Incidents on board and security

[Megabear2]

I have been reading this evening the latest Feefo reviews for P&O, a large number of which seem to refer to the 35 night Ventura Christmas cruise.  Alarmingly there are several mentions of a stabbing, a missing guest at 5.00am and a person held for possibly grooming children.  There's also a solo lady traveller who claims she was stalked by someone in the cabin opposite.

 

Clearly these reports may be total rubbish - hopefully someone here may be able to throw some light on these things - but I personally am beginning to worry that we are reading more often of violence onboard.  I have explained elsewhere the problems experienced on Britannia by me personally with drunken football fans and the 2.00am call for assistance due to a "guest incident" on Deck 14,  and have today read in the Arvia maiden the situation with the guests in the room above the reviewer smashing up furniture and fighting amongst themselves before an arrest had to be made.

 

If the Feefo comments are true it would appear that at least three of the Christmas cruises had a problem with unruly and seemingly violent passengers.  Whilst P&O are obviously not responsible for individuals' personal behaviour they surely are responsible for the safety of passengers by observing possible sources of trouble and nipping them in the bud.  The problems we encountered and witnessed were clearly fuelled by alcohol and partisan football support.  That being the case are there any rules regarding refusal of alcohol service in the same way as ashore to those who have clearly had too much to drink?  

 

In our incident security did appear when asked but the people causing the nuisance were merely told to tone it down and allowed to carry on drinking.  The 20 or so people who were being intimidated by this crowd were quietly told there were more sears at the other end of the pool deck if we'd like to move.

 

Reading of the Arvia arrest and now these reviews on Feefo I must confess to being a little worried my incident is not unique.  As someone who travels alone a lot I can normally spot potential problems well in advance and avoid them. I had believed that being the case staff onboard would also be taught to be aware.  Am I expecting too much?  In over 50 cruises I've only ever seen one previous incident and now this evening I read of possibly 4 or 5 in one go.

 

 

[JDB78]

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the last sentence. What you know to be fact through seeing things with your own eyes is completely different to take hearsay as fact.

 

You hear of trouble in London a lot - gun violence in America. Does that automatically mean you're going to run into issues if you went to either? It certainly adds to your worry, but I wonder just how many 'incidents' there are. I've only been on 8 cruises and have never seen anything. I overheard our neighbours on Ventura in July talking about an incident they had been told about - there was a lot of apparently this happened and apparently that - does anyone know for sure?

 

Obviously it is up to P&O to ensure any incidents are dealt with and if it is becoming more of a problem they do need to nip it in the bud as you say. Same as you would expect local authorities to deal with anti-social behaviour if you were on a land based resort.

 

I guess part of the trouble is that it's very much in P&Os interest to keep any incidents as quiet as possible. I very much doubt that you will be able to get any credible stats on 'incidents' as an industry as a whole, never mind specific lines???

 

Can't help but think it's yet another thing to bash P&O over the head with to go with the 1,000 other things people have brought up in recent times. Surely any incidents wouldnt be specific to P&O - although maybe not applicable to Saga but you never know

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, JDB78 said:

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the last sentence. What you know to be fact through seeing things with your own eyes is completely different to take hearsay as fact.

 

You hear of trouble in London a lot - gun violence in America. Does that automatically mean you're going to run into issues if you went to either? It certainly adds to your worry, but I wonder just how many 'incidents' there are. I've only been on 8 cruises and have never seen anything. I overheard our neighbours on Ventura in July talking about an incident they had been told about - there was a lot of apparently this happened and apparently that - does anyone know for sure?

 

Obviously it is up to P&O to ensure any incidents are dealt with and if it is becoming more of a problem they do need to nip it in the bud as you say. Same as you would expect local authorities to deal with anti-social behaviour if you were on a land based resort.

 

I guess part of the trouble is that it's very much in P&Os interest to keep any incidents as quiet as possible. I very much doubt that you will be able to get any credible stats on 'incidents' as an industry as a whole, never mind specific lines???

 

Can't help but think it's yet another thing to bash P&O over the head with to go with the 1,000 other things people have brought up in recent times. Surely any incidents wouldnt be specific to P&O - although maybe not applicable to Saga but you never know

I want to emphasise my second paragraph in which I say the reviews may be total rubbish as I'm in no way suggesting this is a P&O specific problem.  My concerns are that Feefo reviews are responses from passengers asked to comment by P&O unlike for instance here and generally they get removed if false.

 

You are of course right about exaggeration and for my own experience I would say it was uncomfortable and difficult and the response of security did not offer much comfort.  I'm more interested in what the process should be in the event of something nasty happening.  Certainly this last cruise I saw a marked increase in the number the worse for wear due to alcohol and I wondered what the rules on continuing to serve those clearly worse the wear for it are.

[crompton21]

Personal experience of a recent Iona cruise:

 

one “guest” we met in a lift displaying two black eyes and a split nose and a second being pushed along in a wheelchair with a bandaged head attempting to stop some quite significant blood flow.

 

Both of these were most likely the result of falls, however we did hear a description of a fight occurring in the theatre.

 

 

[Tablelamp]

I wonder how many of these incidents, fuelled by alcohol are caused by people determined to get their money’s worth out of a drinks package.  “Why not put the price of the drinks package down and lower the amount of alcohol which may be consumed.

[tring]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I want to emphasise my second paragraph in which I say the reviews may be total rubbish as I'm in no way suggesting this is a P&O specific problem.  My concerns are that Feefo reviews are responses from passengers asked to comment by P&O unlike for instance here and generally they get removed if false.

 

You are of course right about exaggeration and for my own experience I would say it was uncomfortable and difficult and the response of security did not offer much comfort.  I'm more interested in what the process should be in the event of something nasty happening.  Certainly this last cruise I saw a marked increase in the number the worse for wear due to alcohol and I wondered what the rules on continuing to serve those clearly worse the wear for it are.

 

Megabear, I have seen another comment you made regards an incident when you called security on Britannia, but could you perhaps expend on that here, or let me know where that incident is mentioned on your blog?  I did not read much of your blog and it is a very long thread to read through now but certainly security is an important issue. 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by tring

[molecrochip]

There have always been incidents. With social media, and increased use of social media by cruise passengers, its just more likely they get reported.

 

Party cruises, festive cruises, cruises during football tournaments tend to have a higher incidence of issues its a blip no worse than the increase in issues in your local town centre at these time of year. My view is that cashless spending doesn't help as people don't just run out of money and stop buying the beers. That said, waiters will refuse to serve and I've seen it happen.

 

Incidents, where reported, after reviewed. There is so much CCTV that security can review. 

 

However, take the example of the stalker, this may just be another solo cruise passenger being overly-assertive in being friendly. It happens. Not saying this is the case,  I don't know the details and certainly don't want to rubbish the comment.

 

Again, a person held for grooming kids - seems a very strong accusation and probably was just someone who was overly friendly. If you've every travelled with young kids, the way random passengers think its ok to pat them on head, pull at their dress commenting how nice it is, offer them sweets etc. is alarming. I've actually asked a passenger to stop touching my child before. Whilst we may all be on the same voyage, they are still strangers and my kids are reminded of this.

 

A missing guest is not unusual however CCTV can normally track someone down. A stabbing is a concern but again, know no details so won't speculate. People arguing and smashing up a room will often stop if threatened with being arrested or offloaded, and whilst no further action was taken immediately, it was likely followed the day after.

 

Like I say, in my experience anything reported is taken seriously and the response balanced against the overall health and safety of everone.

[Bazrat]

8 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I have been reading this evening the latest Feefo reviews for P&O, a large number of which seem to refer to the 35 night Ventura Christmas cruise.  Alarmingly there are several mentions of a stabbing, a missing guest at 5.00am and a person held for possibly grooming children.  There's also a solo lady traveller who claims she was stalked by someone in the cabin opposite.

 

Clearly these reports may be total rubbish - hopefully someone here may be able to throw some light on these things - but I personally am beginning to worry that we are reading more often of violence onboard.  I have explained elsewhere the problems experienced on Britannia by me personally with drunken football fans and the 2.00am call for assistance due to a "guest incident" on Deck 14,  and have today read in the Arvia maiden the situation with the guests in the room above the reviewer smashing up furniture and fighting amongst themselves before an arrest had to be made.

 

If the Feefo comments are true it would appear that at least three of the Christmas cruises had a problem with unruly and seemingly violent passengers.  Whilst P&O are obviously not responsible for individuals' personal behaviour they surely are responsible for the safety of passengers by observing possible sources of trouble and nipping them in the bud.  The problems we encountered and witnessed were clearly fuelled by alcohol and partisan football support.  That being the case are there any rules regarding refusal of alcohol service in the same way as ashore to those who have clearly had too much to drink?  

 

In our incident security did appear when asked but the people causing the nuisance were merely told to tone it down and allowed to carry on drinking.  The 20 or so people who were being intimidated by this crowd were quietly told there were more sears at the other end of the pool deck if we'd like to move.

 

Reading of the Arvia arrest and now these reviews on Feefo I must confess to being a little worried my incident is not unique.  As someone who travels alone a lot I can normally spot potential problems well in advance and avoid them. I had believed that being the case staff onboard would also be taught to be aware.  Am I expecting too much?  In over 50 cruises I've only ever seen one previous incident and now this evening I read of possibly 4 or 5 in one go.

 

 

This is how the clown incident took off on here, someone posted something which was a fabrication and we had a great debat on falling standards on P&O ships, I prefer to wait till there is actual verification.

[Dermotsgirl]

11 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

This is how the clown incident took off on here, someone posted something which was a fabrication and we had a great debat on falling standards on P&O ships, I prefer to wait till there is actual verification.

The clown incident was a news report from a reasonably well known reporter, not something that someone made up on Cruise Critic.

 

If you wait for actual verification from P&O, you'll never know anything, as P&O play their cards close to their chest.

 

All we can do is listen to personal reports from our little trusted circle on this P&O board, and watch out for trends in the wider social media arena 

[Megabear2]

34 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

There have always been incidents. With social media, and increased use of social media by cruise passengers, its just more likely they get reported.

 

Party cruises, festive cruises, cruises during football tournaments tend to have a higher incidence of issues its a blip no worse than the increase in issues in your local town centre at these time of year. My view is that cashless spending doesn't help as people don't just run out of money and stop buying the beers. That said, waiters will refuse to serve and I've seen it happen.

 

Incidents, where reported, after reviewed. There is so much CCTV that security can review. 

 

However, take the example of the stalker, this may just be another solo cruise passenger being overly-assertive in being friendly. It happens. Not saying this is the case,  I don't know the details and certainly don't want to rubbish the comment.

 

Again, a person held for grooming kids - seems a very strong accusation and probably was just someone who was overly friendly. If you've every travelled with young kids, the way random passengers think its ok to pat them on head, pull at their dress commenting how nice it is, offer them sweets etc. is alarming. I've actually asked a passenger to stop touching my child before. Whilst we may all be on the same voyage, they are still strangers and my kids are reminded of this.

 

A missing guest is not unusual however CCTV can normally track someone down. A stabbing is a concern but again, know no details so won't speculate. People arguing and smashing up a room will often stop if threatened with being arrested or offloaded, and whilst no further action was taken immediately, it was likely followed the day after.

 

Like I say, in my experience anything reported is taken seriously and the response balanced against the overall health and safety of everone.

Thank you for your input and level headed approach.  Obviously I am aware incidents occur on ships - can't help but see the videos of mass brawls on some US voyages and it would be very head in the sand to say otherwise.  What I will say is I have hardly ever seen an incident or trouble on a P&O ship apart from a very nasty incident on Azura in her maiden season.  Yes, I have seen people inebriated and the occasional handbags at dawn husband and wife argument but certainly nothing like I personally saw on Britannia this year or that I read about yesterday. 

 

As I said in my report from Britannia there was a very marked change in a large number of the clientele onboard compared with other cruises on her - please remember I'm a working class oik from Essex who's in no way elitist and knows where her roots are! For avoidance of doubt I'm also a football supporter and for my sins have held a season ticket at Chelsea since I was 16 (not much to be said about that one at the moment but heh I've had worse) so have "enjoyed" the very worst possible excess of football related troubles and violence through the 70', 80's and beyond.

 

My Christmas cruise was peppered with large groups of clearly partisan football supporters some of who on one occasion thought it fine to gather on a the balcony three doors down from my room to chant loudly at the NCL ship next to us "Who are you, who are" for 20 minutes leading to bemused Americans and others gathering on deck to watch in astonishment.

 

As requested by Tring this is what occurred to me personally.

 

My biggest problem as I said elsewhere was on Boxing Day.  Brodies had been showing Premier League football most of the day culminating in the Aston Villa/Liverpool game.  It was a port day and many had been ashore sampling(!) the local rum.  Passing by the bar on the way to a late lunch in the Glass House it was clearly very busy in Brodies.  We thought it was strange to see football shirts on some people as we had previously been advised they were banned but having seen en masse Barcelona and Argentina shirts during the world cup final we were not so surprised.

 

That evening the Headliners and Pulse were performing a special event poolside.  As we had eaten lunch we decided to eat at the buffet and get a good seat poolside to enjoy this event, which was indeed excellent.  Halfway through a very drunken bunch of ladies took the table next to us, one having just been sick as she walked along poolside and one missing her seat and falling to the floor.  They proceeded to scream and shout amongst themselves, just high spirits we thought.  However about ten minutes later a bunch of men appeared, around 6 of them, who were gathering at the bar loudly shouting with obscenities clearly being heard by all around.   Next thing the elder of them started accosting people around him cuddling complete strangers and insisting on fist bumps because apparently they'd "f...ing" won.  The rest then rushed over to the women knocking those around them out of the way. My husband was at the bar and another bunch arrived again very loud, swearing and shouting and demanding very rudely from staff. 

 

Next thing I knew the older man was standing in front of our table grabbing at me and demanding drunkenly into my face to know where I came from and did I know his team had won.  Despite this I tried to be polite and asked where he was from and had he been enjoying himself.  At this point he lunged into me saying you're having a laugh aren't you  listen to me or are you too good to speak to me.  I was a bit taken aback as I was at that stage alone and sadly he was very agitated.  Thankfully my husband arrived back and diffused the situation by joking with the man.

 

At this stage there was a commotion over by the bar as security arrived, obviously called due to the antics.  Words were exchanged and those sitting near the table next to me moved to be near their friends.  At that point my husband said to me this is going to be all off in a moment and I think it would be wise to move on.  Several other people were clearly thinking the same and were hurriedly gathering possessions.  As our cabin was forward we started to head that way.  We had made it halfway when the waiter who'd been serving us all caught up with us and said he would find new tables for us all away from what he termed the "commotion".  We accepted this offer, most of the others especially those with children did not and said they were leaving.

 

Having been seated we watched from a distance as the partying drunks took over completely the bar area at the Horizon food court end and how no other guest would sit at the empty tables. Many of them could hardly stand and the man next to us turned to me and said I hope they fall in.

 

I must confess I was shocked when my husband spoke to the security man and was told P&O were not responsible for individuals' behaviour and we should live and let live.  I had been quite frightened by my experience and chose at this point to head back. Ironically it started to rain as we were leaving and a safety announcement stated the party would stop and move to The Live Lounge.

 

Not drastic compared with some reports but totally and utterly unacceptable and certainly nothing I'd wish to see or be involved with again on a ship.

[Bazrat]

11 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

The clown incident was a news report from a reasonably well known reporter, not something that someone made up on Cruise Critic.

 

If you wait for actual verification from P&O, you'll never know anything, as P&O play their cards close to their chest.

 

All we can do is listen to personal reports from our little trusted circle on this P&O board, and watch out for trends in the wider social media arena 

Actually your incorrect the story was made up as confirmed by the police and P&O, but if you prefer to read unverified reports so be it.

[Megabear2]

29 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

This is how the clown incident took off on here, someone posted something which was a fabrication and we had a great debat on falling standards on P&O ships, I prefer to wait till there is actual verification.

Which is why I said these problems were on the Feefo questionnaire/review site provided by P&O and did anyone have first hand knowledge of if they were correct.  I don't give a damn about clowns and newspaper fabrications, I do however think its correct to consider following my own experience whether these people may actually be telling the truth.  It could be, as I said before, complete rubbish or it could be true.  If it's the former presumably P&O will have the reviews removed from Feefo, if it's the latter it's rather concerning, at least to me.

 

Incidentally my Feefo review remains, complete with my sorry story above - it was actually looking to see if that was the case which led me to see these stories.

[Dermotsgirl]

7 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Actually your incorrect the story was made up as confirmed by the police and P&O, but if you prefer to read unverified reports so be it.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear - it was made up by the news reporter, not someone from this board.

 

The reason it got such wide coverage was because the news reporter was reasonably well known and sailing on Britannia at the time.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Dermotsgirl

[crompton21]

The clown was a fabrication, the event however did happen, which I am sure most on here will accept:

 

A FORMER stockbroker has been jailed for kicking a passenger 'like a penalty' and punching another man when a violent brawl erupted during a cruise ship's late night buffet.

The drunken fight broke out after Paul Evans and Tabatha Young, who were dating at the time, became angry when a family asked them to stop swearing as they dined on board P&O's Britannia ship.

First Young - a popular YouTuber - attacked fellow holidaymaker Sarah Gardner, a nurse who had retired to the Horizon Buffet with her husband Justin Gardner and her two daughters after attending a family disco.

[paulatsea]

36 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thank you for your input and level headed approach.  Obviously I am aware incidents occur on ships - can't help but see the videos of mass brawls on some US voyages and it would be very head in the sand to say otherwise.  What I will say is I have hardly ever seen an incident or trouble on a P&O ship apart from a very nasty incident on Azura in her maiden season.  Yes, I have seen people inebriated and the occasional handbags at dawn husband and wife argument but certainly nothing like I personally saw on Britannia this year or that I read about yesterday. 

 

As I said in my report from Britannia there was a very marked change in a large number of the clientele onboard compared with other cruises on her - please remember I'm a working class oik from Essex who's in no way elitist and knows where her roots are! For avoidance of doubt I'm also a football supporter and for my sins have held a season ticket at Chelsea since I was 16 (not much to be said about that one at the moment but heh I've had worse) so have "enjoyed" the very worst possible excess of football related troubles and violence through the 70', 80's and beyond.

 

My Christmas cruise was peppered with large groups of clearly partisan football supporters some of who on one occasion thought it fine to gather on a the balcony three doors down from my room to chant loudly at the NCL ship next to us "Who are you, who are" for 20 minutes leading to bemused Americans and others gathering on deck to watch in astonishment.

 

As requested by Tring this is what occurred to me personally.

 

My biggest problem as I said elsewhere was on Boxing Day.  Brodies had been showing Premier League football most of the day culminating in the Aston Villa/Liverpool game.  It was a port day and many had been ashore sampling(!) the local rum.  Passing by the bar on the way to a late lunch in the Glass House it was clearly very busy in Brodies.  We thought it was strange to see football shirts on some people as we had previously been advised they were banned but having seen en masse Barcelona and Argentina shirts during the world cup final we were not so surprised.

 

That evening the Headliners and Pulse were performing a special event poolside.  As we had eaten lunch we decided to eat at the buffet and get a good seat poolside to enjoy this event, which was indeed excellent.  Halfway through a very drunken bunch of ladies took the table next to us, one having just been sick as she walked along poolside and one missing her seat and falling to the floor.  They proceeded to scream and shout amongst themselves, just high spirits we thought.  However about ten minutes later a bunch of men appeared, around 6 of them, who were gathering at the bar loudly shouting with obscenities clearly being heard by all around.   Next thing the elder of them started accosting people around him cuddling complete strangers and insisting on fist bumps because apparently they'd "f...ing" won.  The rest then rushed over to the women knocking those around them out of the way. My husband was at the bar and another bunch arrived again very loud, swearing and shouting and demanding very rudely from staff. 

 

Next thing I knew the older man was standing in front of our table grabbing at me and demanding drunkenly into my face to know where I came from and did I know his team had won.  Despite this I tried to be polite and asked where he was from and had he been enjoying himself.  At this point he lunged into me saying you're having a laugh aren't you  listen to me or are you too good to speak to me.  I was a bit taken aback as I was at that stage alone and sadly he was very agitated.  Thankfully my husband arrived back and diffused the situation by joking with the man.

 

At this stage there was a commotion over by the bar as security arrived, obviously called due to the antics.  Words were exchanged and those sitting near the table next to me moved to be near their friends.  At that point my husband said to me this is going to be all off in a moment and I think it would be wise to move on.  Several other people were clearly thinking the same and were hurriedly gathering possessions.  As our cabin was forward we started to head that way.  We had made it halfway when the waiter who'd been serving us all caught up with us and said he would find new tables for us all away from what he termed the "commotion".  We accepted this offer, most of the others especially those with children did not and said they were leaving.

 

Having been seated we watched from a distance as the partying drunks took over completely the bar area at the Horizon food court end and how no other guest would sit at the empty tables. Many of them could hardly stand and the man next to us turned to me and said I hope they fall in.

 

I must confess I was shocked when my husband spoke to the security man and was told P&O were not responsible for individuals' behaviour and we should live and let live.  I had been quite frightened by my experience and chose at this point to head back. Ironically it started to rain as we were leaving and a safety announcement stated the party would stop and move to The Live Lounge.

 

Not drastic compared with some reports but totally and utterly unacceptable and certainly nothing I'd wish to see or be involved with again on a ship.

Dreadful experience for you.
I don’t think anything like this should be tolerated by the crew/officers.

Zero tolerance. Offload at the next port or return and offload.

For staff to say it’s not up to them to do anything is total abdication of responsibility.

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by paulatsea

[cruising.mark.uk]

I'm not sure what this has to do with cruising in general, let alone P&O specifically.  We might as well be debating whether posters are aware of any boisterous and, potentially - at times - criminal behaviour in our local town centre on a Saturday night.  Four or five thousand people plus alcohol will always lead to incidents.  Why should a cruise ship be any different?

 

And there is no definitive 'truth' about these incidents.  People who were there will be able to give us their view / perception, but that is only the 'truth' for them.  Ask 10 people to describe exactly the same incident and you are likely to receive 10 very different versions of events. 

 

Everybody will have their own perception and tolerance level for behaviour of this type - some will find anything beyond sitting in lounge chairs sipping sherry and discussing the weather unacceptable, others will take a live and let live approach to individuals and groups enjoying themselves in a more boisterous fashion, up to the point where it becomes a public nuisance or real harm is done.  What defines real harm will differ from person to person and their assessment of the likelihood of it occurring may factor into their decision as to whether or not to cruise with a particular line on a party cruise over Spring Break in the same way that it might if they were considering going to a nightclub on New Year's Eve.

[amajaa]

Sorry I know I will probably get shot down for this as I did when I said this before in a similar thread. All of these incidents we are reading about seem to be the result of people consuming too much alcohol, they should get rid of these alcohol packages as many just try and get their money worth. 

[paulatsea]

27 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Sorry I know I will probably get shot down for this as I did when I said this before in a similar thread. All of these incidents we are reading about seem to be the result of people consuming too much alcohol, they should get rid of these alcohol packages as many just try and get their money worth. 

Agree - the packages are abused by some which results in lots of others having to suffer including the staff.

 

Perhaps they could be graded - from say 1 - 2 bottles wine pp or Equivalent at a good price upwards to hyper expensive for unlimited.

I expect some lines already do this but I don’t know.

 

personally I never get a package but I know lots enjoy the flexibility and convenience and having premium drinks etc

 

 

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Thank you for your input and level headed approach.  Obviously I am aware incidents occur on ships - can't help but see the videos of mass brawls on some US voyages and it would be very head in the sand to say otherwise.  What I will say is I have hardly ever seen an incident or trouble on a P&O ship apart from a very nasty incident on Azura in her maiden season.  Yes, I have seen people inebriated and the occasional handbags at dawn husband and wife argument but certainly nothing like I personally saw on Britannia this year or that I read about yesterday. 

 

As I said in my report from Britannia there was a very marked change in a large number of the clientele onboard compared with other cruises on her - please remember I'm a working class oik from Essex who's in no way elitist and knows where her roots are! For avoidance of doubt I'm also a football supporter and for my sins have held a season ticket at Chelsea since I was 16 (not much to be said about that one at the moment but heh I've had worse) so have "enjoyed" the very worst possible excess of football related troubles and violence through the 70', 80's and beyond.

 

My Christmas cruise was peppered with large groups of clearly partisan football supporters some of who on one occasion thought it fine to gather on a the balcony three doors down from my room to chant loudly at the NCL ship next to us "Who are you, who are" for 20 minutes leading to bemused Americans and others gathering on deck to watch in astonishment.

 

As requested by Tring this is what occurred to me personally.

 

My biggest problem as I said elsewhere was on Boxing Day.  Brodies had been showing Premier League football most of the day culminating in the Aston Villa/Liverpool game.  It was a port day and many had been ashore sampling(!) the local rum.  Passing by the bar on the way to a late lunch in the Glass House it was clearly very busy in Brodies.  We thought it was strange to see football shirts on some people as we had previously been advised they were banned but having seen en masse Barcelona and Argentina shirts during the world cup final we were not so surprised.

 

That evening the Headliners and Pulse were performing a special event poolside.  As we had eaten lunch we decided to eat at the buffet and get a good seat poolside to enjoy this event, which was indeed excellent.  Halfway through a very drunken bunch of ladies took the table next to us, one having just been sick as she walked along poolside and one missing her seat and falling to the floor.  They proceeded to scream and shout amongst themselves, just high spirits we thought.  However about ten minutes later a bunch of men appeared, around 6 of them, who were gathering at the bar loudly shouting with obscenities clearly being heard by all around.   Next thing the elder of them started accosting people around him cuddling complete strangers and insisting on fist bumps because apparently they'd "f...ing" won.  The rest then rushed over to the women knocking those around them out of the way. My husband was at the bar and another bunch arrived again very loud, swearing and shouting and demanding very rudely from staff. 

 

Next thing I knew the older man was standing in front of our table grabbing at me and demanding drunkenly into my face to know where I came from and did I know his team had won.  Despite this I tried to be polite and asked where he was from and had he been enjoying himself.  At this point he lunged into me saying you're having a laugh aren't you  listen to me or are you too good to speak to me.  I was a bit taken aback as I was at that stage alone and sadly he was very agitated.  Thankfully my husband arrived back and diffused the situation by joking with the man.

 

At this stage there was a commotion over by the bar as security arrived, obviously called due to the antics.  Words were exchanged and those sitting near the table next to me moved to be near their friends.  At that point my husband said to me this is going to be all off in a moment and I think it would be wise to move on.  Several other people were clearly thinking the same and were hurriedly gathering possessions.  As our cabin was forward we started to head that way.  We had made it halfway when the waiter who'd been serving us all caught up with us and said he would find new tables for us all away from what he termed the "commotion".  We accepted this offer, most of the others especially those with children did not and said they were leaving.

 

Having been seated we watched from a distance as the partying drunks took over completely the bar area at the Horizon food court end and how no other guest would sit at the empty tables. Many of them could hardly stand and the man next to us turned to me and said I hope they fall in.

 

I must confess I was shocked when my husband spoke to the security man and was told P&O were not responsible for individuals' behaviour and we should live and let live.  I had been quite frightened by my experience and chose at this point to head back. Ironically it started to rain as we were leaving and a safety announcement stated the party would stop and move to The Live Lounge.

 

Not drastic compared with some reports but totally and utterly unacceptable and certainly nothing I'd wish to see or be involved with again on a ship.

Just an awful experience for you Megabear. I’m not sure which is worse - the behaviour of those uncouth and drunk individuals or the apparent complete lack of concern / action from security. I suspect security were not wanting to escalate the behaviour into something a lot nastier, but…..

 

[alun.jones.nl]

47 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Sorry I know I will probably get shot down for this as I did when I said this before in a similar thread. All of these incidents we are reading about seem to be the result of people consuming too much alcohol, they should get rid of these alcohol packages as many just try and get their money worth. 

The thing is that I have travelled on other lines that have the drinks package as standard and not seen the same issues that i witnessed on Arvia during the Maiden voyage - I don't think that the package is the issue but maybe the mentality of the people using it!

[paulatsea]

8 minutes ago, alun.jones.nl said:

The thing is that I have travelled on other lines that have the drinks package as standard and not seen the same issues that i witnessed on Arvia during the Maiden voyage - I don't think that the package is the issue but maybe the mentality of the people using it!

Combination of very large ship capacity / holiday period / destination / price maybe ?

 

If it had been dealt with immediately and strongly that would have prevented further incidents I expect.

Edited January 9, 2023 by paulatsea

[Megabear2]

54 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I'm not sure what this has to do with cruising in general, let alone P&O specifically.  We might as well be debating whether posters are aware of any boisterous and, potentially - at times - criminal behaviour in our local town centre on a Saturday night.  Four or five thousand people plus alcohol will always lead to incidents.  Why should a cruise ship be any different?

 

And there is no definitive 'truth' about these incidents.  People who were there will be able to give us their view / perception, but that is only the 'truth' for them.  Ask 10 people to describe exactly the same incident and you are likely to receive 10 very different versions of events. 

 

Everybody will have their own perception and tolerance level for behaviour of this type - some will find anything beyond sitting in lounge chairs sipping sherry and discussing the weather unacceptable, others will take a live and let live approach to individuals and groups enjoying themselves in a more boisterous fashion, up to the point where it becomes a public nuisance or real harm is done.  What defines real harm will differ from person to person and their assessment of the likelihood of it occurring may factor into their decision as to whether or not to cruise with a particular line on a party cruise over Spring Break in the same way that it might if they were considering going to a nightclub on New Year's Eve.

And this type of reply is exactly why I didn't originally go into any detail of what I saw happening whilst on my holiday.  It was my personal experience, my opinion and aside from saying I thought the behaviour unreasonable chose not to go any further. 

 

My raising the topic is because it is such a surprise to read of others on different ships commenting on these types of events which in my experience is something I've never come across on P&O.  My reason for raising them was to ascertain if others onboard ships had seen these occurrences arising if at all or more frequently.  

 

For all I know the Ventura stories may be complete rubbish but my own rather miserable experience on Britannia showed me that the new clientele do not have the same purpose in cruising as myself and many others and that a lot of them are hellbent on treating the ship as some extension of their Saturday night out and in much the same way as the city centres you describe.  

 

There's also the fact that my husband is relatively calm tempered and able to diffuse matters with a joke and a smile. Others may not. 

 

P&O security were called on this occasion by their own staff not passengers. Surely under those circumstances it merited a better response than live and let live.

[paulatsea]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

And this type of reply is exactly why I didn't originally go into any detail of what I saw happening whilst on my holiday.  It was my personal experience, my opinion and aside from saying I thought the behaviour unreasonable chose not to go any further. 

 

My raising the topic is because it is such a surprise to read of others on different ships commenting on these types of events which in my experience is something I've never come across on P&O.  My reason for raising them was to ascertain if others onboard ships had seen these occurrences arising if at all or more frequently.  

 

For all I know the Ventura stories may be complete rubbish but my own rather miserable experience on Britannia showed me that the new clientele do not have the same purpose in cruising as myself and many others and that a lot of them are hellbent on treating the ship as some extension of their Saturday night out and in much the same way as the city centres you describe.  

 

There's also the fact that my husband is relatively calm tempered and able to diffuse matters with a joke and a smile. Others may not. 

 

P&O security were called on this occasion by their own staff not passengers. Surely under those circumstances it merited a better response than live and let live.

Absolutely right MB - and thanks for raising this issue.

[yorkshirephil]

58 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Sorry I know I will probably get shot down for this as I did when I said this before in a similar thread. All of these incidents we are reading about seem to be the result of people consuming too much alcohol, they should get rid of these alcohol packages as many just try and get their money worth. 

I won't shoot you down because I believe it is a factor, I do remember in the not too distant past that people were complaining that P&O were one of the few lines that did not have a drinks package and needed to "get with the times". The old saying " be careful what you wish for" springs to mind.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Everybody will have their own perception and tolerance level for behaviour of this type - some will find anything beyond sitting in lounge chairs sipping sherry and discussing the weather unacceptable, others will take a live and let live approach to individuals and groups enjoying themselves in a more boisterous fashion, up to the point where it becomes a public nuisance or real harm is done.

Correct, to a point, but I am sure you accept that by any standards, what MB and other cruisers experienced on Britannia was unacceptable. 

Boisterous is one thing, being man handled and sworn at is assault.