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Cunard passengers angry over ‘shambolic’ Christmas cruise
Cunard has apologised to angry passengers on board a Christmas market cruise which didn’t actually go anywhere.
Bad weather forced the Queen Elizabeth to circle around the English Channel for four days and eventually return early to Southampton due to necessary engineering works.
Some of the 2,100 passengers took to Twitter to air their frustration at the cruise line, which they claim handled the situation badly.
Passenger Steven James Kitchen said: "What a shambles on the QE! Lack of customer care, disgusting treatment by Cunard. Catalogue of events making it a terrible trip."
John Walker said: "Appalling lack of communication on this horror cruise."
And another passenger, Jenny Meadows, tweeted: "Still waiting to disembark from the worst cruise ever. Thanks Cunard for wasting our time, money and wrecking our honeymoon."
The cruise was supposed to go to Amsterdam for the Christmas market but could not dock.
A Cunard spokeswoman said the captain had looked at two alternative ports of call which were both unsuitable due to similar weather conditions.
"It is a great pity that due to terrible weather conditions the ship was not able to dock in Amsterdam," she said.
"Whilst we are so sorry not to have called in Amsterdam the safety of our passengers and ship will not be compromised under any circumstances.
"Guests have been given a gesture of goodwill for this and we put on additional entertainment onboard as well as all the usual activities and fine dining as you would expect from Cunard."
According to the Daily Mail, passengers ended up staging a ‘mutiny’ at the reception desk, demanding to see the captain.
It said passengers were unhappy with a lack of communication and the compensation of $75 in on-board spending credit.
They had also complained of a strong smell of diesel at the front of the ship, which made it ‘disgusting’ to be in the casinos and several shops.
The average cost of the four-day cruise was £350.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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