Furious passengers on a cruise ship started a 'riot' after severe weather forced the captain to cancel stops, and customers complained of stale food and broken toilets
- Angry passengers on board a US-registered cruise ship staged a "riot" after the cruise cancelled destinations, and customers complained of being served stale food and had a sewage problem.
- The Norwegian Spirit was originally due to embark from Southampton on a 14-day trip calling at destinations in the Netherlands, Norway and Iceland.
- Due to what the company say were "severe weather conditions" the cruise a large number of its planned destinations.
- A couple who were on board told the BBC that the food they were served was "five days old," and that they were unable to flush the toilets.
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Passengers on board a Norwegian cruise ship staged a "riot" and demanded a refund after bad weather forced operators to cancel most of its destinations, and customers complained of being served stale food, and problems with the ship's sewage system
The Norwegian Spirit departed from Southampton, UK on September 27th and was due to embark on a 14-day round-trip to the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, and Ireland, according to the website Cruisemapper.
Bad weather, however, meant that the ship
On Monday, one furious customer wrote on Facebook that the passengers never even made it to their first stop in the Netherlands.
According to Snowy Dey, the passengers were told they would not make it to Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, but would instead be making an alternative stop at Le Harve in France, more than 200 miles away from the original destination.
Due to bad weather they were still not able to to dock and ended up sailing straight to Norway, the ship's next scheduled stopping point.
The map below shows the planned route of the cruise, with crosses representing the ports where the ship failed to dock, and green ticks those that it did dock at:
Dey's post contains videos of the unhappy customers chanting "Refund" whilst still on the ship after the final substituted stop at the port of Greenock in Scotland was also cancelled.
Cody McNutt, who was onboard the ship with his girlfriend and family members told the Washington Post that when passengers were told they would not be able to leave the final substitute destination in Scotland they could not longer keep quiet.
"That's when riots broke out on the ship," McNutt told The Washington Post. McNutt did not specify exactly what he meant by a riot.
"No one was violent, and I think people were as respectful as they could be with as upset as they were," Katasha Jones, McNutt's girlfriend told the Washington Post.
"At a certain point, you can't blame people for being upset. At a certain point, you just lose it."
Another video posted on Youtube shows angry passengers with signs reading "We want [a] refund," whilst chanting in protest.
A spokesperson from the ship's operator told Business Insider: "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."
The spokesperson did not specify which eight ports the ship stopped at, or how many of those ports were substitutes.
"We always do our best to provide our guests with a truly enjoyable and memorable vacation, but our very first priority is to ensure their safety and the safety of our crew," they added.
Speaking to the BBC, McNutt and Jones said they had concerns over health and safety on the ship, said they could not flush toilets, and were served food that was "five days old."
"The toilets stopped working ... you could walk down the hall and smell it," they said.
Following the incident Norwegian Cruise Line sent a letter to the passengers offering 25% off a future trip with them.
This did not go down well with all of the passengers, with one tweeting: "We never want to travel with NCL [Norwegian Cruise Line] again."
As of late Thursday afternoon UK time, the website Cruisemapper showed the ship sailing close to the southwest coast of the UK, heading back towards the finishing point of the cruise in Southampton, UK, where it is due to dock on Friday.