Jos Taylor Captain Threatens Passengers With Mutiny ChargesNovember 18, 2007

Retired businessman Jos Taylor, of Fernleigh Close, said that he and his partner Jo McCall, of Seaton, were “thrown around like a cardboard box” in their room aboard the Sapphire Princess as it sailed through a typhoon in the Far East.

Workington Reds’ vice-chairman Mr Taylor said he and his companion, with other liner passengers, were threatened with jail by the captain when they protested.

The Pacific Ocean cruise cost Mr Taylor and his companion Ms McCall, a dental nurse, more than £4,000 but they were offered only US$250 compensation for the cruise from hell.

The captain deliberately steered the ship into the seas torn by the typhoon, following it around from one bad sea to another, but missed numerous ports of calls. The typhoon had been racking up deaths in port after port.

Weather conditions worsened three days into the couple’s 19-day trip which was taking in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan before reaching Beijing in China.

South-east Asia had been battered by typhoons in recent months, including one that killed at least six people in the Philippines.

“When we came out of Singapore, the captain told us that we couldn’t go to Vietnam because of a tropical storm,” 68-year-old Mr Taylor said.

“Then he came back and said it was going to the Philippines. That’s where people got killed.

“Later the captain decided we would be going to Taiwan, but we’d heard on the news that the typhoon was heading to Taiwan.

Mr Taylor added: “We tackled the captain about it and said he shouldn’t have tried to go there. Hundreds were demanding to see him.

The problems captain face, are a result of the cruise lines refusing to taking responsibility for what happens during a voyage. Countless passengers have found out the hard way that if a claim for compensation in not made while the passengers are still aboard, none will be given.

Passengers who have waited to file claims after them came home, most often received nothing but a run-around. Still, many passengers who have incidents not shared by other passengers, or few other passengers, often get the run-around while on the voyager. Their complaints are avoided and they are wrongly told to file their complaint when they get home, just so the cruise line can avoid compensation.

With a history of this process, passengers have come to realize if they don't get something written in stone while they are still on they voyage, they will end up having a paid for cruise that did nothing but cause them misery. Missing several port of calls, and the excursions paid for is not what passengers pay for.

It is more than obvious before a cruise embarks what the weather will be like a head, especially when the rough weather is only three days ahead. This is when the cruise should be canceled or rerouted away from the region of danger. The cruise lines instead, protecting their profits at the expense of passengers have their captains plow right ahead into the danger, giving passengers frightful voyages.

Taylor says, “He [the captain] said that what we were doing amounted to mutiny and threatened us with jail.”

Taylor said, “It was so bad, we were being tossed around like a cardboard box and everything in the wardrobe was being flung about. It was terrifying. The captain said he’d never seen anything like it in 40 years at sea.”

Yet, this captain of 40 years of sea, obviously savvy, decided to put his passengers and crew through the worst seas he had seen in 40 years. When the passengers demanded he seek safe harbor, he threatened them with jail for mutiny.

The video below is not of this particular cruise, but it shows the effect rough seas have on a cruise ship. Watch closely as officers watch the seas, see waves coming, then are shocked at the impact a wave has on the ship. They are obviously not prepared for the impact. How prepared would passengers be wherever they were at the moment? It will take a moment to load.

Jos Taylor

Captain Threatens Passengers With Mutiny Charges

November 18, 2007