We recently returned from a 10 Day Western Mediterranean cruise on the Eurodam and it was the worst holiday I have ever had. I have previously cruised with P&O, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and had a magnificent time and loved cruising, but this has turned me off cruising forever. As soon as we arrived at the port for embarkation I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was not going to be an enjoyable holiday. Every passenger getting on board were elderly, complete with wheelie-walkers or motorised scooters. I am not 'agist' but I work all year in a hospital with sick, elderly people so I did not want to spend my holiday with them as well. I understand that on cruises there is always older people, but usually not 99% of the passengers. Plus a majority of these elderly passengers really were not fit to travel. The majority of them were coughing, sneezing, spitting and passing wind 24/7! As there is such a high number of elderly passengers the entertainment, decor, common areas, shops and food are all tailored towards the over 70's.

At embarkation the check-in staff were rude and our photos were taken without warning or explanation of what the photos were for. They didn't even give us a chance to smile for the photo. Our luggage arrived in our room torn and damaged, they had obviously been thrown about, the contents of one suitcase was smashed.

The lifeboat drill was absolute chaos. Trying to organise 1500 elderly passengers, most of whom are deaf and confused, was no easy task. Most passengers didn't seem to have a clue what they were doing or where they were going. Then having to stand waiting through the roll call and watch as dozens of passengers finally realised they were waiting at the wrong life boats was cringe-worthy. In the event of a real emergency this just wouldn't work, I definitely would not be standing there for 1/2hr waiting for people to turn up to their correct life boats. Read more