Around 400 Chinese passengers refused to disembark the Henna cruise ship, China’s first domestically operated luxury liner, for nearly eight hours this week after a cruise to Japan was delayed by fog, according to a newspaper report. 

The newspaper says that the Chinese tourists refused to leave the cruise ship from 8 AM until 5 PM on Monday before they reached an agreement with the cruise line regarding compensation. Their delay caused another substantial delay to passengers waiting to board for the next cruise.

A year ago I wrote about another group of Chinese passengers aboard the the Costa Victoria who engaged in another organized protest.

The cruise ship could not enter a port in Vietnam because a sunken ship blocked the harbor.This resulted in a shore excursion to Halong Bay being canceled. The travel agency offered the 1,000 or so passengers a refund of around $40 each and the cruise line offered them $50 each. Over 100 passengers demanded a refund of up to 70% of their cruise fares. They refused to leave the ship and protested loudly and organized a sit-in.

I can’t place my finger on it but there must be a cultural issue explaining the mass protests over what appear to be just a minor inconvenience. 

Most cruise passengers around the world can’t wait to get off the cruise ship after they have had a really bad experience. Or if they encounter fog or some other unavoidable and uncontrollable delay, they just shrug it off.

I wonder how Carnival and Royal Caribbean will deal with a boatload of angry Chinese passengers sick with a massive norovirus outbreak? 

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Photo Credit: South China Morning Post