West Lothian couple say their £5,000 honeymoon cruise turned into a nightmare

A West Lothian couple who spent £5,000 on a honeymoon cruise in the Caribbean say a litany of problems on the ship turned their holiday into a nightmare.

Lorna Smith and Darin Paterson boarded the Marella Discovery on December 2 and were soon told parts of the ship were out of bounds because of overrunning maintenance work.

Lorna’s part of a Facebook group where hundreds of other passengers are sharing their concerns – including the tap water turning brown and an overnight fire in a laundry room.

There was also a power failure, which plunged the ship into darkness.

“I was looking forward to the holiday of a lifetime,” Darin told STV News. “But it was a pure shambles from start to finish.

Darin and Lorna on their wedding day. Contributed

Lorna added “Halfway through the holiday, I thought ‘I just want to go home now, I’ve had enough’. It wasn’t enjoyable. We did get to meet a lot of nice people and chatted away to them, but everybody was basically in the same boat.

“There was no water in any of the pools; they were all empty. There was scaffolding up on the pool deck, and we couldn’t use it. The pool bar was closed, and they only had one pool bar open in the atrium during the day, so everyone congregated there. There were disabled people who couldn’t even get a seat.”

The couple say a planned visit to Antigua was dropped due to technical work, while docking in the British Virgin Islands was scrapped as a result of “weather concerns”.

“I would like some compensation or even a refund, because it was a trip from hell”, said Darin.

“They’ve not carried out what they were meant to carry out.”

Lorna added: “They haven’t fulfilled what we booked. I know there can be changes because it’s a cruise, things happen, weather etcetera, but the majority of this was nothing to do with the weather.

“It was to do with the ship – it shouldn’t have sailed.”

Marella Cruises said on Friday it had apologised to passengers for their experience and that it had made a gesture of goodwill.

A spokesperson said: “We apologise to guests for their experience and understand the disappointment it may have caused.

“As part of our commitment to our customers, we have extended a gesture of goodwill and remain focused on providing enjoyable and memorable holidays.”