Ill-fated Aurora's even more ill-fated world cruise is back in the news. The passengers, it seems, are fed up with looking at the sea.
The P&O Cruises' ship suffered engine problems as it left Sydney and ended up staying six days in Auckland (surely an opening for one of the passengers to write the definitive "how-to-kill-a-week-Auckland" guide book) while the problem was fixed.
Now the ship racing to get back to Southampton, to start its Mediterranean season on time, and has visited just two ports in 22 days after skipping five calls in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Passengers say they are beginning to feel like prisoners rather than world cruisers. All have splashed out thousands of pounds to do a Phileas Fogg.
I sympathise. I did a two-week sector of a world cruise on Aurora last year and while it's a nice ship, I can't imagine being stuck on it for so long without so much as sighting land. You can only read so many books.
It seems they got so bored, they created their own entertainment, the Aurora Committee, with the headline act being a demand for more compensation.
P&O had offered free drinks while in Auckland, a £500 payment and a refund of four days of the cost of cruising, but has apparently decided to be more generous. Is it really that easy?
Jane Archer
Comments (1)
Unfortunately Jane, ever since the QM2 pod smacking incident a few years ago when certain passengers whipped up a mutiny and pretty much ordered Commodore Warwick into the theater for a heated discussion, people seem alot less able to accept that things such as mechanical problems can and do affect cruises. The treatment that Warwick received was diabolical, a virtual hostage in the theater until demands - full refund, compensation etc etc for missing the Caribbean and going straight to Buenos Ares - that nowadays those who pay for a cruise will kick up when the need arises. Costa Europa had a similar problem earlier this year - Capt Donato (who was my capt on Allegra last year and who was the most gracious capt I have ever sailed with) was given a torrid time just because the ship had a mechanical problem and there was unrest at some of the ports...NONE of which could have been forseen and all were out of Donato's hands.
The problem is a simple one, the captains and crew are the point of contact with the HQ and some passengers go for those people thinking that they can get things their way. However, the buck stops at the HQ and not the captain or crew, they can only do/say what they are told to say/do by HQ. Now if you are reasonable with them, they can act as go-betweens or mediators tween the guests and the HQ, but sadly since QM2 mutiny, the reasonable behaviour has been replaced by mob rule and that just gets them nowhere except into the daily papers.
It's a sad state of affairs and something that would never have happened 20 years ago.
Posted by Ally Jones | March 30, 2009 7:47 AM
Posted on March 30, 2009 07:47