Well, it is that time of year again when we all look back at our lives over the past year and remember the good times and the bad times (although it is often the bad times that spring to mind first!). It has been an action packed year for the cruise industry, with many stories hitting the headlines in 2010 so we are going to have a look at some of the most interesting cruise stories across the next couple of blog posts.
1) Carnival Bans Nice Hair….
Well, that isn’t strictly true but they did threaten to take away people’s hair dryers and hair straighteners which let’s face it, is basically the same thing as banning nice hair! The cruise line threatened to remove electrical devices from cabins if they deemed them to be unsafe, for example if the wattage was above a certain level. Not surprisingly, this didn’t go down too well with customers who vowed never to sail with Carnival again if they weren’t allowed to bring their electrical knick knacks onboard. Thankfully, the cruise line backed down although if you are taking electricals with dodgy wires or frayed cables on your Carnival cruise then beware, they can still confiscate them!
2) Iceland’s Volcano Threatens to Ruin Holidays Forever
There was a time when we got so used to ash being in the sky and causing disruption to flights that we thought we might never get to go on holiday again. Some “experts” were predicting it could go on for years (eternal optimists?), but thankfully… they were wrong. For a while though, tourists were trapped in various different spots all over the globe, with many being able to make their way to Europe but not to the UK. Thousands of cruise passengers were affected by the flight disruption, with many missing their cruises altogether. Dodgy small print on insurance policies meant that many people didn’t even get their money back. The ash has gone for now, although consider yourself warned that the volcano IS still active and potentially, this could happen all over again a few months down the line.
3) Naughty Passengers
There were a couple of stand out stories about passengers behaving badly in 2010, the first was the story about the elderly couple who got kicked off a cruise for being so rude to fellow passengers. The couple, aged 82 and 91, would have no doubt looked quite innocent, however after making several rude and racist comments over dinner, other guests onboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 complained and the couple were literally sent to their cabin to think about their behaviour. They were confined to their cabin, with no alcohol, and no food (no, I’m joking about the food) for three days until the ship reached New York and they were booted off.
The other naughty (and rather dangerous) passenger we should comment on is the drunk guy who released an anchor when the ship was moving. Although the story brings a smile to the lips, the incident was a serious one which could have potentially had terrible consequences.
To be continued….
