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Dispatches programme dismissed as ‘nonsense’
Advantage Travel Centres has jumped to the defence of the cruise industry which is to be featured in a Channel 4 Dispatches tonight.
The programme will see a Dispatches reporter go under cover on a Celebrity Cruises vessel to investigate working conditions on board cruise ships.
Working as an assistant waiter, the programme makers say he will discover working conditions below the legal minimum in the UK.
Advantage leisure director Julia Lo Bue Said said Channel 4’s decision to do an ‘undercover’ report was "nonsense".
"The cruise industry has faced many challenges over the past nine months, notwithstanding the catastrophic loss of human life from the Costa Concordia disaster early this year it is therefore greatly disappointing that Channel 4 has chosen to not only film in an unauthorised capacity but will no doubt present a biased view of labour and wage issues in the cruise industry," she said.
"I understand that Celebrity Cruises will be investigating the programmes findings but for Channel 4 to go to such extraordinary lengths to send one of their reporters undercover is a nonsense.
"Dramatisation of these documentaries does nothing to educate the public to the facts, but represents poor value TV entertainment and creates a negative image for a sector that has invested so much over the years to innovate its products into aspirational brands for all travellers."
She said Advantage Travel Centres will be doing all it can to ensure the correct messages are communicated across its network and customer base.
The programme, Cruises Undercover: The Truth Below Deck, is due to be aired tonight (October 1) at 8pm.
Celebrity Cruises has been unable to watch the programme in advance but was asked to respond to some allegations. It is due to comment in full following the programme’s airing tonight.
* If you watch the programme tonight, afterwards tell us what you think by clicking on POST YOUR COMMENT below.
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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