- Aaron Rose boarded a cruise after losing a loved one and receiving an inheritance
- He racked up $30,000 in gambling debts across a 10-day cruise
- He alleges that staff served him while he was significantly intoxicated, claiming they were bringing him drinks as soon as his glass was empty
Aaron Rose stepped on a P&O cruise in November 2023, while mourning his late uncle and unsure what to do with the inheritance just left to him. He believes predatory behaviour of the cruise ship staff contributed to him racking up more than $30,000 in gambling debts across the 10-day cruise.
Rose details the events: “In early 2023 my beloved uncle passed away at the young age of 60, this was not an expected death for the family whatsoever, it broke my heart. Later in the year, about a month before setting sail on a cruise that would deem to negatively impact my life forever, I received the inheritance from my uncles passing.
“I was in a very depressed state of mind, and just wanted a fun relaxing holiday I felt I deserved.”
Rose says he was instantly given a free drinks card that could only be used in the casino, for up to 15 drinks a day. While it started off appearing genuine, the gesture soon seemed more sinister.
“On the first night of the cruise I was given a free drinks card I could only use in the casino, for 15 drinks a day. I thought that was really nice of them, so I began playing in the casino and redeeming some of my free drinks. At first I had to walk up to the bar and ask for my drink, that was fine as it felt like normal service.
“Sometime the next day of the cruise, I would arrive at the casino to claim a free drink and they would ask me where I was playing even though I hadn’t started gambling yet, so I would point to a random machine so they knew where to deliver it to.”
Rose said he was so drunk he was accidentally breaking glasses.
“They started to bring me drinks when my glass was nearly empty without me even asking for another. At one point I was so intoxicated I accidentally smashed a glass on top of an empty one because I had trouble seeing, the casino host walked over to me and said “No that’s okay, broken glass brings you good luck, keep playing”
“At the time I thought that was funny, but when I received a bill of over $5000 the next day it was no longer a laughing matter.”
Rose was certain he wouldn’t make the same mistakes again, but kept getting lured in by free offers and incentives from the casino, such as more free drinks, free cruises, casino credit and more.
“At the time I had the money to pay the bill out of my uncles inheritance. I swore I would not do that again, but the incentives the casino gave me to stay and play, were too good to not at least check out.
“Over the remainder of the cruise I proceeded to lose over $30,000 … making decisions I would NEVER had made, if responsible drinking laws were in place. I was truly heartbroken.
“I think the behaviour of the casino as a whole on the P&O cruise was truely disgusting, ignorant and predatory.”
The Casino Control Act 1991 says a casino operator must not knowingly allow a person who is in a state of intoxication to gamble or bet in the casino. Furthermore, the Liquor Control Reform Act makes it illegal to supply alcohol to an already intoxicated person.
Another Cruise Passenger article details the complications as to whether or not these Australian laws can be applied to cruise leaving from Australia and sailing into international waters.
P&O have been contacted for comment.
Other cruisers share similar stories
Other cruisers told Cruise Passenger of similar experiences they had onboard cruises, across Carnival and P&O. Cruisers reported ending up with up to $33,000 in gambling debts.
Desley doesn’t drink alcohol, but she felt different strategies were used to keep her gambling, as she awaited her soft drinks.
“I have just returned from a Cruise on Carnival Splendor and had free drinks at the casino. Every person I spoke to had the same gripe. It would take ages to get a drink waiter to attend and then take ages, more than 20 minutes, to receive the drink. During that time I couldn’t leave the pokie machine even if it was a dud because otherwise it was too difficult for the staff to find me.
“It’s a complete lurk to force people ,even people who are periodic gamblers, to stay and play the same pokie machine. They’re trying to force people to continue playing and they can take up to 20 minutes or more to provide the drink one has ordered. One if not careful can do a lot of financial damage in that time. I’ve complained of this in my feedback form to Carnival.”
Desley also said she heard from friends who do drink alcohol, that after earning enough casino points, drinks become free.
“Another passenger told my friendI that if you rack up 1500 points then the drinks become free at the casino.
“Some cruisers who don’t have free drinks deliberately bet big and very quickly just to get the free drinks.”
Vicky Slade ended up with $6000 in debts from a three-day cruise.
“I was invited by a friend on a free cruise with Carnival. I ended up with $6000 to pay off on my credit card. A staff member stood over me as I used the ATM.
“The cruise had been a mess, we couldn’t dock anywhere so the casino was always open, they even offered lessons on how to play the tables.
“Never again, they made it all seem so fun.”
Carnival Corp facing a lawsuit for gambling practices
Carter Capner Law is opening a class action against Carnival Corporation, who owns P&O, Carnival Cruises, Princess Cruises and more.
This lawsuit began when Shane Dixon, a father of three, jumped off Pacific Adventure after facing significant gambling debts due to his visits to the casino onboard.
The law firm shared many stories of other passengers who faced alleged predatory practices. For example, a cruiser who had a gambling problem known to the cruise line but was allowed to cruise while already in debt and given a $5000 credit limit per day.
Carnival Australia has been contacted for comment on this story.
Australia has a National Gambling Helpline that can be reached on 1800 858 858.
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No one made you do anything. Only you. You could have walked away at anytime or said no or not taken up the free drink offer or stopped drinking. Your an adult. Its your choice
Agree with all the above, take responsibility for your own actions. Can’t keep blaming others for our behaviour. Leave cruise staff alone.
All cruise ships give you free drinks. The guy probably didn’t know that. I’ve never heard of one getting you hammered when they know you are already drunk. No one forced the drink down his throat.
Grow up and take some responsibility of your own actions. It’s so annoying that when people make poor decisions they try and blame someone else.
Lol. You walk into the casino and get a free drinks package? Dreaming
Some of these stories are fiction. To use ship casino you must preload your cruise card. No staff member stands there for you to settle a debt. It cant happen. You can opt out. You didnt. You can block gaming recharges. You didnt.
I’m sure that had he won $30,000 he would have insisted on giving it back as it was never his intention to gamble…
These losers have no one else to blame but themselves! They are adults and can say NO! I really can’t see how be lured by free drinks! I’ve done 30+ cruises, always drinks take 20 mins. Just stay away from the casino and ignore any offers which seem too good to be true!!! I’m sorry I don’t have much sympathy, they are responsible for their own actions!! There is always help out there if they need it!!
Grown up ADULTS !!! Take responsibility for your own actions. Crew did not tie you down and make you sit there gambling away your money —. YOU did !! Other people manage to go , gamble what they can afford then LEAVE! Grow up people – not the Crews fault.
We take Casino cruises all the time. We are given a certain amount of credit to play with & free drinks plus a cheap cabin. It is now up to us how much we spend and drink. Nobody forces a drink on us or tells us to stay there and keep gambling.
We are responsible for our own actions, if we are winning we will stay, if loosing we will leave. Never spend more than you can afford to loose.
On Princess Cruises I visit the Casino every day, I enjoy doing so. But I have planned in advance. I take, say, $1000 casino money for a 10 day cruise. I allot $100 per day and dont exceed that. Last trip I was. $1600. in front. I do only play the pokies.
No one is forced to play in the casino and as mentioned he’s only spending his uncle’s inheritance and his getting dirty because he lost uncles money if he won it’d be a different story
Such harsh comments previously.
There actually is such a thing as Responsible Service of Alcohol folks.
And in this day and age you can try to sue for negligence of service and responsibility so if he feels he really was taken advantage of, why wouldn’t he sue.
Carnival is a multi-million dollar (probably multi-billion dollar) organisation.
It is not poor. It makes money from suckers. It makes money from upselling EVERYTHING including gambling on the ships.
This is how they operate. It’s not a secret.
Yes, he may have been a bit dumb but many travellers make dumb decisions, especially when plied with alcohol.
No doubt the casino staff are also on commission so make more pay when they have more people playing, and drinking.
If this is a true story then it is a sad story and I hope it has a better resolution, down the track.
Annoys me when I hear this stuff.
Grow up.
Take responsibility.
Get some help.
This is on you.
Own it and move on.
We have sailed with P&O / Princess 12 times and I have never experienced a predatory approach by the casino staff. Yes, we have been offered a $100 gambling voucher (before we boarded), it’s up to you whether you use it or not. When you gamble, you are taking a risk, not many people ever leave a casino in front, and why would you ever bet using someone else’s money, ie a credit facility. He could only have gambled while the ship was at sea, what did he do during port days? Let’s remember, your daily charges are up-loaded every night to your credit facility, these days, so this gentleman must have had a suitable line of credit, or the up-load would have failed. As for the drinks, there are not too many people in this world who could stomach 16 drinks a day, and believe they are in charge of their mental capacity. Sorry to hear this young man suffered a family lose, but don’t blame this on anyone else, it was his own stupidity.
You only live once,
you did not loose your money.its all uncles inheratence.
Ke sera sera
When are people going to take responsibilities for their choices and actions?
No one forced anyone to enter the Casino and stay there, no one.
That’s plain greed. They all wanted something for free, but nothing in life is free, there’s always a catch.
If something seems too good to be true, then run as far and fast as you can.
It’s not just the casino where you have to wait 20 minutes for drinks. This has happened to me many times on many ships.
Unbelievable crap…loses his money..then blames someone else ..get real.. beloved uncle..sure
Glad the truth is finally coming out. Good on anyone that has lost at these rip off joints, that come out in public and state how much money the Cruiseline casinos have conned out of innocent passengers. Especially those that don’t normally gamble but are enticed every minute, to play for a free drinks card but can only be redeemed in Casino.
Here’s my story.
I took my mum on a Princess cruise.
Done my nuts in the Casino every night. I played from afternoon til early hours on some days.
I’ve lost $6000 on this cruise. As Id enter the casino, drinks were bought to me immediately. I was served refreshers even without requesting one. Often I was still only halfway through.
On the last night, trying to win again, I realized I had no funds left on my cards, to gamble anymore. As I knew I done more than intended, I thought I’d try and get credit on my Cabin as they hadn’t settled my Card and the credit came through.
As I knew I could not pay what I’d gambled on my Room account, I let mum go through checkout 1st, to save her the embarrassment and wanting to pay the bill for me.
Mum’s waiting at the Gangway entrance in her Motor scooter.
My account was declined I was advised by the checkout desk. I said oh really, sorry about that.
He asked abruptly, so how are you going to pay?
I said, it’s simple mate, I got no more money and no other cards.
As such, I’ll have to owe you and you need to let me get off. Mum’s getting frustrated not knowing why she was left waiting on her own. She had no idea where I was.
He then said, well an you get ring your bank.
I said why, as you know the card has no funds so the banks not going to tell you any different. He still insisted I ring my bank and I kept refusing.
Instead of doing what he did after 15 minutes back and forward to each other, him still asking if I can ring someone to borrow the money off.
I ended up saying, look you either let me off the ship or give me a cabin to sleep in if you want to unnecessarily detain me (actually I should find out if that’s illegal to do to any passenger).
He then realized I held the trump card, and he was not going to get his way and he now needed to move on to the next step, which they obviously have as a backup, if the Desk member cannot extort the money you owe, out of you.
They know the can’t keep you on the ship lol, so don’t let them bluff you.
So I was given a form to sign, stating that I owed a specific amount of $$$.
After a quick scan, I signed it, knowing that now, Princess would have to try and get funds out of me.
I also thought how bad Princess would look, taking me to court, suing me to try and recover the $$$ and having to state why I owed them this money.
So then, I just sat back, waiting to see if they’d even dare try to get the money and risk being ridiculed for why I owed them this money.
I ended up received an invoice about 6 or even 12 months later.
The invoice had all my direct details, including the outstanding amount I owed.
The only incorrect details was for why I owed them money. They could have just said it was the Oustanding amount for the Cabin charges. They didn’t have to stupidly specify what the charge was for. I.e. Casino Gambling.
The reason given on the invoice for the outstanding amount was, Medical Centre.
It was then I knew Princess were being very careful with what communications they were sending to past passengers and the “Description “ of the amount owed. I wonder if anyone else has these letters or emails demanding the outstanding amount but the reason was not related to the Casino.
This was back in 2017 or 18. I’m am trying to retrieve the account so I can pass it on as evidence as to how dishonest and deceptive all the Cruiselines are.
I will be joining the Class Action, as I have plenty of evidence to produce.
Let’s get the mongrels.
In closing, I’m thinking of all those that this has impacted. Many in such a sad way. They’re the reason I have chosen to take on these thrives.
LOL. The money would have burnt a hole in his pocket no matter where he gambled it. If it wasn’t this cruise it would have been a casino somewhere. Unless he has witnesses that show cruise staff physically pouring liquor down his throat….he doesn’t have a case. I just came off a cruise…earmarked X amount for gambling….then came home. A footnote here…I lost.
Seriously?!?
Take responsibility for your own life choices.
in my experience the drinks on p & o appear to be very weak/watered down so he must have been given heaps to get drunk. all p & o are interested in is making money as you have to pay extra for most thin gs onboard so nothing would suprise me