Dissatisfied cruise passengers voice their complaints on TV
16/08/2005
May I thank you for the way my accident claim has been handled, after my accident my confidence was very low indeed but the sympathetic handling of my case restored my confidence.
John, SheffieldDisappointed QE2 passengers will appear on the consumer holiday programme Package Holiday Undercover tonight.
Passengers who paid on average £1500 per cabin to watch the Trafalgar 200 celebrations were furious when they found out they would be moored three miles away from the festivities.
"The brochure said that we would be at the 'heart and soul' of the celebrations. It said we would be anchored at Spithead. We were extremely angry to find out that we would be miles away. We could hardly see anything," said Trevor Towill from the Isle of Wight, who will appear on the programme.
Dissatisfied passengers have now started a group legal action against the QE2 cruise company Cunard.
"We have been contacted by more than 75 passengers who are infuriated with Cunard for stating in their brochures and advertisements that the QE2 was to be the fleet flagship for the celebrations. Instead they barely saw the event at a distance and understandably feel that their trip was mis-sold," said solicitor Simon Taylor of Alexander Harris.
Cunard originally offered passengers a £150 voucher towards their next Cunard cruise which "was regarded by our clients as wholly unsatisfactory," said Simon. In fact Cunard have since "made a substantially increased offer to compensate passengers who are part of the group action."
A petition of 700 signatures was collected by passengers and handed to the captain when they found out the position the ship would occupy in the celebrations.
Trevor was one of the passengers who instigated the petition in an attempt to get the famous cruise liner to anchor closer to the celebrations.
"Fireworks were way off in the distance and we didn't see the fly-by from the Red Arrows. Instead, we were told that we could watch the enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar via TV screens on-board. We could have done that at home and at far less expense," said Trevor, who paid £2300 for the four day cruise.
Package Holiday Undercover is broadcast tonight (Tuesday 16th August 2005) at 8pm on ITV1
Notes to Editors
- All media enquiries should be directed to the media department at Alexander Harris on 08700 77 88 77.
- Interviews are available from clients and solicitor Simon Taylor.
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