Ken and Pam Jackson, from Bidston, were left shocked when disgusting brown liquid leaked from their cruise cabin ceiling and onto their belongings – they were covered in food waste
A couple have recalled the moment they heard a “whooshing” noise before a deluge of kitchen waste flooded their cruise cabin, during their TUI holiday.
Pam, 76, and Ken Jackson, 77, from Bidston, were left horrified when a waste pipe above their room suddenly burst, causing leftover food and fluid to wash out their room. The couple said they were drenched in the “horrible slush” and said all their belongings were covered in chewed-up food.
Grim footage showed a brown liquid pouring into the cabin through the ceiling, instantly dropping onto the couple and their bed. Speaking about their ordeal, Ken said: “I just heard this whooshing noise, then this horrible slush came through the ceiling and covered me head to toe, and Pam was covered in it as well. The bed and all our belongings.
“We were covered head to toe and it smelled like vomit. It was macerated kitchen waste going down to the bilges to be offloaded on the next port, so it was really foul-smelling, and it was pouring out. We stank something awful, and goodness knows what was in it apart from food waste.”
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Pam said: “It flowed all over the bed, covering our personal possessions and medication and out through the door. We were covered from head to toe.” The couple were just three days in to a three-week cruise of the Caribbean Sea onboard the Marella Explorer 2, which they had booked through travel group TUI. Marella Cruises are operated by TUI, who today said they “would like to apologise” to the couple.
In the video, a disgusted Pam could be heard saying: “The lights are going on and off and everything. Oh it stinks, it’s everywhere. It’s on my slippers. It’s running down the walls.”
Ken and Pam complained to staff and were moved to a different cabin. But their problems weren’t over, as Ken claimed there were a number of further issues. He said: “They took our clothes away and washed what they could, but in the process shrunk a lot of our clothes, particularly my trousers and a couple of dresses of Pam’s.
“There was a lot of argy-bargy about where they were going to put us because we couldn’t go back to the cabin. It was just a write-off. Eventually they got us settled in a small balcony cabin which was OK, but we couldn’t sleep very well and the bed was so uncomfortable. After a couple of nights we had a look at the mattress and found it had completely collapsed, and they had piled about 10 or 12 mattress toppers on top of it.”
Further video footage showed Pam removing the various mattress toppers one by one to reveal “a very collapsed mattress, stained as well”, reports Liverpool Echo. They said the mattress was replaced on request, but claimed the new mattress did not fit the bed frame, which was curved. Then, a few nights later, they claimed the air conditioning in their new cabin suddenly stopped functioning, causing the temperature inside to soar to a sweltering 28C.
The couple said they were offered a partial refund, as their booking was for a one-week and two-week combined cruise on the same ship. Pam said: “The customer services manager informed us that TUI would only refund the first week as the rest of the cruise wasn’t affected. TUI would only pay for the clothes they had shrunk ‘as that was their fault’. We were told we had to claim for other personal possessions damaged by the burst pipe through our own personal travel insurance.
“We were informed that the offer TUI had made was ‘take it or leave it’ and only on offer for the duration of the cruise. It was a full and final offer. We felt under pressure to accept.” Ken said: “They would pay for the one-week Caribbean cruise, they would pay £470 for clothes ruined, but not for personal possessions including our fitness watches or travel wallets.”
He added: “We feel disappointed they didn’t hold their hands up. Not once did they apologise or actually say they accept responsibility and that would have gone a long, long way. We’re not particularly interested in the money. We’re at an age where we’re not going to got through lengthy court proceedings just to recuperate a few thousand. But we felt we weren’t listened to. It left a really bad taste in our mouths. We have travelled with most cruise companies, but we certainly will not be going with Marella again.”
A TUI UK & Ireland spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to Mr and Mrs Jackson for experiencing a broken pipe in their cabin during their Marella Cruises holiday. We always do our best to ensure customers have the best possible holiday experience. We ensured that we promptly moved the customers to a new cabin, and also offered compensation, which has been accepted.”
The Mirror has contacted TUI for comment.