A family have hit out at their £8,000 cruise, claiming their kids were “covered in black soot” from the ship’s funnels – and “drunken passengers” turned the vessel into a “Wetherspoons”. Iain and Sally Wright boarded the MSC Cruises Virtuosa on July 12th for a two-week trip across Spain alongside their two children and mother-in-law.
The couple booked the cruise on the premise it was a “family-friendly” ship that catered to their son Jack, 11 and daughter Molly, 8. Iain, a 41-year-old author who lives in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, said: “We wanted to book this cruise because we thought it was a family ship. We thought it looked great for kids.
“We were really looking forward to it. My mother-in-law loves cruises and she said she might have one more left in her so for her, this was going to be her last cruise.
“But the level of drunkenness was insane. It was worse than a Wetherspoons. It would take you half an hour to get a drink. It was just horrendous.
“It felt like an 18-30s club at times. If you were by the pool, you’d just hear constant swearing and people getting louder through the day.
“We just thought ‘what have we spent our money on?’ It became like Fawlty Towers.”
Ian claims the family were playing Scrabble on the main pool deck when a drunk passenger walked by vomited on the floor next to their table.
“It smelled. It was left there for over an hour,” he claimed. “They couldn’t get a cleaner. And when you think about the bugs that go around on cruises, this is basic hygiene.”
According to Iain, the Wrights’ trip went from bad to worse when their daughter Molly broke out in hives after being “covered” in black soot.
Iain said: “We were leaving the port and the kids went up to the top deck to see if the water slides were open.
“While they were on that deck, it just rained down black stuff all over them. They came down to tell us and Jack’s skin was covered in black stuff, Molly’s swimming costume was stained all over her and it was on her arms.
“We went down to guest services and told them our kids have been covered in the black soot from the engine I think and she said ‘yeah that happens sometimes when we pull away from a port’.
“She said we can make a claim about the damaged costume. While we were there, there were other people complaining to say they’d been covered in the black soot too. Two days later she started itching and broke out in hives so we went to customer services to see the doctor.
“He said it was an allergic reaction to an external substance. They said it was from the fumes because it was in the area where the fumes had touched her skin.
“They gave her hydrocortisone cream. She suffered with itching for 24 hours but it was a result of her being covered in this soot. It’s not acceptable.”
Iain said they understand that “accidents happen” but claims “customer services just didn’t care”.
“They acted like we were the problem for wasting their time. Their only intention was to disprove your complaint,” he claimed.
Iain claims the family were offered a £9 ticket for a premium show on-board the cruise after raising their complaints.
“We spent most of the holidays just going out to eat and staying in our cabins because the atmosphere was just awful,” Iain claimed. “There were no quiet areas. Everywhere was packed.
“We were looking to disembark halfway through the cruise in Majorca. We felt like we were left with no choice. There’s a level of basic customer service that we didn’t get, whether it’s a budget cruise or not.”
Iain said the family “wouldn’t step foot on one of their cruises ever again”. “We got back feeling quite disheartened. It was a lot of money. The kids were disappointed,” he added.
“We probably had 12 hours of fun on a two-week cruise. We would love a partial refund because that could go towards booking the holiday that we wanted in the first place. They should apologise.”
A MSC Cruises said: “We take all guest feedback seriously and regret that the Wright family’s experience did not meet their expectations.
“Their concerns were addressed directly by the team on board and they were encouraged to follow up with our Customer Service team after their trip for further assistance.
“As we have not received any additional communication from them since then, our Customer Service team will now reach out to the Wright family directly to ensure their concerns are properly reviewed and addressed.”