Passengers who were stuck on the `bug ship' Aurora have threatened to sue cruise operators P&O Cruises, warned a report.
Around 1,800 people disembarked from the Aurora in Southampton this morning after a 17 day cruise during which 500 passengers fell ill with a virulent stomach bug.
Passenger Michelle Seaborn said she and her husband Barry were to sue P&O Cruises for "taking them hostage".
According to the report, Seaborn, from Heywood in Greater Manchester, said she caught the bug on Monday after staff took her passport to stop her leaving the ship in Gibraltar and flying home.
"It was an absolute nightmare. We were held hostage," she said. "We got a clean bill of health from the doctor, but they wouldn't let us off or give us our passports. A P&O executive said they would only give them to us after we set sail from Gibraltar."
"I am suing them for kidnap - they didn't need to keep us on the ship did they? They didn't want us coming off the ship and talking to the media," said Seaborn.
The report said other passenger also said they were considering legal action.
Other passenger said the outbreak of the Norwalk or Noro virus had not spoiled the cruise. Derek Mather, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, said: "Yes I was sick, but in 72 hours you recover and you get on with it."
According to the report, P&O has declined to offer a standard compensation package to the passengers, and said it would deal with each case individually.
