Cruise ship passengers are furious to discover their South Pacific island cruise will now not leave Australian waters.
Six disappointed travellers spoke about Choose Your Cruise, a family-run company based in South Australia, ahead of their upcoming trip.
The ‘Flashback’ cruise was originally billed as an eight-night getaway with three stops in picturesque New Caledonia, plus onboard entertainment headlined by Human Nature, The Sweet, Boney M and Marcia Hines singing hits from the 1980s and ’90s.
Instead, the cruise will depart from Sydney on October 30 and travel up the east coast to Willis Island, an external territory of Australia off the northern coast of Queensland, along with another stop at the port of Brisbane.
The company has cited the ongoing civil unrest in New Caledonia as the reason for the sudden change in the cruise’s itinerary.
Brisbane pensioners David and Terry and their wives paid $4,000 per couple, plus return flights to Sydney for their long-awaited cruise.
But instead of white sand and coral reefs, couples have spent thousands to stay in Australian waters.
“I booked a cruise to go to three islands in the South Sea and we’re not going to any of them,” David said. A current issue.
The itinerary for Choose Your Cruise’s upcoming Flashback voyage has been changed from a Pacific island trip to a quick stop at the Port of Brisbane, where customers were not offered any possibility of refunds (file image)
To make matters worse, passengers will not be able to disembark on Willis Island.
Mother-daughter duo Kylie and Georgia have dubbed the new itinerary a “scenic cruise around a weather station.”
The couple, as well as Kylie’s mother, paid $6,000 to travel from their home on the Gold Coast to the South Pacific on a girls-only getaway.
Since the itinerary change was announced after the cancellation and refund date, Choose Your Cruise will not be offering refunds.
Instead, passengers will receive a $50 voucher to spend on board and additional performances from “The Age of Elvis.”
‘It’s not what we paid for,’ Georgia said.
While Choose Your Cruise is known as a music festival cruise, passengers who spoke to A Current Affair said they booked the trip based on the promise of island destinations rather than the onboard entertainment.
“We all wanted to go somewhere we hadn’t been before,” Terry said.
‘I like entertainment, but a lot of the bands on the ship aren’t my type of music.
‘Destination was my main reason for booking.’
Georgia, 21, added that she doesn’t know most of the musical acts, including Human Nature.
Mother-daughter duo Kylie and Georgia (pictured) described the new itinerary as a “scenic cruise around a weather station”.
Commenting on the addition of Elvis impersonators on the ship, he joked that “you can only hear so much Hound Dog.”
Her mother Kylie added: “We definitely wouldn’t have chosen this cruise if we’d known it was going into Brisbane.”
Neighbors David and Terry also wouldn’t have booked the cruise if they’d known the only stop would be in their hometown.
They joked about leaving it at home during the stopover before returning to port in the afternoon.
“We’ll be flying to Sydney to tour the Queensland coast, flying back to Brisbane and then flying back to Sydney,” Terry said.
“Nobody would book a trip from Brisbane to do that.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently updated its travel advice for New Caledonia, urging Australians to avoid unnecessary travel to the French archipelago as arson attacks and vehicle thefts continue amid civil unrest.
Violence in New Caledonia, a French colony, erupted in mid-May following plans by Paris to reform voting rights to allow French citizens who have lived on the island for more than 10 years to vote in local elections.
The move angered the indigenous Kanak people, who make up about 40 percent of the country’s population, who feared it would turn them into a permanent minority and crush any hopes of future independence.
Although unrest between independents and French loyalists has subsided since mid-July, it flared up again on Monday, New Caledonia Day, which marks the day France declared sovereignty over the island.
Brisbane retirees David and Terry (pictured) and their wives Sandra and Laree (pictured together) are devastated to have spent $4,000 each on a cruise to their hometown.
Choose Your Cruise said the inclusion of its high-profile musical guests required it to stop at a port with a nearby airport.
“Due to limited port availability in the South Pacific and because we have a packed entertainment program of 40 musical acts, some of which require access to an airport, Brisbane was the only viable port option for this voyage, to ensure the integrity of the entertainment program,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Choose Your Cruise for further comment.