Whilst onboard the NCL Escape Invite I was asked by one of the Cruisedot staff, "What was the worst cruise ship you have ever been on".
I didn't really answer the question as I needed a bit of thinking time. Having been on a lorra' lorra' ships, some I only have the vaguest recollection of that are now firmly embedded in Neptune's Locker, it got me thinking.
I'm talking ship itself.
Leaving aside poor service, disorganised boarding procedures, lager louts and questionable food, which ship did not come up the expected standard of a modern cruise ship?
It would be around late 2002, we booked a four or five nighter English Channel hop, Soton, Amsterdam, Le Havre, Guernsey, Soton mainly for the benefit of family members who had never cruised before, who were always in awe of our Formal Night photos and the general impression of quality that cruising had to offer.
The weather wasn't stormy, just an average winters swell as we made our way around the Isle of Wight heading for Amsterdam.
The main dining room was on deck 2, close to the waterline, but you didn't need a map to find it. The cutlery jingle jangling on the tables could be heard as you approached due to the vibration of the propellers.
In fact the vibration was so bad the four of us played a game every night placing the wine glasses in the centre of table, and whoever's wine glass vibrated to the edge of the table first won the game.
Well the old gal rolled her way across the Channel, the propellers almost coming out of the water, the noise and shuddering was horrendous, finally making it to the other side. Sick Bags tactfully placed in prominent positions around the ship.
This ship was acquired by P&O from the Princess fleet at a time when P&O were at the top of their game, then one of the most respected cruiselines in the world. The ship was flat bottomed designed for pottering around the shallow, calm Caribbean waters, the English Channel a challenge too far. This was the third ship to be named/renamed Arcadia and to this day I clearly remember walking down the gangplank at the end of this little jolly thinking, 'What the hell were P&O thinking about buying this tug?'
A short time after that they parked it in the Med at Palma, hardly surprising as this ship had obvious limitations on anything more challenging than a duck pond. The final ignominy came when they ripped out the MDR and never replaced it, painted it in some God awful colours and renamed it yet again, as Ocean Village.
Incidentally, as far as I am aware, our family members who were so looking forward to their first ever cruise, have not set foot onboard a cruise ship since.
Anyone else with a worst ever cruise ship tale?.......Wilba
I didn't really answer the question as I needed a bit of thinking time. Having been on a lorra' lorra' ships, some I only have the vaguest recollection of that are now firmly embedded in Neptune's Locker, it got me thinking.
I'm talking ship itself.
Leaving aside poor service, disorganised boarding procedures, lager louts and questionable food, which ship did not come up the expected standard of a modern cruise ship?
It would be around late 2002, we booked a four or five nighter English Channel hop, Soton, Amsterdam, Le Havre, Guernsey, Soton mainly for the benefit of family members who had never cruised before, who were always in awe of our Formal Night photos and the general impression of quality that cruising had to offer.
The weather wasn't stormy, just an average winters swell as we made our way around the Isle of Wight heading for Amsterdam.
The main dining room was on deck 2, close to the waterline, but you didn't need a map to find it. The cutlery jingle jangling on the tables could be heard as you approached due to the vibration of the propellers.
In fact the vibration was so bad the four of us played a game every night placing the wine glasses in the centre of table, and whoever's wine glass vibrated to the edge of the table first won the game.
Well the old gal rolled her way across the Channel, the propellers almost coming out of the water, the noise and shuddering was horrendous, finally making it to the other side. Sick Bags tactfully placed in prominent positions around the ship.
This ship was acquired by P&O from the Princess fleet at a time when P&O were at the top of their game, then one of the most respected cruiselines in the world. The ship was flat bottomed designed for pottering around the shallow, calm Caribbean waters, the English Channel a challenge too far. This was the third ship to be named/renamed Arcadia and to this day I clearly remember walking down the gangplank at the end of this little jolly thinking, 'What the hell were P&O thinking about buying this tug?'
A short time after that they parked it in the Med at Palma, hardly surprising as this ship had obvious limitations on anything more challenging than a duck pond. The final ignominy came when they ripped out the MDR and never replaced it, painted it in some God awful colours and renamed it yet again, as Ocean Village.
Incidentally, as far as I am aware, our family members who were so looking forward to their first ever cruise, have not set foot onboard a cruise ship since.
Anyone else with a worst ever cruise ship tale?.......Wilba
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