Unfortunately I did not get the chance to experience this cruise. The ship broke down. I was only on the ship for 3 hours. The ship was due to leave at 8.00pm (3 hours later than scheduled) An announcement was put over by the captain to say they were experiencing mechanical problems and the departure time would be put back further. Approx 8.20pm another announcement came over saying the repairs were going to take longer than expected. In fact they could not give a departure time at all. The Captain stated that this would mean they would not get to Moreton Island in time to experience the activities that were on offer on the Island and he could not give any idea about how long the ship would be at Moreton Island. He then mentioned that if they did not depart by 3.00am then they would not be able to go to Moreton Island at all and they would move to Plan "B' which was to sail south to Eden. I was on the cruise to specifically go to Moreton Island. I sailed south on the same trip in January. I had no interest in doing it again. I also had arrangements to meet my family at Moreton Island. Passengers were given the option of disembarking that night and receiving a full refund or remaining on board and receiving a measly $50 onboard credit. He could not give any indication when they ship would depart. I opted to disembark as I was not going to get what I had booked and paid for.
This is when things went 'belly up' The only help we got was to be given the phone number of the taxi company and I had to phone them myself. It cost me $26 dollars to get a taxi to Central Railway Station, luckily I have a seniors card so the train fare was only $2.50. However at the other end it cost me another $46 dollars to get from the station to my home. I already had transport booked for a return journey on the Monday. I lost that money. I also lost money on my kennel fees as my dog was booked in for 4 nights and was only there for 2 nights. I am not sure if I can claim these amounts from P & O. I feel I should not have to claim it from my Travel Insurance.
When P&O realised a number of people had chosen to disembark I don't know why they couldn't have got one of their buses, that does runs to the railway station and the airport, back to transport us. I had to lug my bags up and down stairs, on and off trains and eventually arrived at my home at 1.00am in the morning. NOT HAPPY
I was also not allowed to leave the ship before settling my onboard account which had an amount from the Spa. I said to the receptionist that they had my card details and why could they not do the same as they had done previously and deduct the amount from my account after disembarking. Last time I didn't even have to go to reception before disembarking. This took the girl considerable time as she didn't appear to know what she was doing. It also took her considerable time to find the number for the taxi. Surely they would have this number 'front and centre'. I have since had an email from Carnival ............ who evidently handle the payment of passenger's invoices asking for payment. The deduction sat in my account as 'payment pending' for over a week and then suddenly disappeared. Why had they not taken the money out ? I have not received my refund yet. As I paid my money the day I booked the cruise which was back in January and they had that money for 3 months they could at least have decency to refund it back immediately.
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