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"Really, you're complaining about that," say over five thousand Carnival Triumph passengers in unison.

A cruise agent has revealed some of the most unusual complaints it has received in the past year.

Following the widely documented debacle with the Carnival Triumph back in February, cruise companies appear to be seeing the funny side of things again.

Online cruise travel agency www.bonvoyage.com has revealed a top ten list of the most bizarre complaints received from their customers during the last 12 months.

Cruise-liner staff are famously cheerful even in the most adverse of situations, but this proved too much for one Yorkshire couple. They complained that the excellent staff compelled them to spend “a lot more money than planned in tips”, for which they then attempted to claim compensation.

One lady on a Mediterranean cruise clearly hadn’t read the brief when she complained about the sea being too loud, suggesting that cabins be “better sound-proofed against the sounds of the sea”.

Another gentleman who missed the small-print sought compensation after finding that he couldn’t “swim in the pool each day” or “get an impressive tan” during his cruise around Alaska, the coldest state in America.

Defending his claim, the man stated that “all cruises are meant to be hot” and that he needed the compensation to buy warmer clothing after packing “minimal clothing for the expected hot weather.” Winter temperatures in Alaska average -25°C.

Some of the complaints were nothing to do with the ship or the weather but instead concerned celebrities, or rather the lack thereof.

A young woman on a Hawaiian cruise complained that Gary Barlow was not present after seeing pictures of him on the same cruise a year earlier. Customer services were unable to accept responsibility for Gary Barlow’s alternative holiday plans.

Another passenger suffered a similar realisation and demanded a full refund, accusing ‘Celebrity Cruises’ of “false advertising” after failing to find a single celebrity on the ship.

Considering the high levels of undisguised outrage among these disgruntled passengers, one can only imagine what it was like on board the Carnival Triumph.

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Tags: complaints, customer service, triumph

Photo credit: Passengers cheer after disembarking from the Carnival Triumph cruise ship after reaching the port of Mobile, Alabama. Now they have something to complain about. Lyle Ratliff / Reuters

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