If you take enough cruises, eventually you’ll run into a real dud.  Moreover, I think the chances of having a lousy vacation increase exponentially when traveling with a little-known company in a exotic location. 

My worst cruise experience was in China, a ten day Yangtze River cruise aboard a Victoria Cruises boat.   When I visited in 1999 Victoria Cruises was purported to be the best river boat company in China whereas today Viking River Cruises’ Yangtze sailings are a much better alternative.   

While the boat was built in 1994, it was more like a tin can than a river boat.  The floors bucked and doors sometimes stuck.  In fact, a colleague in the cabin next door got locked in his cabin in the middle of the night and spent hours banging his fist on the door.  The ship’s staff called the police who met the ship at the next port and cross examined him.

Additional glitches:  only one staff/crew member on the boat spoke English.  A colleague tried to call me from another cabin and someone from the purser’s office ran to the cabin to say I had a call from the United States!  Come quickly! So I ran and almost tripped on the buckled floor only to learn it was a friend two cabins away attempting to call me. 

The itinerary was dreadful.  We stopped in small towns along the way and were taken to “historic” sites.  Well, there are very few real historic sites in China because Madam Mao destroyed them all during the cultural revolution.  We visited sites that may or may not resembled the original temple or building.

The food aboard the boat was inedible and I thanked God I’d brought turkey jerky, a jar of peanut butter and Power Bars, or I would have starved to death.

This isn’t the cruise line’s fault, but the pollution was so bad I never saw the sun once, just a pervasive white haze.  It turns out that coal-burning factories dot both sides of the river, spewing carbons into the air.  I had a metallic taste in my mouth for the entire visit.  In fact many, many visitors return home with bronchial conditions that sometimes lasts for months.

When you can’t eat OR breathe, it’s a good indication the trip is a real bust!

Have you had a bad cruise or vacation experience?

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