Popular cruise line's nightmare at sea: A passenger's experience
There was a near mutiny earlier this week aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line experience went afoul.
For the approximately 2,000 people aboard the Norwegian Spirit, for what was supposed to be a luxury "mystical, fjords tour" that began in Southampton, England with the promise of stopping in various European destinations over 14 days, it was an ugly ride that they won't soon forget. And it wasn't cheap -- passengers reportedly paid up to $6,500 for tickets.
According to one passenger's account, customers complained of a sewage-like smell and that the ship missed various scheduled stops at ports of destination. Meanwhile, sizeable amounts of passengers banded together and engaged in angry, albeit non-violent, protests -- with loud chants of "b------t," "liar, liar" and "refund" ringing out, in aggravation and frustration at the deteriorating situation. They even booed the captain.
“To be very honest, [the experience] was rough from day one ... It was just one thing after another ... The service wasn’t there,” Katasha Jones, who was on the cruise with her boyfriend, told FOX Business. The couple spent more than $5,000 on their tickets.
The straw that purportedly broke this cruise's back was what Jones called a lack of communication surrounding one of the missed ports. Spirit was supposed to dock in Granoff, Scotland. When 10 minutes until docking turned into an unexplained 90-minute-plus delay -- as passengers were potentially facing a third day at sea -- they decided they had enough, Jones said. The protesters rioted. The video went viral. And after 10 days, Jones and her boyfriend got off at a port in Belfast and decided to head home on their own.
This was after the ship missed going to Iceland, which was what Jones and McNutt wanted to experience the most.
“That was the only reason we booked this trip,” Jones said.
“I don’t think we’ll be going on their cruise ship ever again," Jones said. “The situation was not handled properly ... There’s no other industry where you can deliver on 40 percent of what you promised and still keep everyone’s money.”
A spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement to FOX Business: “Unfortunately, Norwegian Spirit’s itinerary was impacted by severe weather conditions. While nine ports of call were originally planned for the voyage, the revised itinerary allowed the ship to call on eight ports. We are very sorry for any inconvenience and disappointment our guests experienced. As such, we made the decision to offer a 25% future cruise credit."
The company, however, did not necessarily distinguish between ports that were missed on the schedule that had been sold to passengers and replacement ports in the port count in the statement.