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As cruise tourism booms, with more people taking holidays on the high seas, one maritime lawyer has issued a stark warning.

Jim Walker, who works for a US law firm, has investigated the most dangerous ports of call for travellers, according to the number of cases he receives.

The lawyer was prompted to look into the issue after the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently released a Global Study on Homicide in 2013.

Cruise warning: A maritime lawyer has revealed the ports of call where passengers experience the most crime

Mr Walker said: 'The most dangerous countries mentioned in the study read like a cruise line itinerary.

'Honduras (1), Venezuela (2), Belize (3), El Salvador (4), Guatemala (5), Jamaica (6), St. Kitts - Nevis (8), and Colombia (10).'

He explained: 'Cruise lines spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars a year creating idyllic illusions of tropical vacations on beautiful Caribbean beaches. But behind that slick marketing facade lies danger.'

The lawyer looked into the statistics he receives from complainants to reveal the top 10 crime-ridden ports of call according to cruise passengers who had contacted Walker and O'Neill Maritime Lawyers.

Hidden dangers: A cruise worker was murdered on the Honduran island of Roatan earlier this month

Writing on his website Cruise Law News, Mr Walker explained: '99 per cent of the people who contact us, both passengers and crew, are victims of crime in the Caribbean countries.

'A few people complained of being pick-pocketed in Italy. But we have received no reports of guns or knives from people visiting European or African ports ever. Of course, ports in Australia and New Zealand are fabulously safe. We have also never received a complaint about crime in the Asian ports.'

The Bahamas came out as the number one destination for crimes against passengers. 

Mr Walker said: 'We receive more complaints about crime in Nassau than all of the other ports in the Caribbean combined.'

The second destination was Honduras, which the UN declared the number one destination for homicides.

Norwegian Cruise Line stopped its ships calling at The Bay Island of Roatan earlier this month after one of its crew members was shot and killed in a suspected robbery.

Norwegian subsequently posted a statement on its Facebook page reading: 'In an abundance of caution for our guests and crew, we have cancelled calls to Roatan this week for Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Jewel.'

Crime wave: Mr Walker said that Nassau, in the Bahamas, was the worst port of call for tourism complaints according to his statistics

Venezuela was listed as the third most dangerous destination for cruise passengers, but the listed was dominated by Caribbean hotspots, including St Kitts-Nevis, Antigua, the US Virgin Islands and St Lucia.

As well as Caribbean islands, Mr Walker's top 10 list also features North and Central American destinations, including Guatemala in the fourth spot, followed by Mexico in fifth place and El Salvador in ninth.