STRANDED IN THE ATLANTIC!!!

Fred Olsen’s Black Watch that entered service in 1972, set sail from Dover on 25th June 2016 for a 13 night Portugese Islands and Cities itinerary and caught alight in the middle of the Atlantic.

The fire had started in the engine room and was extinguished quickly by the crew members. Nearly 700 Passengers were left in darkness and without sanitation for over eight hours. The Captain successfully limped them to land. Funchal.

The fire damaged three out of seven auxillary engines, which was affecting the lighting and communication.

Fred Olsen in my opinion are doing all that they can to repatriate their customers, they are flying, those able, home at no cost, applying a full refund to all those on board, paying and ‘reasonable’ out of pocket expenses and offering a cruise voucher to the 700 passengers for up to 50% of the cruise so far!!!!

This isn’t to everyone’s liking though as some passengers who are unable to fly, who opted for this no fly cruise out of Dover are in uproar and are using social media to express their disatisfaction. They feel that more can be done for them, than the two ferries and a bus that they have been offered.

What do they expect? In my opinion, I’d feel grateful to be alive and appreciate all that Fred Olsen are doing to accommodate the safe return of all their customers.

My personal opinion is that this has been dealt with very fairly and i am not sure that they would have recieved the same treatment with other cruise lines.

Have you ever been on board a cruise ship and a disaster struck? What Happened? How were you treated? What’s your opinion on the way Fred Olsen’s guests were treated?