'It was like the Hunger Games': Vegan cruise passengers left 'starving'
Hundreds of vegan passengers have been left “hungry, angry and confused” after their four-hour cruise, promising a nine-course meal around Sydney Harbour instead turned into an episode of “vegan survivor”.
More than 400 members of Sydney’s Vegan Club jumped on the boat at Circular Quay on Saturday night after paying up to $60 per head for a menu that promised an array of gourmet treats – but once out on the water, their expectations suddenly changed.
“Everyone felt ripped off… we were told of a bountiful seven course night of vegan food (later upgraded to ‘nine courses’), instead we were left to chase limited amounts of food,” Gareth Cummins told Yahoo7 News, adding that some of the wines weren’t actually vegan.
“People talked about jumping over the boat or eating each other.
“It was especially bad because people were drinking and expected food to accompany their drinks, which didn’t eventuate which was unsatisfactory.”
The increasingly agitated cruise passengers began to question what their money went towards, pointing out the staff worked for free and the event was sponsored by Syndian Natural Food.
“When the food came out you would have been lucky to see it and if you were lucky enough to grab a small piece of falafel the size of a lychee fruit,” one person wrote online.
“It felt like I was on the Hunger Games or vegan Survivor,” another added.
Another passenger said that the event organiser was “unprofessional” in his explanation to disappointed guests.
“He said 25 per cent of guests greedily ate 50 per cent of the food... posts about the cruise that were not positive, were deleted from the Facebook page as well,” she said.
“It just should have been responded to better than it was.”
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When the ship docked earlier than expected, hungry passengers wasted no time making their way across the road to McDonald’s.
The event organiser told Yahoo7 News it was the largest of the 700 events he has planned and he apologised if the event was under-catered.
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