More than 500 Thai tourists discovered themselves stranded at Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri, despite shelling out over one hundred,000 baht each for a supposedly luxurious cruise trip. The chaotic incident unfolded on Friday, May 19, leaving disgruntled passengers fuming and demanding answers from the cruise company, reportedly identified as Cost Serena, as they were denied boarding regardless of their hefty funds.
Channel 3 interviewed one victim who revealed that those that bought the trip underneath a “buy one, get one free” promotion were allowed access to the ship. However, those who paid the common charges were left marooned on the pier. Another sufferer shared her disappointment, stating that she had purchased tickets for her complete household, but only her husband and child’s names appeared on the visitor record.
According to Channel 3, quite a few singers, musicians, and performers, hired to entertain the passengers in the course of the cruise, had been also denied entry. Media reviews highlighted that this was not the first occurrence of such an incident, although the dimensions of affected people was unprecedented.
The cruise company defended itself, claiming that the victims’ names were not included in the official listing due to an oversight by the customer service department. Consequently, they have been forced to disclaim these people passage on the cruise ship.
Frustrated and decided to seek justice, lots of the affected passengers wasted no time in filing complaints in opposition to the cruise firm and took to social media platforms to share their harrowing experiences, hoping to warn others in opposition to purchasing tours from the mentioned company.
Unheard of provided additional insights into the ill-fated journey, revealing that it was meant to encompass three destinations: Laem Chabang in Chon Buri province of Thailand, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, and Koh Samui in Surat Thani province of Thailand.
A Thai man disclosed that he had endured a six-hour wait, from 9 am to three pm, simply to board the cruise. Despite paying 20,000 baht each for the trip, the onboard service was abysmal, and he also claimed that the employees members exhibited discriminatory behaviour in direction of Asian passengers..