In an indication of the high level of attention now given to cruise ship security, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. on June 5th announced appointment of former top FBI counterterrorism official Gary M. Bald to the new position of Vice President of Global Security,

Royal Caribbean said Bald, who resigned last week as head of the National Security Branch of the FBI, will be responsible for "assessing, managing and continuously improving companywide security" and will report directly to CEO Richard D. Fain.

In naming Bald to head the FDI's counterterrorism and counterintelligence unit in 2004, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said the 28-year FBI veteran "has moved forward our reengineering efforts to improve our ability to prevent terrorist attacks."

"We are thrilled to have Gary joining our team," Fain said in announcing his appointment. "I am fully confident, given his resume and resolve, that he will lead our company to even greater advances in our preparedness and security systems."

While cruise lines are reluctant to talk about possible terrorist threats, all of the major lines have initiated a variety of new security measures since Sept. 11, 2001 designed to make cruise ships an ever safer and more secure environment.

These measures -- which go well beyond the security steps you encounter when you fly on a commercial airliner -- have thus far not only been successful, but have not really intruded on the carefree holiday ambience the cruise lines seek to achieve aboard ship.

The only terrorist action that ever resulted in a passenger death on a cruise ship occurred in 1985 -- relatively prehistoric times by modern cruise standards -- when a elderly wheelchair-bound passenger was shot and thrown overboard by hijackers from the Palestine Liberation Front who had taken over the Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean.

Security aboard today's large modern cruise ships is a very different story. The ships benefit from regular security assessments, detailed security planning including drills and exercises, and sail with a contingent of security personnel trained to operate unspecified security equipment.

When pirates attempted to approach and board the relatively small Seabourn Spirit off the southern Somali coastline last November, the ship's personnel unveiled one type of security device now deployed on cruise ships, using a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam to help drive off the attackers.