After a two week holiday in New Zealand for mum, dad and three children, I had planned to take mum and the kids on a short voyage back to Sydney on the Sun Princess. I have been on a few cruises but mum and the kids had never sailed on a cruise before.

I thought that a four day voyage would give them a sample and perhaps if they liked it, we would be able to take a cruising holiday in the future.

Unfortunately, as we were ascending the ramp in Auckland our noses were assaulted by an awful smell like that of sewage, such as that from a septic tank. I said that we should hurry up and get on the ship to escape it. But guess what; the smell was coming from the ship, not the ramp. Some parts of the ship were free of the smell. Our rooms were on Baja deck and my son and I were in a cabin which was only a short distance from my other half and my two daughters and our cabin was free of the smell. Unfortunately, the mini suite occupied by the girls was affected very strongly. My daughters disliked it but were not sick. The missus though, felt quite ill for most of the journey and threw up several times. She could not eat for most of the time so missed out on the delicious meals that the rest of us were able to enjoy. We complained to the sympathetic cabin steward who told us that many other people were also suffering from the stench and that the crew were attempting to fix the problem. He suggested that we leave the windows open, but it was too hot and humid for that. Read more