Are Mini Cruises Lowering the Tone?

A customer of mine recently returned from a 2-night cruise on Celebrity Silhouette. He has been with Celebrity many times before and has come to expect a certain standard from them, however he was shocked and dismayed at what he termed shameful behaviour on this 2-night encounter.

They had arrived at what they thought was an early arrival just after 1pm, but on boarding they found the bars were already packed with people, 3 and 4 deep all trying to eagerly get their monies worth from their drinks package.

They described the behaviour of some of the customers as aggressive towards the bar staff who were struggling especially as most people who cruise tend to order cocktails and they understandably take longer to prepare.

They realised that many on board were obviously celebrating an event ie Nirthday, Hen Party or Stag do from the various parties’ attire etc.

They soon began to realise they had made a mistake and that this was not really for them.

The described the drinking as starting at the crack of dawn until the early hours and that most people did not venture off the ship to see Le Havre but stayed on and got drunk to put it politely.

In their words they were ashamed of us as a nation and it was nothing more than a glorified booze cruise.

They said they really felt sorry for the staff who were seriously pressured and verbally abused whilst manning the bars as they could not get the drinks out fast enough and they appeared to have no management or security to curb people’s behaviour. They also witnessed fights breaking out among groups of young men and women on the pool deck and in the disco, with one young guy being escorted off the ship.

In their words, ‘This is not what we have come to expect from Celebrity who we had previously believed to be a very responsible organisation.’

Celebrity are not the only ones having issues though. P&O have attempted to curb these groups booking by banning Fancy dress therefore discouraging Hen and Stag parties, as well as Birthday groups.  However, it is hard to stop these groups booking even if you do control what they can wear.

I am not a prude, and everyone needs to let their hair down and have a few drinks once in a while, but do we have to resort to behaving like Neanderthals?

Do you think these cruises should come with a warning so people can decide for themselves if they want to be in such a lively atmosphere?

Have you been on a short cruise lately? What was your experience like?

I have not been on a short cruise for a couple of years but am due to go one later this year and frankly this type of behaviour is very off putting.