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Any vacation can go wrong. But simply leaving is not possible on cruise ships. One family found this out on their Caribbean trip.
Nassau – A wide view of the ocean and many hours of pure relaxation: Anyone who goes on a cruise ship trip has expectations like these. They are not always fulfilled. Heidi Borst, author of Business Insider, experienced the opposite with her ten-year-old son. Their cruise through the northern Caribbean turned into a nightmare – similar to another cruise that 2,600 guests canceled at short notice.
Disgust on a cruise – the bathroom turns out to be unhygienic
At the very beginning of the trip, things seemed to be going well for Borst and her son. After the passengers were successfully brought on deck and mother and son had reached the shared cabin, which looked as advertised, they sat back for a while. When they opened the bathroom door, however, they were hit by a bad smell: mold.
“During the nighttime shower, I found out why, because the water collected in a puddle at my feet. From then on, we wore our flip-flops and took a quick shower,” Borst described the first night on board the cruise ship.
According to their descriptions, the two of them were not given a free choice of cabin because they had booked the cruise with the tour operator Aida Cruises using the cheap Vario tariff. They were ultimately accommodated directly above the ship’s own beach club. There was a great fear of sleepless nights.
Cruise nightmare: Ship cannot leave port – the weather did not cooperate
The first stop on the trip: the port of Key West. There, mother and son explored the “charming” city, as the author calls it. But they soon received bad news: Due to strong winds, the ship could not leave the port there as planned.
They missed their second destination, Bimini in the Bahamas. “Disappointed, we explored the ship in search of fun distractions. But there wasn’t much to do other than gambling and drinking,” Borst wrote.
Cruise not a highlight in many respects: Passenger complains about “glaring deficiencies”
The ship, built in 2001 and renovated in 2016, could, in Borst’s estimation, urgently use some TLC. “Broken tiles, stained carpets and broken faucets were just some of the glaring defects,” she explained. The situation worsened when dark mud came up from the shower drain in her cabin and the toilet stopped working. Then the power went out.
“When the power came back on, the $270 Wi-Fi stopped working and remained patchy for the rest of the trip,” Borst said. The next day, the power went out again during dinner. When the staff acted as if nothing had happened, mother and son had had enough: “At that point, we wanted to get off the ship,” the passenger said. All the negative cruise experiences Despite this, mother and son enjoyed their time in the Bahamas capital Nassau.
“We couldn’t get off the ship fast enough. Although our cruise experience was probably an outlier, I wouldn’t risk it again,” she said, summing up her first cruise experience. On another ship, however, the captain warned the passengers against going ashore.
Unhappy with your cruise ship trip? – What can you do?
Since a cruise is a package holiday, special legal principles apply to it. But what options are available to travelers who discover during a cruise that the cabin or the general equipment of the ship does not meet the previously advertised quality standards?
In such cases, the ADAC recommends making a list of the deficiencies and submitting it to the tour operator. This may enable them to claim back part of the travel costs. Depending on how the cruise was booked, those affected can also contact the travel agency or tour guide. (fh)
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