Ex-sea captain reveals the dark side of holiday cruises

Lower Beeding resident Michael Lloyd has enjoyed a seafaring career that spanned more than 50 years, but, amid the adventure and excitement, the 72-year-old has a tale or two to tell about the dangers of working at sea, from cargo ships to cruises.

Although a work of fiction, Cruise Ship draws from Michael’s own findings in his revealing career.

“It deals with a new type of cruise ship - they’re more like hotel ships. Think about taking a huge hotel, putting it on the hull of a ship and sending it out to sea.”

The story revolves around protagonist Dave Benson - a traditional captain who is made redundant and lands a job in the cruise ship industry, but he soon discovers that it is a totally different environment than what he is used to.

“He finds out that the hotel side of the ship is more important than the seamanship.”

He said that in many respects, the dangers at sea had been forgotten.

This is Michael’s ninth published book, having written several text books for the industry including ‘Captains Legal’.

“I’m lifting a little corner of the veil - the sea doesn’t really have a safety culture. We’re now reaching a peak in moral dilemma at sea.”

Cruise Ship is available on Amazon for £4.99.