Tui passengers on a luxury cruise felt like “prisoners” trapped on board when the ship failed to dock at many of its locations.
The Rhine Gems cruise was scheduled to visit eight cities over eight days in Germany, Switzerland, and France, however, a broken propeller had other ideas.
Customers – who spent £2,000 on their tickets – are now demanding a refund after they only spent time in Germany, with the other two destinations cancelled due to issues with the ship.
The captain has admitted to knowing that the ship had an issue with its propellers before the cruise even set off on August 26.
Tui passengers felt like ‘prisoners’ after luxury cruise (stock) turned into nightmare
GETTY
In a video seen by The Telegraph, the captain said: “We are dealing with this problem every day.”
When asked how long the issue with the propeller had been going on, he said: “I don’t know exactly. It must have been there [for] three or four weeks.“
Many have complained that special occasions such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries were spoiled due to the disruption.
Out of the 155 passengers onboard, over 100 have joined a WhatsApp group to demand their money back.
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They have been offered under 25 per cent back, in the form of £200 compensation and £200 in vouchers, though many feel like this is inadequate.
The cruise set off from Frankfurt with no problems, though on the third day, passengers noted that the ship was moving significantly slower than other nearby ships.
Shortly after this, they were informed that due to low water levels, the cruise would now be confined to German waters.
Customers were confused as to why other ships were able to travel down the Rhine and were then told that the issues were down to a propeller.
The faulty propeller was adding extra strain on the remaining engine, which resulted in it overheating, passengers claim they were told.
They spent the final two days of the tour in Frankfurt, where the cruise had departed from a week earlier.
They have been offered £200 in compensation and £200 in vouchers by TUI
PA
One passenger told the publication: “The worst part of this is the total lack of responsibility from TUI.”
Others said they felt like “prisoners” on the vessel and thought the compensation was “incredibly derogatory”.
While the travel company has the “love it or your money back” guarantee, this does not apply to “events beyond our control”, such as the broken propeller or low water level.
A TUI UK and Ireland spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to customers impacted by the changes to TUI Isla’s Rhine Gems itinerary departing Frankfurt from August 26 2024. The unfortunate itinerary changes were caused by berthing issues and changes to river water levels.”
“We know this was disappointing news so all impacted customers were given a £200 per person goodwill gesture, along with a £200 per person future holiday voucher.”
