Woman furious at staff’s reaction after mum died weeks into cruise

A woman was left furious at the reaction of staff after her mum died half-way through a cruise.

Florence Goldwater was on an around the world cruise when she became ill.

The 86-year-old died in a Guatemalan hospital in January after her daughter Rebecca Williams travelled with her to get treatment.

Rebecca’s husband, Andrew, had paid £66k for two rooms on P&O Cruises Arcadia, with the trip due to last from 6 January to 15 April.

However, Florence caught bacterial pneumonia just two weeks into the holiday.

Rebecca, from Stratford-upon-Avon, recalled: "We took her to the sick bay in a wheelchair - the doctor examined her and said she’s poorly enough to need hospital treatment - but she’s not critical.

“The medical staff put her on an antibiotic drip and gave her a chest X-ray. They concluded she had bacterial pneumonia on both lungs.”

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She said that before they disembarked she checked with staff if they could ‘get back on the ship’ if her mum made a ‘full recovery’.

“The young guy on reception asked the manager - who came back and said, ‘absolutely. You’ve paid for those rooms, they’re yours,’” she claimed.

“Of course - we didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Florence passed just 24 hours after they disembarked the ship, which Rebecca said was ‘very, very upsetting’.

Having only been two weeks into the 14-week cruise, they decided to re-board the ship in Honolulu, Hawaii, 10 days later - with permission from the general manager onboard.

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Rebecca explained: “We consulted the rest of our family - and Florence’s sister, Jill, who is 89 years old herself - and everyone said she would’ve wanted us to continue on with the cruise.”

However, when they got to their room on the Arcadia, Andrew and Rebecca found Florence’s belongings ‘dumped’ in there.

After querying it with the general manager, Rebecca claims she was told that ‘someone else is in there now’.

Now, one month on, the family say they’ve not heard back about a refund or had an explanation as to why the room was sold.

Rebecca now feels like P&O is ‘profiting off [her] mother’s demise’.

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“When we’ve managed to speak to a general manager in person, he told us he was very sorry, but it’s company policy to sell on a room that isn’t being used,” she said.

“We’re literally still on the cruise, and can’t even speak to anyone. All we’ve been told is that it’s a matter for ‘post-cruise’. We just don’t know where to turn.”

A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: "We are so sorry that Ms Williams' mother died during the trip and our thoughts and prayers are with her and the family.

"We follow very strict procedures in such cases to ensure that all personal effects and belongings are dealt with carefully and with the greatest respect.

"As such they were moved for safekeeping to Ms Williams' cabin."

LADbible has contacted P&O Cruises for further comment.