Island of Disaster (or the need to Escape!)

My more experienced colleagues here have in the past, described Island Cruises' Island Escape as "a rust bucket" and explained to me it used to be a Car Ferry. I wasn't quite fully aware of the condition of the ship until I had a phonecall yesterday from a potential customer.

The gentleman was calling up from Madeira, looking to get on a ship - any ship! He and his family had just disembarked from the Escape, claiming "the ship is a disaster"...

He described Thomson's oldest ex-car-ferry "cruise ship" as "disgusting, dated and dangerous," explaining he has a family with a 2-year old and the cabin maid would apparently not even put a cot in the cabin as it was too dangerous!

He explained that the cabin, which was supposed to be "deluxe" looked like it "had not been touched since the 50's" and if he needed to, he was giong to take Island cruises to court over getting his money back. they have admitted liability on all counts so he sounds like he's got a good claim. My challenge was to find him something else now to get him home!

I've found him a couple of cruises that are passing through the Canaries later this week and am waiting for a decision from him.

If one person's comments are not enough, one of my colleagues was sent these photos on the same day from a customer of theirs cruising on the same ship: