Thick dust, noxious smells and ear-splitting noise disrupted what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.
Vacationers said they shared the two-week voyage from Miami to Los Angeles with a crew of workers on what amounted to a construction site at sea.
Photos shared on Facebook show stockpiles of building supplies, some with hazardous material warnings, sitting side-by-side with lounge chairs on the ship’s decks. Video shot by passengers captured ongoing noise from workers using power tools.
Passenger Wayne Jenkins said his wife nearly fainted after becoming overwhelmed by the smell of chemicals.
“I want to know what the heck we were exposed to,” he told CTV Vancouver Island on Monday. “It was full-blown construction going on.”
During the trip, large areas of the Norwegian Sun were roped off with caution tape and signs reading “beautification in process” as several of the vessel’s decks were being resurfaced. The ship is expected to arrive in Victoria this week, where work will continue while the ship is in dry dock.
Some of the more than 2,000 passengers posted photos and video of their experience to a Facebook group dedicated to the March 16 voyage. Some members shared the Material Safety Data Sheets for barrels of primer paint that they snapped photos of.
Others are demanding refunds from Norwegian Cruise Line.
Passenger Jill Davies said she spoke to the Norwegian Sun’s captain about why significant construction work was being done during her vacation.
“It was quite clear it was way beyond their control,” she said. “This was a decision made at head office.”
Trish Vale said that when she boarded the ship in Miami, everything seemed “normal.” But once the ship got out to sea, things went awry.
“We felt duped,” Vale told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. “We felt that this had been long planned and for many people on the ship, this was a cruise of a lifetime and a trip of a lifetime, so we were horrified at what was going on.”
Vale said the passengers became especially upset when they saw men in hazmat suits on board. Some passengers even took samples of debris to investigate themselves.
“We wanted to know what compounds they were using, what kind of things they were doing on the ship that they felt they needed hazmat suits for that and we did not,” she said.
The Norwegian Cruise Line has offered passengers 25 per cent off another cruise until March 2019.
Jenkins said that’s not enough.
“If I want that 25 per cent, I want it in my pocket, because I don’t want to give it to NCL,” she said.
Vale said the offer “added insult to injury.”
“Because they hadn’t even done right by us for this cruise, let alone any of us contemplating going on Norwegian again.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Amber Schinkel
