# Ocean cruise ends in almighty brawl



## non descript (Nov 18, 2005)

*Ocean cruise ends in almighty brawl*

From and copyright of The Sunday Times...

_WHEN it set sail for its latest tour of the Caribbean, the liner Ventura was brimming with festive cheer. This weekend, however, it is awash with claims that “chav” holidaymakers had turned it into the cruise ship from hell. 
P&O is bracing itself for a flood of complaints from returning passengers about a “them and us” divide which saw guests who had paid up to £7,500 a cabin taking refuge from fighting families and underage drinkers. Some claim that youths were caught trying to set fire to a Christmas tree. 
It may be the first of many holiday cruises to suffer from the credit crunch. Would-be passengers who had placed a 10% deposit decided they could not afford the full cost of the cruise and cancelled. 
Instead, P&O filled the rest of the 3,300 places aboard ship with holidaymakers who were seeking a last-minute sunshine bargain. 

Cruising etiquette went overboard with the new breed of cut-price passengers, who tried to reserve sun beds all day by draping towels over them and allegedly sent their underage children to the ship’s 12 bars to stock up on alcohol. 
A brawl between two families from Manchester apparently broke out over who was drinking the better champagne. (Jester) 
Children threw food at stewards and abused the ship’s officers when asked to stop. Even the captain was booed when he tried to count down to midnight on New Year’s Eve._


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Tonga said:


> *Ocean cruise ends in almighty brawl*
> 
> From and copyright of The Sunday Times...
> 
> ...


Sounds about right for a P&O cruise cut priced fares or not. Passengers reserving sun beds, arguments galore. This all happened on the Oriana world cruise, and not a kid in sight. My hairdresser has just got back from Oriana to the Canaries and said she had a row with people reserving sun beds with towels and books but not using them for over 4 hours. And she observed other things I have said in my logs, greedy people, ignorant people and so on. All part of modern day cruising. 

As since when has Ventura been a liner, trust The Times to get it wrong (Cloud) 

David


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## Lauren (Apr 6, 2009)

I was onboard for that cruise, i think Ventra has since been renamed "Chav-tura". The main reason for it getting so bad was that we were unable to berth in 3 ports due to bad weather, meaning we had 5 days at sea in a row, we were only meant to have 2 a cruise. Pax were not too happy with the crew, plus the obscene amount of alcohol they were drinking, it did notmake a happy mix. The officers eventually began avoiding going out on deck. Fun times


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## Chris Isaac (Jul 29, 2006)

Never would have happened in Union Castle!


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## cboots (Aug 16, 2004)

Whilst I think that it is highly presumptious to assume that it was the lower paying passengers who caused all the trouble - probably says a lot more about the lingering English caste system than it does about social behaviour patterns - I must say tha it does not surprise me in the least. A friend of mine was departing on a 35 day cruise last week when I asked him, "John, what the hell are you going to do on this boat for thirty five days?" and his answer was a clear indication that he hadn't a clue. I am more than happy to concede that it is all a matter of personal taste, but the just the thought of being shut up in some stupid boat for a lengthy period of time would be enough to turn my thoughts to alcoholic over indulgence, and I am an abstainer!
CBoots


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

Seems a shame to me that mankind has become so low as to ruin a nice relaxing cruise for those passengers who really appreciate Sea travel.


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## Ian J. Huckin (Sep 27, 2008)

billyboy said:


> Seems a shame to me that mankind has become so low as to ruin a nice relaxing cruise for those passengers who really appreciate Sea travel.


Perhaps set that load of passengers on the Somali pirates...(POP)


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## jimthehat (Aug 5, 2006)

my longest cruise to date was 23 days and loved every minute of it,definitely dont feel shut in.reminds me of the days when we would wave goodby to panama and not sight land for 35 days when brisbane hove up over the horizon(35 days at a steady 10knts) and certainly no time to be bored.
JIM


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

for my money you can set whatever you like on the Marine Terrorists Ian. Rottweilers would be good


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## RayJordandpo (Feb 23, 2006)

About twelve years ago I was on a ship alongside the quay in Willemstad, Curacao. One evening there was a commotion on board a cruise ship laid ahead of us and the police were called. It transpires that a group of drunken passengers were throwing bottles and glasses onto the deck below, The area was full of broken glass and people fleeing for cover. I never found out the outcome but the dockside was awash with flashing blue lights from police cars. I won't say the nationalities involved but they were not British.


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## Oz. (Sep 6, 2005)

'Chav' holiday makers. What is CHAV please?


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## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

Tends to be a term for young delinquents given to wearing track suits but there is a good definition HERE. The female of the species can be seen HERE in it's mating plumage.
Steve


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## RayJordandpo (Feb 23, 2006)

According to the TV series 'Shameless' it stands for
*C*ouncil *H*ouse *A*nd *V*iolent.
I was brought up on a council estate and I aint no chav. Anyone dare call me one and I will put on my fake Burberry cap, Diadora shell suit and rip their faces off.


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## Mick Mills (Nov 28, 2014)

*Punch up*

Final voyage of the Ocean Monarch,the Shaw Saville company flew out to "Aussie" and informed everyone the ship had been sold and what had been home to so many of the crew was about to be sold for scrap. What started as a bit of fun got well out of hand. Docked "Circular quay" Forecastle full of crew then the cases of eggs arrived, guests seeing off relatives were the first to recieve them then half empty beer cans then the pint glasses. Not our finest hour, police turn up brown stuff hits the fan,skipper attacked on foredeck by passengers,finally we were escorted out of sydney harbour. Think it made the NOTW paper


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## Alistair94 (Jan 16, 2006)

Almost a six year old story!


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## Boatman25 (May 17, 2010)

Alistair94 said:


> Almost a six year old story!


So what - its nautical nostalgia and that's what this site is all about, thank you Mick Mills for telling us what happened


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## Pete D Pirate (Jan 8, 2014)

billyboy said:


> Seems a shame to me that mankind has become so low as to ruin a nice relaxing cruise for those passengers who really appreciate Sea travel.


Umm, billyboy, I'm sorry to inform you that cruise ship passengers these days do not pay their money to "appreciate sea travel".

Need I go on?


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## Mick Mills (Nov 28, 2014)

*mmm "appreciate sea travel"*

"appreciate sea travel" Aussie football team used the "Monarch" to unwind and get some sea air, but when told "Bar" was to close for customs went a little wild and wrecked the bar as ship coming into "Sydney heads" then proceeded to kick the living daylights out of the "Mate" deck dept "turned too" took 15mins to restore order Football team lucky to get away with their lives, the crew had no good feelings for the "Mate" but as they said at the time "Hes one of us" and you will not get away with doing this. I heard that one was locked in the brig terrified that the crew were going to kill him. So a case from both sides,even so the "Monarch" was a happy ship the crew loved her and so did the passengers, I've never been on a ship where in gerneral the officers were held in such high regard or the captains shown so much respect from what was a very young crew and what made it work was the officers respected the crew.


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

Pete D Pirate said:


> Umm, billyboy, I'm sorry to inform you that cruise ship passengers these days do not pay their money to "appreciate sea travel".
> 
> Need I go on?


I would suggest that most liner passengers did not pay their money to "appreciate sea travel"; they did so because it was the only way to cross the oceans.


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