Passengers threaten revolt aboard P&O cruise ship

I was amazed to see this one come across the news wires .  Apparently, passengers on board the P&O cruise ship AURORA are not satisfied with their luxury around-the-world voyage.  In fact, they are comparing it to being in prison!  Their beef against the Captain centers on the fact they have only visited 2 ports in 22 days.  The “pride of the P&O fleet” has been plagued with mechanical problems since it was launched in 2000.  Recently, the ship was forced to remain in Auckland, New Zealand for six days to make repairs, forcing the passengers to miss stops in Wellington, Napier, Bay of Islands, and Mooréa and Tahiti in French Polynesia.

I wouldn’t mind being stuck in Auckland, but I guess missing Mooréa might be revolt worthy.

More than 600 passengers formed a protest committee and demanded to speak with the Captain.  The committee is also threatening legal action despite concessions from P&O.  I’m not quite sure this constitutes a “revolt” or “mutiny” as some British newspapers are calling it, but I think its safe to say this is not a happy ship right now.

The curse of the Aurora

The tale of the Aurora has been far from perfect.  The curse started when the champagne bottle failed to break at the naming ceremony in 2000 with the Princess Royal.  Since then, she has broken down, canceled several voyages, and had  outbreaks of of Norovirus and Hepatitis amongst passenger.  Check out the BBC link below for a very interesting read on the problems this ship has experienced.

How long can P&O operate this cursed ship?

For more on this:

The Telegraph

BBC News timeline of the curse

P & O Cruises