An ordeal. An essential trip for an urgent specialist visit to the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital in Rome. The nightmare on the Olbia-Civitavecchia line aboard Moby ships, with delays, uncomfortable conditions and dirty spaces. The protagonists were a family of 4, residents of Porto Torres, who, on August 31, had to face the journey on the ferry to Civitavecchia and reach the pediatric hospital "for my six-year-old daughter suffering from a rare disease that can only be treated in specialized centers outside the island."
Angela Acciaro, 40 years old from Porto Torres, tells a story of insensitivity, of hardship, of disabled people and people in difficulty . «On August 31st, with my husband and my two daughters, we arrived at the dock in Olbia, where we found ourselves in front of very long lines of cars, ready to board in a rather tense atmosphere. The 9pm departure had been cancelled, we had been informed at 2.59pm with a message specifying that for operational reasons the trip had been postponed to 11pm without accommodation. In the event of cancellation, a full refund was foreseen, attached was a telephone number that you tried in vain to contact because no one answered or if you were lucky after half an hour».
The 11pm ship is also late. "On the instructions of the security personnel, I approach the ticket office, explain my situation and with a slight nod and a lot of indifference the gentleman replies that the only thing he can do is write me on the list of "desperate" and inform the captain." In the meantime, we remain in the car, father, mother and two daughters, stuck for a few hours, among the crowd of delirious passengers. "Amid a few jostles and swear words flying here and there, I manage to get on the ship and speak to the captain and the ship's doctor who secure a cabin," Angela continues in her story.
Around other situations of people with disabilities, unable to take the elevator because it is blocked. "The crew suggests having them go up a ladder, exhausted children and pregnant women without any support because the ship is packed. Agitated animals that do their business everywhere including the carpet and people camped out in every space". It is around midnight and Angela and her family are assigned the cabin. "Dirty, with a clogged toilet and sink".
The girls, however, fall asleep and finally the nightmare seems to be over. The tranquility is shattered again shortly after. "A family calmly enters our cabin, we find ourselves with the exact same key, the angry gentleman asks the crew for explanations and returns with an officer who tells us that that cabin was not ours because we were supposed to leave on the 9:00 pm ship." Angela and her husband are forced to wake the girls and with their luggage they go to the captain. "After a short time he assigns us another cabin and finally we manage to have accommodation until we arrive in Civitavecchia." The end of an odyssey. "A situation that we must report to prevent others from traveling without any safety, with many inconveniences and a very expensive ticket price."
