. Kitts can have guns, tourists are prevented from packing heat.
The Mercury passengers were robbed of cash, cameras and jewelry, according to the Cruise Critic website.
Carnival cuts 4th quarter profits due to cruise ship fire
The fire aboard the cruise ship Carnival Splendor left the line cutting its fourth quarter profits after the disabled vessel left its passengers stranded for three days. Carnival refunded the money to all passengers, threw in a free cruise and paid for all air fare costs for those affected as well as refunded money for cruises booked for passengers on cruises affected by cancelled voyages.