Martin Vemish and his wife Sara are forced to go on a Caribbean cruise by their son Herbert, who has just become a partner in the family business and insists that his parents take a vacation. When they get on the cruise, they refuse to attend the introductory talk with Clifton Booth, the tour director. Instantly, Booth categorises the Vemishes as 'problems' on his cruise - he is determined to watch their every move and send them home if trouble arises. And it does: on the first stop, the Vemishes go onshore and return an hour later than the stipulated time, but Booth's reprimands are ineffective. On the second day, they alienate nearly all the other cruisers by criticising their shopping habits. Bradford Bates is the only other cruiser that makes friends with Vemish; this is mostly because he wants to escape the control of his domineering wife. The trip's schedule undergoes some changes, and they have an entire day at sea - Booth arranges games for the cruisers, hoping to entertain them. Vemish enters the games, and plays ferociously enough that the betting is skewed in his favour. The atmosphere is so tense that some women have breakdowns, while another has her ankle broken by a stray disc. Alarmed, Booth moves to expel the Vemishes from his ship, but they leave before he can accost them. At last he knows that the trip is doomed, and the angry captain and crew ask him to end the cruise and go back to New York. There have been several illnesses, and a man has died. In the aftermath of this grim announcement, Vemish and Bates order drinks at the bar, idly making conversation. This expands into a small gathering that rapidly devolves into a loud party - old people screaming and singing and dancing wildly. The crew is alarmed, and Booth is at his wit's end. He tries to stop the party, but the cruisers throw cutlery at him until he is forced to leave. Booth finds Vemish and breaks down completely, begging to know why he did this. Vemish denies everything. The storm assailing the ship subsides, and they pull into the harbour. When the Vemishes disembark, their son asks them how the cruise was: they reply saying that they did not like it much.