These are the cruise ships that failed miserably. From ships painted in bright orange with beds on
the floor to cryptocurrency ships that didn't even leave port. We bring you the incredibly
interesting stories of four cruise lines that literally bombed. Well ahoy there cruises.
Welcome to this video with us. Cruise with Ben and David. How are you doing this week?
Make sure you hit that subscribe button right now. Guys it really does help us out and it really
helps the channel continue to grow. Now the first cruise line we're going to look at is Fathom. Now
this is a really interesting one. Fathom was a cruise line that was owned by a carnival
corporation back in 2015. It was registered in the united kingdom but operated in the USA and
Florida. Yes a bit confusing. This was to be a very different type of cruise line. The whole
point was to operate social impact travel cruises. Basically this means that cruisers would cruise on
the ship to destinations in the caribbean, then would volunteer with different organizations
in port. Volunteering included teaching English to locals, helping build different
projects to supply food and water, as well as helping with the production of local goods or
making different types of spirits or chocolate and things like that. It was very interesting.
Their one ship was from P&O Cruises from here in the UK. The r-class adonia ship. The ship
was supported and maintained by P&O Cruisers still whilst it was in service with Fathom.
And in its short time as a cruise line did you know that Fathom actually made some history? It
was the first cruise line to sail from the united states to Cuba following the temporary improvement
of relations with Cuba and the united states. This is the first time it happened in over 50 years.
What a momentous occasion. I bet that was a really awesome cruise to be on.
She also sailed seven-night cruises from port Miami to the Dominican republic. In November 2016,
just a year after it launched, Fathom announced that they would be discontinuing the cruise line
operations in june 2017. So the ship Adornia was then returned back to P&O Cruises in the UK.
But the name continued on as branded excursion experiences on other carnival cruise lines. But
this only lasted another year. On January the 8th 2019 the Fathom brand was quietly discontinued.
Since then there's been no further announcements and there's been nothing said about the future of
Fathom. How sad is that? It was such a unique experience where you could give back as well.
But it goes to show that people want to go on vacation, not work. Travel agents found
the experience really hard to sell because you were basically being asked to pay to volunteer.
When people did choose to sail Fathom however they loved it and came back
many times. But the problem was attracting brand new people to show what it was all about. Because
it's quite hard to explain what it's about on paper or on screen isn't it. Many people only
have the opportunity to go on vacation once a year and wanted a break. Not to do some work. It
was a new category of travel that sadly failed. Very sad that they very silently disappeared.
Next up we have a really interesting one. It's the Easy cruise line. This is from the same company
who brought us Easyjet and Easyhotels and loads of other Easy brands. They thought it would be a good
idea but sadly they got things very, very, very, very wrong. We'll let you know why they launched
their first cruise ship EasyCruiseOne or one word in May 2005. EasyCruiseOne was originally built
in 1990 for another cruise line. She could only hold 100 passengers so she was tiny in comparison
to some of today's cruise lines. The ship's hull was originally painted a very stylish orange with
white Easycruise.Com website messaging on both sides. Very classy I think for a cruise ship don't
you Ben? She looked bloody awful. I mean take a look at these pictures. She looks really really
shocking, doesn't she. Yes anything like the airline. As you know they had the old telephone
number on the side. Do you remember that the old EasyJet telephone number? She was later painted
with a slightly toned-down version. Easy Cruises business model offered passengers an inexpensive
no-frills vacation. Unlike other cruise lines where most things like food and service are always
included. Easy cruise decided it would be better to charge for just about anything. So they offered
a la carte pricing for many things on board. In the upfront price, you were basically only
paying for your cabin and nothing else. And the cabins were in pretty bad shape too. All cabins
included a very simple bed and bathroom with bare amenities. Basically nothing. The bathroom
consisted of a glass-walled area containing both a toilet and shower. And most beds earlier on in
the cruise line consisted of a mattress placed on the floor. And there was barely any storage.
Just awful. And the cabins again were painted tangerine orange and grey. What a lovely classy
colour to be able to sleep in. Not. It actually sounds really similar to Easy hotel. We've stayed
in the Easy hotel a few times but obviously, we've only stayed there one night. We've never been on
a seven-night holiday on an Easy hotel. And the cabins were about half the size of the ones found
on regular cruise ships. But as we said, they were refurbished a little bit later on to look
a little bit more acceptable. But not much. And you even had to pay for your room to be cleaned
and linen changed. And guys it was not cheap as well. A full cleaning cost was $17.50 and a
simple linen change was $8.30 and it was $6.45 for a towel change. That's crazy. I know. You
might as well just pop into port and buy some new ones at that price. And the ship barely had any
amenities at all. They tried aiming these cruises at younger customers who wanted to spend basically
all of their time onshore rather than an onboard mega-ship each night. The ship would position
from port to port as the passengers slept. Basically that's what cruise lines do anyway.
In order to allow the maximum time in each port ashore. They just basically wanted to get people
off the ship as there wasn't anything on board to on offer. Yeah it sounds like they've based
on the concept of maybe like a sleeper train. Where you're just using it to get from a to b.
Nothing else. Or a ferry. Or a ferry sorry. Yeah of course like a sleeper train on the seas also
known as a ferry. The bear facilities included a small general store, a gift shop, a coffee shop
an English themed bar with an evening DJ and a cocktail bar and hot tub on the other upper
deck. Which sounds quite glamorous. The service began by operating nighttime departures cruising
in the mediterranean. For the winter season Easy cruise cruised in the caribbean. A second boat was
acquired back in 2007 very predictably called the EasyCruiseTwo. It was a converted river freighter.
So basically it would offer river cruises. But a river freighter guys. I think that says it all.
This ship visited ports around Netherlands and Belgium. Calling it cities such as amsterdam,
Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. But it didn't last long. It only lasted one year due to the
bad financial situation of the company. In 2008 EasyCruiseOne ship was replaced by a bigger ship
called Easy cruise life. Again, all one word. She held around 550 passengers so she was a
little bit bigger. So the demise of the cruise line.Well as you can imagine it demised because
it wasn't very good. Demised isn't even a word. But it was down to the fact that they totally
missed the point that people liked being on cruise ships and the food, entertainment, accommodation
all things like that played a huge part in the enjoyment of the cruise. Easy cruise lasted just
five years and ended operations back in 2010. The line was sold to the Greek ferry operator hellenic
seaways for nine million. Well, again sold to a ferry operator. I think it says it all. Yeah.
Easy Cruises operations were quietly discontinued sometime in 2010. The next cruise line doomed to
the history books is the Celebration Cruise Line. This cruise line began operations in march 2009
with the Bahamas celebration which was formerly a cruise ferry. There's that very word again. Built
in 1981 and converted to a cruise ship in 2008. The ship had a capacity of 1,200 passengers.
Celebration Cruise Line operated the only cruise ship to sail from the port of palm beach. She
started out in port everglades in fort Lauderdale but moved due to there been too much competition
at the port there. And she also had a few other unique features. She only sailed to the port of
freeport in the bahamas on two night round trips. So that was it there were no other cruises. The
line also offered a unique cruise and stay package that allowed passengers to check out of the ship
and into a resort on grand Bahama island for two, four or six nights. Before rejoining the
vessel for the return trip. I mean that's really pretty cool I think. How you could actually have
a Caribbean break in between the inbound and outbound cruises. That's really cool.
And the cruises were really cheap as well. And offered a great deal for first-time cruisers
wanting to test the waters. Pardon the pun. Without booking longer and more expensive cruises.
But what went wrong? Well, the sales team before sailing and whilst onboard were relentless
with nickel and diming in the passengers. They pressured people into selling things like shore
excursions, drinks packages, speciality dining and other items. And guys we know how much this annoys
us and you when you're on a cruise. And you get asked to buy stuff constantly. So I can't imagine
how bad this would have been. Also the cabins were tiny compared to today's standards and because she
was a smaller ship it meant it had limited options for entertainment and dining. The ship's overall
design was the subject of many complaints. With loads of dead ends that meant you had to go up and
down a deck. To go back or down. To go up and then to go sideways. To go left and shimmy. It was yeah
a nightmare. And one of the great things is that if you didn't get off the ship at the other end
you didn't even need a passport. Just your birth certificate and another form of id. Once it left
port in international waters the drinking age was reduced to 18. So as you can imagine the ship was
quite the party boat for younger people wanting to drink. Especially during spring break and
things like that. It was said to have a very much festival-like atmosphere on board. So how did it
all end? Well on October 31st. Halloween 2014. The Bahamas celebration ship struck an unknown object
while departing from freeport in the Bahamas creating a hole in the ship's hull and resulting
in the vessel listing 10 degrees to port. Don't worry all passengers and crew were unharmed
but she sustained such significant damage that it was retired. And the company then shut its doors
for good. Quite a drastic and sad end really. Many people really enjoyed sailing with the Celebration
Cruise Line but that was the end of that. And finally one of the most unique cruise lines that
we've probably ever read about is the bitcoin cruise ship. Yep guys you heard me right. The
bitcoin cruise ship. So in 2020 a company called ocean builders were planning to turn a cruise ship
into a floating tech hub community. With shops and restaurants that would accept bitcoins.
It would be a gathering place for digital nomads, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, whatever they are,
ex-pats, researchers and entrepreneurs. Offering a unique space in which they can build and network.
They wanted to take advantage of cruise lines selling ships for cheaper during the pandemic.
The company were actually planning to use the former pacific dawn from P&O Cruises Australia.
They were planning to change the name to satoshi which is actually the same name as the smallest
unit of bitcoin. So we can see what we did there. It was a bit like the world cruise ship.
Basically this ship has people living onboard the ship in apartments. Also known as cabins.
Where the ship would go was unknown or whether it would just anchor in international waters off the
coast of Panama. The crypto cruisers cabins were being sold for $25000 to $50000 and residents
would also pay an ongoing fee for the upkeep of the ship and things like communities on board.
So what happened? Where did it all go wrong? Well nothing happened! That was the problem. They
couldn't get the insurance for the vessel they even tried to convince the Panama marine authority
that the ship would be considered a non-sea going vessel to reduce its insurance premiums.
But because the vessel had an engine and a flag they were considered as a sea-going vessel
and the authorities refused. Without insurance the ship couldn't have a crew.
The former pacific dawn has now sadly been sold for scrap which is unfortunate, isn't it? But
yeah that was a cruise line that didn't even leave or even sail at all. Which is quite sad. If you
were on any of these ships we'd love to hear from you. So let us know in the comment section below.
Thank you so much for watching. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button for more
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The captain of the week is charles so ahoy there charles. That's it till next time. Happy cruising.