WHEN it set sail for its latest tour of the Caribbean, the liner Ventura was brimming with festive cheer. This weekend, however, it is awash with claims that “chav” holidaymakers had turned it into the cruise ship from hell.

P&O is bracing itself for a flood of complaints from returning passengers about a “them and us” divide which saw guests who had paid up to £7,500 a cabin taking refuge from fighting families and underage drinkers. Some claim that youths were caught trying to set fire to a Christmas tree.

It may be the first of many holiday cruises to suffer from the credit crunch. Would-be passengers who had placed a 10% deposit decided they could not afford the full cost of the cruise and cancelled.

Instead, P&O filled the rest of the 3,300 places aboard ship with holidaymakers who were seeking a last-minute sunshine bargain.

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Cruising etiquette went overboard with the new breed of cut-price passengers, who tried to reserve sun beds all day by draping towels over them and allegedly sent their underage children to the ship’s 12 bars to stock up on alcohol.

A brawl between two families from Manchester apparently broke out over who was drinking the better champagne.

Children threw food at stewards and abused the ship’s officers when asked to stop. Even the captain was booed when he tried to count down to midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Bad weather meant that the £330m ship, which was launched in Southampton last year, missed three of the six islands on its itinerary. Instead, it made an unscheduled stop at another port to put ashore two youths who were behaving badly.

Barbara Stone, 69, from Old Windsor, Berkshire, said: “I booked months in advance and paid £8,000 for four people. I then heard on board that people had picked up tickets for £900 per person a few weeks before the cruise started.

“I’ve been on 14 cruises now and this one was definitely the worst. My friend saw a 14-year-old boy who was blind drunk in the lift. We also heard that a fight took place because a waiter wouldn’t serve alcohol to a 14-year-old and the boy’s father became aggressive.”

Richard Rawlings, 20, a student from Wilmslow, Cheshire, who was on the boat with his father Nigel, 52, an accountant, his mother Joy and his 17-year-old sister, said: “We paid £15,000 for two cabins. When we got on board we heard people had got it much cheaper. It was full of chavs. Kids were trying to torch the Tamarind lounge and there was a big fight between two Manchester families.

“Someone was cut with a broken glass on New Year’s Eve. I was threatened when I tried to sit on a sun lounger - somebody had tried to reserve it all day by leaving a towel on it.”

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