"Like no place on earth": the Pacific Eden docked at Sydney's White Bay on Monday morning. Credit:Wolter Peeters WLP "It was worse than a one-star motel, basically," said Cherie Butcherine, who was travelling with her husband, mother and daughter Alexa. "We were just devastated to have to stay on board. "There was food all over the floor, the bathroom was absolutely disgusting, it was covered in mould." The voyage was beset by drama before it even began, with a gastro outbreak on the previous trip necessitating a full sanitation of the ship and delaying departure by three to four hours. But some passengers complained that the cleansing process had been less than thorough.

Alexa, 11, was taken ill with gastro during an outbreak on the Pacific Eden. "Our toilet was full of faeces and it was blocked. We had to call maintenance," said Michele, a veteran of 10 cruises, who did not want her surname published. The passengers also complained that staff were slow to re-stock the cabins, with no toilet paper or soap in some rooms when they first boarded the ship. Crew members of the P&O's newly-launched cruise liner Pacific Eden clean and disinfect the ship while docked at the White Bay terminal. Credit:Wolter Peeters Later, the vessel was placed on "red alert" after another outbreak of gastro.

Ms Butcherine's 11-year-old daughter, Alexa, was isolated in her room for two days after falling ill around Cairns on December 23. A piece of plastic Monika Gupta says her son found in his sandwich. I can't tell you how upset we are about the whole thing, and I just couldn't wait to get off the boat. Passenger Cherie Butcherine She said that although the family was well looked after by medical staff, she was frustrated by the crew's apparently reluctance to take responsibility for the outbreak. "The captain kept making all these announcements about this outbreak and saying more and more people were getting sick and that was pretty much our fault," Ms Butcherine said.

A bucket placed to contain water from a leak on board the Pacific Eden. "The whole thing was just a nightmare. I can't tell you how upset we are about the whole thing, and I just couldn't wait to get off the boat." Another passenger on board, public relations consultant and former Liberal candidate Jaimie Abbott, called the Pacific Eden a "floating disaster ship" in a Facebook post at the weekend. Her room was one of four that had flooded while still in port; her iPad was washed away and several suitcases were damaged.

But speaking to Fairfax Media on Monday, she praised the ship's staff, saying they did "everything they could" in bad circumstances. "They were working throughout the night to try and mop all all the water up," she said. "They were so lovely and so concerned. They wanted us to have a great holiday - I really felt for them." It was Ms Abbott's 10th cruise and she said the experience will not deter her from taking another one in three weeks' time. "I know that's not the norm, it's more teething problems," she said. On its website, P&O describes the Pacific Eden as a "floating oasis" for 1500 guests, featuring luxury penthouses, 16 dining experiences and a top-deck pool. However, the pool was shut for several portions of the most recent voyage, initially due to the previous gastro outbreak and then due to what staff described as a "guest incident". "A kid did a poo in the pool, so it was closed again," Ms Butcherine said. She is one of a number of passengers now seeking a refund for the $6800 she paid for four tickets.

Monika Gupta and her husband Arvind took their two children on the Pacific Eden to celebrate their son completing his HSC. But the cruise was not much of a reward, she said. Ms Gupta told Fairfax Media her son had twice found hairs in his food, and even came across a piece of plastic inside his sandwich. "He was lucky that it didn't get stuck in his throat," she said. On Christmas Day, Ms Gupta said the family had reserved a table at one of the ship's restaurants at 7.30pm, but were not seated until 8.30pm and were finally served their food at 9.50pm. She said the waiters were helpful but appeared rushed and "badly understaffed".



"It was such a disappointment," Ms Gupta said. "I won't say anything bad about the staff because you could see them working hard. They were running from one floor to another. But I think management needs to do something. This ship was a disaster." The former Holland Line vessel was purchased and refurbished by P&O. It docked in Sydney's White Bay on Monday morning following its return from Cairns. A P&O spokeswoman told Fairfax Media any passengers who had grievances about the cruise could contact P&O and the issues would be worked through on a case-by-case basis.

"The complaints of a few are at odds from what we heard from other passengers who spoke of having a fantastic holiday," she said. The gastro outbreak was successfully contained and the ship would be sanitised again while in port on Monday, before it departs at 6pm for a 12-night journey through the South Pacific, the spokeswoman said. "It takes only a small number of cases of the common stomach bug, norovirus, for sanitation levels to be increased on board," she said. "This happened on Pacific Eden and was successful in containing the illness. Only a small number of passengers were affected over the duration of the 12-night cruise. "As a further preventative measure we are carrying out increased cleaning of the ship and terminal during today's turnaround."