Today/Tonight Story

[aussie_dancer]

hi cruisers,

just wondering if anyone can give a good rundown on the story channel 7 ran tonight on P&O cruises?!?! unfortunatly i missed it, but i copped an absolute earful from a very passionate lady at safeway on my way home... i had a P&O pacific sky jumper on from the last time i was on the ship... the lady was going on about today tonight and how i should be ashamed to bear the logo on my clothes...

it actually upset me a bit, because as i am sure you all agree, cruising is the best holiday anyone could possibly take, and just because of a couple of serious incidents that have occured, that could occur anywhere in the world at any given time, we are copping flack for our favourite way to unwind!

[aussiedisneyfan]

The story was extremely negative about our cruising. It was an undercover story on the Pacific Star and it showed a lot of drinking drug distribution and sex in public areas. Really was quite disgusting. I would say that if I hadn't been on the ship and had a wonderful time I wouldn't be booking a cruise.

 

It also said the staff had full knowledge of all the antics and in some cases actually condoned it. They show (what I believe was) a casino staff member discussing how they are "egged on" to get into passengers cabins. Also saying how even though passengers were completely legless drunk they still keep serving them alcohol.

 

It really made it seem like a drunken orgy cruise.

[sweet_successes]

Hi Aussie Dancer

 

I missed the Today Tonight story but did watch the A Current Affair one that didn't say that much other than they tried to talk to the men and were ignored.

 

After finding out about the Today Tonight story I did a web search but their website doesn't have it up yet. My TA did say that P & O have been relatively busy will dealing with cancellations due to the bad publicity when I rang her today to give her my new contact details.

 

It sort of brings my mind back to the times that contiki tours and club med resorts were given bad raps in the 80's and 90's but nothing stopped people still going. I think each to their own and I wouldn't let one person upset you.

 

It is very much a personal choice and I say enjoy what ever choice you have made - I am so excited about my cruise I am trying to book another one for my family and I haven't even gone on the first yet!!!! LOL

 

 

Cheers and be happy with the holiday choices that you make

 

Rach

[girl05]

Like aussiedisneyfan said the story was very very negative about cruising.

 

 

aussie_dancer-I agree cruising is the best holiday that I've been on.

I might write in and let today tonight know my opinion.

http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/contact_feedback_cruiseships

[aussie_dancer]

it is just a little bit of a worry with all this bad publicity, especially at the moment when i have until the end of this year off working onboard, and i have been applying for jobs overseas in the tour entertainment area, and it is at the point where people are reading a resume and saying "oh, you worked for THAT company in entertainment"

not happy!

[girl05]

Goodluck with your job applications aussie_dancer.

Are you going to apply for a job on Pacific Dawn?

[aussie_dancer]

nah i dont need to apply, it is where ever they send me. at the moment it is looking like the caribbean princess, and that works out fine for me, because timing wise it will be perfect! half way through my contract i will be in and around Jamaica for the 2007 Cricket World Cup!

[Skyrules]

The story was extremely negative about our cruising. It was an undercover story on the Pacific Star and it showed a lot of drinking drug distribution and sex in public areas. Really was quite disgusting. I would say that if I hadn't been on the ship and had a wonderful time I wouldn't be booking a cruise.

 

It also said the staff had full knowledge of all the antics and in some cases actually condoned it. They show (what I believe was) a casino staff member discussing how they are "egged on" to get into passengers cabins. Also saying how even though passengers were completely legless drunk they still keep serving them alcohol.

 

It really made it seem like a drunken orgy cruise.

 

If this is the case then we must currently be sailing on a totally different ship masquarading as Pacific Star, because in 11 days at sea we have not seen any evidence of any of this - in fact, we've seen people being refused alcohol, and notices on Bar registers advising all staff of passenger names that aren't to be served alcohol. Security has also been on top of most issues that have arisen.

 

I personally wouldn't believe ANYTHING that Today Tonight says about ANY subject. The Casino "staff member" will probably turn out to be some one who was sacked for doing the thing he claims were condoned, or channel 7 actor employed to beat up the story (it's been done before).

 

Kym

(still at sea on Pacific Star, and loving it).

[luvvin_u_2]

i wrote into 2day tonight.. doubt i will get a reply..

its funny how people can act so naievly to media, friends n family (even some who have cruised before) now decide they dont want to cruise..It was a lot of crap they showed on tv.. i mean, security kicked me out of the club and cancelled my boyfriends cruise card when they caught me drinking, they were nice men tho.. i doubt very much p&o staff would be giving out drugs to people.. they offer us the best service and people just whinge and complain..

the time on deck that they showed everyone, there werent all that many people around so obviously it would have been very early in the morning and obviously people would be drunk by then, but so what? it happens in sydney too!

there has never been any major trouble on the cruises i have been on.. our ships are 'fun ships', if they dont like it..try cruising princess or something

[sarze]

As already mentioned by Skyrules, don't place too much faith in TodayTonight. We actually watch it as a comedy show and are sometimes in tears with laughter at some of there stories, and the reaction of Naomi at the end of the story :)

Within our group of Uni friends it is commonly referred to as 'Bogan TV'

So keep enjoying the cruises I say :)

Also, I just want to add that even if any of those things do happen you usually won't find it unless you are looking for it. As a uni student who doesn't drink very often (I know, weird huh?) on the few occassions I have gone to clubs with friends I have never seen drugs etc but we all know they are there somewhere :)

[aussiedisneyfan]

I submitted feedback to their website too. This is what I sent in.

 

I have sailed on four P&O Australia cruises, one of them on the Pacific Star in January and did not see any for the debauchery that your segment indicated last night.

I realise that things like that happen and shouldn't, but felt that your show portrayed the whole cruise being a big drinking/drug sex orgy. It was not stated that the "bar sliding" scenes were in Vila as opposed to the ship and the segment certainly gave me impression that this was a daily occurrence. Yes, it happens in Vila but the vast majority of passengers don't go to those bars and leave it up to those passengers who wish to participate. Also, most of the footage seemed to be around the pool areas at night and there were not a lot of passengers about. I assume, therefore, these recordings were filmed in the wee hours of the morning when most sober/responsible people were in bed. I have attended deck parties on all my cruises and whilst later in the night there is a lot of drinking going on I certainly have never seen what was portrayed on your show. Some people will have problems with noise at night etc it is inevitable and I accept you will always have people that are determined to drink and/or cause as much trouble as possible. I believe that if you went into any nightclub/pub/bar at those hours in the morning you would find exactly the same sort of behaviour going on. It is not isolated to cruise ships.

My cruises have all been with children and certainly have not felt that inappropriate behaviour was being carried on around them. If I had not have already been on cruises your reporting of them certainly would have completely turned me off them. We have enjoyed all our cruises and hope that your show will air some (if any other) positive feedback from past passengers. We have never gotten off a cruise and felt that it was an unenjoyable experience.

[luvvin_u_2]

im glad u wrote into them.. hopefully we can build up some good publicity for them.. who knows though because on those shows they might only want to take the bad reviews..

i was wondering about that sliding along the bar.. how fast would security get onto them if it was on the ship!

[girl05]

I wrote to them aswell, I'll be watching tonight to see if they do read out any viewers feedback.

[maxx]

Apparantly they are doing a follow up tonight showing other cruise stories from past passengers.

[aussiedisneyfan]

Well they obviously ignored our feedback because they only reported being inundated with similar stories of depravity. The even showed another lady that had been raped but it was on the fairstrar. Please don't think I am trying to trivialise her experience it is merely the fact they are talking about the star but then produce a witness of something from a different ship that happened 20 years ago.

 

They did point out (due to P&Os comments) that the sliding bar scenes were in Vila and not on the ship.

 

Basically I felt they still portayed the ship as a drunken orgy they no matter what age or where you went you would be subjected to it.

 

They showed a media release from P&O but I couldn't find it on either website.

[suey]

Unfortunately I missed the show last night as we were blacked out from the storm from 4.30pm until after 8am this morning. But I saw the follow up show tonight and what a load of hogwash. The envelope under the door made me laugh, i mean we all know that these are readily availiable to everyone in their cabin and I can write anything I want on the front too, how set up was that!!

I sent in my views tonight to the show and I am sure that many people did after last nights show too but no positive e-mails were mentioned, strange that!!

Still the more people that cancel, the more desperate they will be to fill the ship and the better the deals for us - must look at the positive side. I am definately not turned off cruising.:)

[aussiedisneyfan]

My husband said the same thing about turning people off. More discounts for us.

[Tikibird]

It really seemed like they were going out of their way to put people off cruising-wonder why?

[Past it]

I didn't see the show but I have to say on my past cruises Sun and Fairstar I thought the drinking was excessive by the young ones.I went to bed about 1.00 so it must get worse later by the look of some of them in the morning laying around past out.Also on the Sun last year there were several tragedies/fatalities related to alcohol. These are facts I'm afraid. While waiting to disembark we were watching the ambulances arriving and the police came aboard,we thought they were there for the couple on our table that had their bag stolen (another story) but no they came near where I was standing and were talking to a young lass who said she had been raped last night by her boyfriend. :eek: What a voyage that was . I hope my next one is less eventful.I would like to see what they do in America. No under 21 can book a cabin. Won't stop it but might help.

[rockie]

I wonder if we will get that show on telly here?

[luvvin_u_2]

i think it should stay wif over 18s being able to book a cabin.. im going on a cruise in jan and my family is going, except im going in a cabin wif my bf n some of his friends all under 21.. we arent out to cause trouble and neither are they.. even some over 21's cause trouble so i dnt see it really helping..

i think.. if someone wants to drink 10 days straight its their choice, their money loss and if security sees them wasted they will do something about it:)

[karmac]

I wish I had seen that story but I was busy enjoying my cruise. I have just come back from 11 nights on the Sun and I can honestly say that although we went to bed around midnight most nights I never (and I mean never) saw anyone acting in a drunken dissorderly behaviour. Sure, there were people that were a little drunk but as far as I saw nobody caused any trouble. And it was a full ship with 1886 passengers onboard. I did hear a story that 2 people were put of at Wala but I heard the story from 2 passengers & they were completely different stories so decided not to believe any of them. I had 3 kids on there (one a teenager) and never felt they were in any sort of danger. We had a fantastic time with a fantastic group of passengers and are already talking about booking another one although it won't be for about 18 months- 2 years (too far away but takes along time to save for).

 

Karen

[Gyyp]

You've got to remember that most media have no real idea of what's going on anywhere at anytime, they will fabricate stories or bend the truth if they think it will improve ratings, regardless of whether it's true or not.

[*Shell*]

I just returned from my very first cruise. I was really surprised at the behaviour on board. As a family holiday I was a little worried beforehand how the behaviour of older teens/20's would be once alcohol became involved.

 

I have to say that I was really proud of the behaviour on our ship. Everyone enjoyed themselves, without going overboard (sorry the pun!) I didn't see any Bad behaviour, nothing like I had expected. I was expecting so see drunken people all over the place. I expected to hear swearing and crude remarks. Everyone was respectful, helpful and friendly, wether drinking or not.

 

I am now planning my next cruise with no worries!

[Skyrules]

I just returned from my very first cruise. I was really surprised at the behaviour on board. As a family holiday I was a little worried beforehand how the behaviour of older teens/20's would be once alcohol became involved.

 

I have to say that I was really proud of the behaviour on our ship. Everyone enjoyed themselves, without going overboard (sorry the pun!) I didn't see any Bad behaviour, nothing like I had expected. I was expecting so see drunken people all over the place. I expected to hear swearing and crude remarks. Everyone was respectful, helpful and friendly, wether drinking or not.

 

I am now planning my next cruise with no worries!

 

There will always be a minority on any cruise that will fall into this catergory. Indeed on our cruise (the very cruise featured on Today Tonight) we had a group of 30somethings who didn't seem to stop drinking from the time they boarded until the time they left the ship back in Brisbane - even they were generally well behaved. And that was one group of 6 amongst 1200 or so passengers.

 

The closest anything came to violence on our cruise was during the G'Day G'Day show on the second formal night, when a very drunk passenger sitting at the back of the Show Lounge started making loud derogatory comments about the rendition of "And the Band Played Walzing Matilda" (anyone who's seen the show will know what atmosphere this creates - very quiet and sombre). This passenger was quickly "escorted" out of the show lounge by his friends, who'd been trying to shut him up, but I think if they hadn't at least 1/2 the audience (myself included) would have quiet cheerfully dragged him out. I suspect that ship security was probably waiting for him outside as well.

 

Kym