Woman's 70th birthday on cruise turns into nightmare after being attacked by bed bugs, left with marks on her hand

Monica Robertson, an Australian woman, booked "Pacific Encounter" with P&O Cruises to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday. However, she had no idea that she was in for a nightmare of a lifetime. Once they stepped inside the cruise liner they immediately sensed something was wrong- a bug infestation, as per reports.

"In the bathroom, there was literally one crawling on me. In the bed, I could feel things and peeled back the sheets, and that's when we saw quite a number of bugs in the bed with us. It was a very, very intense itching, an almost burning-like sensation. Very hot, then blistered. They eventually were the size of a 50-cent piece," shared Robertson with the New York Post.

She further added, "In the walk-in closet, I had a long black dress hanging with about six or seven small bugs. I called the stewards in, who took the samples away. It was at that point we called the team leader again and we asked about what was the result from the first bug that they took away, and he declined to answer." (Also Read: Woman celebrating her birthday alone gets this surprise from strangers. Watch)

After discovering the situation, she informed the staff and requested a refund, but it was denied, as reported by the New York Post. The small pests compelled the family to discard a large amount of clothing they had brought on vacation.

Robertson said, "We left everything on the lawn. I had to sift through and decide what we could keep and what needed to be thrown away. A majority of things couldn't be washed."

They also got a pest cleaning done in their home, and no infestation was found.

When Robertson complained to P&O, they stated that their room searches and cleanings turned up no evidence of bed bugs. Robertson denied their claim and said she was "clearly giving them bugs throughout their stay that they could look at."