# American Tourist age 14 killed in St. Thomas [merged]



## KathyPet (Jul 13, 2010)

I just read this story on USA today.  A 14 year old American girl who was on a Carnival cruise ship was shot and killed Monday when the tourist bus on which she was riding got caught in the middle of a gang shoot out while on the way to Coki Beach.  Carnival has suspended stops in St. Thomas until further notice.  I didn't realize it was that dangerous there.  I was thinking about requesting a trade to Frenchman's Reef but now I am rethinking.  Did you know that their murder rate is twice that of Miami?


----------



## mkahanek (Jul 13, 2010)

*St. Thomas*

Just to be clear.  Carnival is suspending tours through the neighborhood where this occured.  Not suspending stops in St. Thomas all together.

  I was at Frenchmans last September and didn't feel it was any more dangerous than Aruba.  There are quite a few resort destinations that have questionable neighborhoods.  Best thing to do is avoid those neighborhoods.  I have seen them in Honolulu, San Juan and Aruba.  I chalk it up to reality.

  But, just to clarify.  I did feel safer at my home resort at Ko Olina.


----------



## Cindala (Jul 13, 2010)

Friends of our just returned from a weeks stay on St. Thomas and they were disappointed. They said so much had changed from when they traveled there 20 years ago and even though the natural beauty of the island remains, they did not venture out after dark.


----------



## RedHook (Jul 13, 2010)

Wow. Was just there a few weeks ago. Went to Coki Beach twice, and drove right through those neighborhoods. We've never been the victim of a crime down there.


----------



## Dave M (Jul 13, 2010)

Since this topic doesn't relate to Marriott as much as St. Thomas, I'm moving it to the Travel forum.


----------



## qlaval (Jul 13, 2010)




----------



## happybaby (Jul 13, 2010)

I saw this earlier and it said girl was from Puerto Rico.  Awful no matter where she was from.  Innocent and on vacation......awful!!


ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands, July 13 (UPI) -- A teenage passenger on a Caribbean cruise was fatally shot in the Virgin Islands during an independent sight-seeing tour, the cruise line says.

Carnival Cruises sent a letter to passengers on the ship informing them of the death of 14-year-old Lizmarie Perez Chapparro of Puerto Rico on Monday.

Chapparro was on a safari bus when she was hit by a stray bullet from a cemetery shooting in St. Thomas, The St. Thomas Source reports.


----------



## caribbean (Jul 13, 2010)

Smith Bay has been a real rough area since at least the 80s when I started going to STT. I can remember when we didn't feel safe going to Coki, but then they made a real effort to clean the area up and it has been OK during the daytime. In the early 90s a Navy guy was killed in the area real late at night and the Navy stopped taking leave there for awhile. When I read when & where he was I remember saying what in he** was he doing there at that time of night. Anyway I always take care when going through that area. Just like at home there are certain places I simply do not go at certain times of day/night. You have to take caution where ever you are.


----------



## deedman (Jul 13, 2010)

I hope all the people who whine about mexico being too dangerous to visit read this story and then stay in their bubble.


----------



## lvhmbh (Jul 14, 2010)

NOTHING is as it was 20 years ago!  Even back then you didn't go downtown at night without having a taxi drive you to your destination and then pick you up on the way back.  There are dangerous areas no matter where you go - that she was on a tourist bus is scary, obviously.


----------



## LisaRex (Jul 14, 2010)

Poor family. 

A few years ago off Maui, the mast of the Kiele V catamaran broke, hitting  a passenger on the head and killing him in front of his family.  It was the second such accident on a Hawaiian catamaran, as there was one a few months earlier that killed a teenager off Honolulu.

 I'll think of him every time I sail on a Hawaiian catamaran.  But I won't stop sailing.  

I agree that we should be reasonably cautious, but I won't allow such freak occurences to curb me living my life to its fullest.   If it happens that I die while on vacation, I'll be glad that I died while in the midst of enjoying myself as that beats the hell out of dying of a heart attack at my desk.


----------



## John Cummings (Jul 14, 2010)

deedman said:


> I hope all the people who whine about mexico being too dangerous to visit read this story and then stay in their bubble.



This happens in Mexico as well.


----------



## Talent312 (Jul 14, 2010)

Tragic as this story is, no one is truly safe from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The world is a dangerous place. I think that I'll just stay in my house
... and wait for a meteorite to strike me down.


----------



## rjanko (Jul 14, 2010)

*[merged at this point] St. Thomas - Cruise Ship Passenger Murdered*

Outside Coki Beach...

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/...after-murder-of-cruise-ship-passenger/99828/1

Thanks ~ Rich


----------



## brigechols (Jul 14, 2010)

This news was already reported in the Marriott forum and the thread was movEd to the travel forum


----------



## FlyerBobcat (Jul 14, 2010)

brigechols said:


> This news was already reported in the Marriott forum and the thread was movEd to the travel forum




http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126135

[merged - DeniseM Moderator]


----------

