We were on the doomed cruise from Dubai, 2nd March to Cape Town. Advertised and highly promoted as the cruise of a lifetime, visiting UAE, Muscat, Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion Island and several stops in South Africa. Yes definitely a trip of a lifetime.

This was our13th cruise with NCL - was this a sign already? We had heard via our roll call that Madagascar had been removed with an extra stop in the Seychelles instead - great but Madagascar was one of the selling points for us - we had no confirmation from NCL or our TA so don't know why. Obviously speculation was rife with no one knowing why.

We then heard that a Princess ship had had problems at Reunion Island on March 1st with the police having to use tear gas after tour buses were pelted with stones. It also reported that the Sun Princess had been refused entry to Madagascar on 13th February - the day before NCL announce no Madagascar for us, so both these incidents before we had even boarded. Read more