A WODONGA holidaymaker, thinking he was set for a party cruise, wants compensation from his travel agent after finding more flower-making than fun.
Concreter Mathew Hasler, 27, is upset over the 14-day South Pacific P&O cruise he booked with a mate through Helloworld in Wodonga.
"We asked the agent and said 'we want a party cruise, we want to go have a good time, we want to get rowdy...we want to meet young people, we're both single'," Mr Hasler said.
"She bashed the table and said 'yep this is the cruise for you', she goes 'this is the one', I said 'beauty' and we were pumped and excited.
"We had never been on a cruise and we didn't do any research but we put our trust in her hands."
Mr Hasler said after 24 hours aboard he booked a flight home from Vanuatu.
"There's a so-called nightclub at the very top, it's called the Dome, we went up there at about 10.30-11 o'clock and there was about ten 12-year-olds doing the macarena on the dance floor with all their parents,” Mr Hasler said.
"We knew we were in trouble then.
"There was probably 95 per cent of elderly people and families.
"I think there was me, my friend and probably about five other younger guys on there as well."
Mr Hasler spent $1500 on returning home after paying $2400 for the cruise.
He approached Helloworld for compensation, believing he was misled and his lawyer wrote a complaint flagging legal action.
Mr Hasler said he was told "pretty much bad luck" and was laughed at by a manager.
"We were telling her what was on the cruise...there was knitting classes, bingo, flower-making and all this sort of stuff and we were telling her this and she started laughing," Mr Hasler said.
"We said to her 'do you find this funny?' because we don't."
Helloworld manager Renee Nightingale rejected Mr Hasler's criticism, saying no compensation would be offered.
"He said 'he got back from a senior citizens’ cruise', there was 300 people aged 18 to 34 on there," Ms Nightingale said.
She said there was no party cruises on offer from Australia and a brochure had been supplied to Mr Hasler.
"There's not a Contiki ship, there's not a 100 per cent party ship," Ms Nightingale said.
"We would never sell anything on that basis, that it was going to be a full-on party."
Ms Nightingale said Mr Hasler did not let himself enjoy the cruise, getting off at the first port.
"Either he didn't enjoy it and wants someone to blame or he was looking for a cruise ship full of under-30s which doesn't exist," she said.
