A luxury Scandinavian cruise company has been forced to refund hundreds of passengers after missing out the entirety of Sweden, Lithuania and Poland.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) failed to call at almost half of its scheduled stops on a route through the Baltic Sea last month because of an “unforeseen technical issue”.
The company sold the trip as an opportunity to combine the history of the Baltics with a Scandinavian cruise, “taking you to beautiful areas once sailed by Viking explorers”.
However, propulsion problems meant the Norwegian Sun ship had to revise its itinerary and motor at a reduced speed.
Instead of stopping to take in the cultural sites and architecture of Nynäshamn in Sweden, Klaipėda in Lithuania, Gdynia in Poland and Kiel in Germany, travellers were bound to the confines of the ship.
The technical fault meant the nine-day cruise – which departed Helsinki in Finland at the end of last month and had planned to stop at a different location each day – only stopped at five of the scheduled ports.
One cancelled stop was replaced with a visit to Rønne in Denmark.
Customers are now in a battle for their money back, saying they spent thousands on the experience of a lifetime only to spend much of it in their cabins at sea.
Katie Kent Taylor, a 51-year-old school social worker from Tennessee in the US, said the sudden changes ruined what she had hoped would be a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip for her and her son.
The single mother had spent months saving for the holiday. It was supposed to be a celebration of her son Zach’s high school graduation.
Zach grew up with autism and a tic disorder. Ms Taylor said she wanted to “celebrate his hard work and resilience”.
“His dream trip was to all the countries of the Baltic Sea... he wanted this so badly and he never asks for anything,” she said.
Ms Taylor said the cancellations were upsetting for her son, who ended up spending much of his time walking around the ship.
“I cried and apologised to Zach,” Ms Taylor said. “I told him I feel like I failed him.”
‘Insulting’ compensation
Initially, passengers were offered $100 (£74.50) in non-refundable credit per cabin for use on the ship, as well as free WiFi and a 25pc credit per person for future bookings.
This was subsequently increased to include a 25pc refund of the cruise fare.
But passengers say the recompense is “insulting” and are pushing for more, while some are even discussing the possibility of a class-action lawsuit.
Under NCL terms, if there is a “significant change” such as missing two ports that is already known before departure, passengers should be notified. After departure, however, it reserves the right to alter itineraries or omit ports because of mechanical problems.
Chris Schluter and Leanne Sardiga, from Illinois, US, described making bets on whether the last remaining stop would be cancelled. The couple paid some $13,000 for the trip for themselves and their daughter.
Ms Sardiga said: “‘Poor’ understates how this was handled.”
Part-way through the trip, passengers were informed that the ship would head to its final destination of Copenhagen sooner than planned for repairs.
“They took a lot of time off us. They took our vacation away to handle their deferred maintenance,” Ms Sardiga said, adding that she and her husband missed the chance to see family in Germany and Poland.
Other customers reported issues with the facilities.
One told The Telegraph that one of the two swimming pools on the ship was empty and said they also experienced problems with plumbing. While bathing their children, her husband said that brown water started emerging from the taps.
She described the 25pc refund on offer as “insulting”.
Another passenger claimed that while boarding, a customer had asked staff about social media posts questioning whether the ship was having problems, but said they were told by staff it had been “sorted out”.
A spokesman for NCL said that because of an “unforeseen technical issue”, the ship was required to operate at a reduced speed.
“While this did not impact the safety of the vessel, we had to adjust the original itinerary of the sailing. While we try to maintain ports of call as scheduled, at times modifications are made to accommodate certain circumstances,” they said.
The company added that it appreciated guests’ “patience and understanding during this unexpected event” and that the safety of passengers and its crew was a “top priority”.
It did not comment on whether propulsion issues emerged during the prior sailing of the Norwegian Sun or whether it would increase the level of compensation currently on offer to passengers affected by cancellations.