A holiday in paradise quickly turned into a nightmare for an Australian family after they claimed their room was infested with bed bugs.
Monica Robertson, her husband and their two children were on board P&O’s Pacific Encounter to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday.
They were looking forward to spending time together as a family, but unfortunately they also ended up spending the three-day vacation with some unwanted visitors.
“I could feel things crawling on me in bed,” MSs Robertson recalled.
“(I) removed the sheets and that’s where we saw quite a few bugs in the bed with us.”
Monica Robertson, her husband and their two children were on board the P&O Pacific Encounter to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday.
The family’s holiday quickly turned sour when they discovered their beds were infested with bed bugs, leaving them with red, blistered bites.
Ms Robertson claims she first saw one of the creepy crawlies in the bathroom, and the four travelers quickly ended up covered in red, blistered welts.
“(It was a) very, very intense itch… almost a burning sensation,” Ms Robertson said. A current issue.
‘They told us they weren’t bedbugs. And maybe they had bitten him, you know, out on the deck, while he was up there.
‘(We) returned to the port. “So we were able to Google what we were dealing with,” Robertson said.
“Look, it said bedbugs.”
Staff on board reportedly found a dead bug in his bed and took it away for analysis.
The family was told they could see the ship’s doctor to treat their stings at their own expense.
A complaint was made to P&O, which insisted there was no evidence of bed bugs during searches and cleaning of the rooms.
“I don’t know where they got that from because we were clearly giving them errors during our stay that they could observe,” Ms Robertson added.
The family claims they were never offered another room despite providing staff with live evidence; instead, a $377 refund or $750 in credit toward a future cruise.
The family claims they were never offered another room despite providing staff with live evidence (pictured: some of the creepy crawlies captured in a glass).
Robertson said they lost thousands of dollars, along with a number of items that needed to be discarded upon arrival in Brisbane to ensure the bugs did not spread to their home.
“(We) left everything on the grass,” he recalled.
“I had to look and decide what we could keep and what we should basically eliminate.”
“Most of the things that couldn’t be washed I had to throw away.”
P&O Cruises Australia said it has “strict and robust health protocols” on its ships, with “rigorous cleaning processes”
A pest report confirmed that no infestation was found in the family’s home.
P&O Cruises Australia said it has “strict and robust health protocols” on its ships.
“Like hotels, we have rigorous cleaning processes in place to address and resolve any issues that may arise.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted P&O for comment.
