‘Abandoned’ Tui passengers on luxury £6,000 cruise demand money back after holiday descended into ‘chaos’

TUI passengers who paid over £6,000 for a cruise through Europe felt “abandoned” after they were jettisoned off the ship, missed multiple stops of their tour and left to carry their own luggage in the darkness during the “awful” trip.

The travel operator’s ‘Icons of Europe’ cruise on the Isla ship was scheduled to visit 14 cities over a 15-day tour, and promised customers an opportunity to “enjoy and relax” whilst they saw the sites across the continent.

Phrases such as “first class”, “experience the joy of river travel” and “guaranteed space and intimacy” were used in advertising materials for the cruise, however, these were allegedly not fulfilled, with one customer stating: “To put it mildly, Tui failed miserably on most of these promises”.

More than 30 vexed passengers have joined a WhatsApp group to demand their money back. Compensation of around £250 has been offered to angry passengers, though this has been deemed far too low by the travellers – most of whom paid upwards of £6,000 for the trip.

Due to high water levels, the Tui Isla ship was unable to visit Linz, Bratislava and Budapest and the locations were revised. However, passengers claim the communication regarding the stops was appalling, with little information being relayed regarding updated shore times.

Other problems ranged from foul smelling sewage, broken air conditioning units, and exceptionally long walking times between transfers.

The lack of information often resulted in passengers being left with barely any time to explore the ports. In one instance, in the new port of Krems, Austria, travellers were told to be back on board at just 11.30pm. An hour later, an update said this had been extended to 3.00pm.

Some passengers ventured out again to further explore the city but were then almost instantly called back, with more yo-yoing after the revised time was set to 8am the next day, resulting in passengers becoming frustrated at the day wasted.

The passengers were then plunged into “total chaos” when they were “jettisoned” off the Isla and transferred to the Maya ship docked in Vienna by coach in the early hours of the following morning.

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Steve Spear, former military man, told GB News: “We were jettisoned off the TUI Isla in the early hours of the morning in total darkness at some outlandish river port that reminded me of some Amazon River towns that I used to visit when I was at sea.”

Diane Manning, a passenger onboard the ship with her husband Fred, said: “We were, what can only be described as abandoned in a car park. We were left there with our cases. With no crew and no coaches.

“When they did arrive, it was a mad scramble for the passengers, many old and infirmed to find a place for themselves and their luggage. It was absolute chaos.”

The passengers claim they finally made it onto the Maya ship some six hours later, following a coach ride with a non-working toilet.

Spear said that the passengers felt uneasy due to the driver using a handheld navigation device, as well as his mobile phone, to find his way to the port. At one point, a passenger had to intervene to help the driver with directions.

When they finally made it to their destination, many had missed bookings for tours, and even a hastily arranged Gala couldn’t make up for the “chaos”. “Our clothes had already been packed away!”, Spear said.

The next morning, another early wake-up call to head to the airport in Budapest brought with it more problems. Spear said: “160 of us had to clamber over the decks of three vessels in total darkness and none of us are spring chickens anymore.”

“It was shambolic. Then when we eventually ran the obstacle course of hosepipes, power cables, poorly illuminated gangways with loose rope rails, we all finally got ashore only then to be shouted at to locate your luggage in darkness.”

Martin Fry, another passenger onboard, said: “If Health and Safety was present in any way, shape or form, the H&S Executive would have a serious conversation with the TUI board of directors.”

Spear said: “They didn’t fulfil their duties or meet a standard of care. We were just sort of discarded really. They took our money and that was it.

“Christine and I really wanted to have a nice time and see all these lovely places which we hadn’t seen before and when we didn’t get to see them, it was really disappointing.”

Spear told the People’s channel that their poor time on the TUI Isla and Maya was further exasperated when it caused a rift in their friendship with another couple.

The pair had recommended that two of their friends join them for the Icons of Europe tour, who were equally as unimpressed with the experience.

“It actually put a strain on our friendship. And we’re lucky enough that we’ve known them for such a long time that we’ve weathered the storm.”

The WhatsApp group with 34 members is now considering taking legal action against the TUI in order to get more of their money back.

While the travel company has the “love it or your money back” guarantee, this does not apply to “events beyond our control”, such as the low water levels.

GB News has contacted Tui for comment.