Sex, Drugs and really bad behaviour – Chartered cruise gets out of hand for Royal Caribbean

Chartered Cruises are a big money earner and very often the ships get chartered for various events, in May this year from Southampton, Navigator of the Seas was chartered for an 80’s themed cruise and Celebrity Silhouette for a classical music-themed cruise. Which by all accounts went smoothly and guests had a great time.

When a ship is chartered, guests cannot book directly with the cruise line and have to go through the company that has chartered the sailing and sometimes us agents are authorised to sell these cruises too. Thankfully we did not have anything to do with the chartered cruise you are to read about…

Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas came under fire last week as the ship hit the news all for the wrong reasons. The ship was charted by a company called ‘Anchored Cruise’ and was in conjunction with a reality TV show for channel 4 called Shipmates.

Channel 4’s reality show involved ten young Brits in their twenties joining 2,500 holidaymakers on a luxury cruise liner turned into an ultimate party boat. The ship’s journey started in Barcelona on the 7th June and sailed around the Med via Cannes, Ibiza and Majorca before landing back on the Spanish mainland five days later.  The five-part series filmed over the five days will be shown on Channel 4 later this year.

With prices starting from £499 per person and the promise of (Z list) celebrities and world famous DJ’s to keep them entertained, it drew over 2000 guests on board which turned into drugs, sex and alcohol-fueled cruise. It got so out of hand that some guests actually left the ship early due to the antics that was taking place on board.

The MailOnline recently wrote a piece on the sailing and comments from the guests said the Vision of the Seas was a ‘floating Geordie Shore’ where people were snorting cocaine and ‘all over each other’ on deck beds as partygoers vomited in the swimming pool and over the ship’s side.  One holidaymaker claimed drug dealers were offering a £260 ‘meal deal’ consisting of large amounts of cocaine and said ‘It was easier to get a bag of coke on board than it was to get a drink’.

Photos and videos have been splashed across the internet of guests half naked passed out in corridors and around the ship, another guest being helped back to his cabin in a wheelchair! Even videos and photos of guests openly taking drugs on board the ship.

Becky Cadman, Channel 4’s commissioning editor for factual entertainment, said the series was ‘guaranteed to be full of sun, sea and sass’. But there is no suggestion anyone involved in the production of Shipmates was involved in any wrongdoing.  Channel 4 said it could not comment on the behaviour of other passengers. A spokesman said that the debauched incidents did not involve contestants.

A Royal Caribbean spokesman said: ‘We have a zero tolerance policy for the use or possession of illegal drugs on our ships. Ship charters are held to the same strict standards. We operate with the health and safety of our guests and crew as our highest priority, and we cooperate fully with law enforcement when we are aware of violations’.

Anchored did not respond to a request for a comment.   However, on checking their website they are offering the same cruise for June 2019! I don’t think I will be looking to sail on that!

It is very sad to see our future generations acting in this way and thinking that this is acceptable behaviour. Their parents must be mortified, especially if they are to be aired on this TV programme.

Were you on board, was it as bad as headlines made out? If so would love to hear from you.

Dawn

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