Channel 7’s Today Tonight says that P&O promised to clean up its act

As reported in TravelMole yesterday, P&O’s serious image issues appeared to continue last night with the screening of some of the footage recorded by the Ch7 TV crew thrown off the Pacific Sun in Port Vila last week.

Trailers for the programme had said that that the booting off the vessel in Port Vila of the Ch 7 crew would show not much had changed on board P&O’s Australia based vessels, with Ch 7 saying, these were the pictures P&O did not want you to see and that when the crew was kicked off the vessel, P&O confiscated the tapes, but Ch 7 had retained copies   

At the same time it was not unclear in the Today Tonight report which footage was from the previous filming and which was from the more recent filming.

With the Ch 7 programme broadcast at 7:30pm, P&O had issued a statement by 10:00pm, responding that The Today Tonight crew was filming passengers with secret cameras and that P&O viewed this as a gross invasion of passengers’ privacy.  They added that it detracted from their passengers’ ability to enjoy their holiday with the TV crew continuing to film, despite direct requests from the ship’s Captain to stop – interestingly though P&O claimed above that the Ch 7 crew was using secret cameras

P&O Cruises went on to say that the Company understood the public interest in their cruise holidays and what they are doing to enhance passenger welfare and prevent excessive behaviour by a small minority of their passengers.

They added, “We consider reasonable requests by media who identify themselves and seek permission from our shore side administration and also from our passengers to film or conduct interviews onboard”.  “We do not accept the use of secret cameras, misrepresentations, unfounded allegations and the selective tactics employed by Today Tonight provide a fair representation of our cruises or our passengers and we will always act to protect the privacy of the families who holiday with us.”

They also said that a 14-year-old girl travelling with the TV crew was identified to the Captain as the niece of the principal of the group, Mr Colin Chapman and that Today Tonight alleged the 14-year-old was served alcohol in the ship’s nightclub, saying that the Company is very concerned about this allegation.  P&O responded that on Thursday October 26, security and bar staff intervened to stop Mr Chapman from providing the young girl with an alcoholic drink, which he had purchased in one of the ship’s lounges with Mr Chapman’s conduct the subject of an official warning from the Captain the next morning and at that meeting Mr Chapman apologising to the Captain for what he said was a misunderstanding.

P&O says that they take their responsibilities on responsible service of alcohol, including the prohibition on service of alcohol to minors, very seriously and on boarding, passengers under 18 years of age issued with a coloured identity swipe card which identifies the card holder as being under 18 and electronically blocking any attempt to buy alcoholic drinks, with the electronic bar records for the cruise establishing the 14-year-old did not buy any alcoholic drinks at any time. 

Furthermore, they also said that on the first night of the cruise, in response to inquiries from the 14-year-old as to what activities she could participate in, she was twice advised by a security officer that she could not access the nightclub because she was under-age, this occurring in the company of Mr Chapman on one occasion and the 14-year-old also being refused entry to the nightclub on the same night when she attempted to enter with Mr Chapman.

P&O also says that neither Mr Chapman nor the other members of the film crew brought any of these allegations to the attention of the Captain or Staff Captain even though they met formally with them on two occasions.

P&O also totally rejects the accusation that it either confiscated any tapes or removed any from the Ch 7 crew’s cabins.

Contrary to P&O’s statement, the Ch 7 Today Tonight programme accused P&O of continuing the irresponsible service of alcohol and that very little had changed in the management of the vessel and in particular the inappropriate behavioural issues that were shown on the programme.

Ch 7 did accept though that some steps had been taken by P&O to improve matters, listing those imprevements including the increased security guards on board, but they also claimed that P&O had tested the Ch7 crew for drugs and had checked their bags for explosives prior to their being removed from the vessel.

The Channel 7 Report comes at the time of the recommencement this week of the inquiry into the death of passenger Dianne Brimble some two years ago aboard P&O’s Pacific Sky.

Report by The Mole