Cruise ship with 35 defects stuck in British port

By ANNA WHITNEY

LONDON - Coastguards who impounded a cruise ship due to set sail on a week-long trip told yesterday of how they were shocked to uncover 35 potentially dangerous defects during a routine inspection.

Alan Morgan, the principal surveyor of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "I would not have sailed on her myself. She was a potential hazard. There were things like fire extinguishers missing, fuel leaking from generators and an infestation of cockroaches... I have never seen so many problems as on this one."

It is now unlikely that the Panamanian-registered Ocean Glory 1 will be able to leave the port of Dover for several days, because its crew have been ordered to undergo emergency fire-drill training.

Around 600 passengers found their holiday had come to an abrupt end, and several who had been due to embark on the ship for a tour of the Norwegian fjords told how they were warned by others not to get aboard.

Peter Tomlinson, 49, from Beverley in East Yorkshire, said he had spoken to passengers from the previous cruise, who had told him a "whole series of horror stories".

"Apparently checks were carried out in Athens for three days and it was found that the lifeboats did not release," he said. "I was told by the other passengers that there was no electricity or power supply for three hours during the last trip and on five occasions the engines broke down... The whole thing has been a disaster."

Other problems on the 51-year-old ship included the inability of its largely Ukrainian crew to speak English.

Most passengers had left the liner by yesterday afternoon although some, who had travelled from all over Britain to go on holiday, were given permission to stay in their pre-booked rooms on Monday evening.

Portuguese authorities contacted the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to request that the ship be detained after officials seized it for 24 hours in Lisbon during a legal dispute involving its Greek owner.

A woman who had been working on the ship said: "I have never seen anything like the conditions on board this vessel. They are a disgrace.

"It is dangerous for both passengers and members of crew. If an emergency did break out on board I'm not sure they would have coped."

Brian Orrell, general secretary of the merchant navy officers' union Numast, said: "People booking cruises may think they are in line for a dream holiday but if they are travelling [on a ship with] poorly-paid seafarers, it could become a nightmare.

"We would urge people to think twice before they book and check that they are sailing with a reputable operator, using modern, well maintained ships with properly-trained professional seafarers."

Andrew Gardiner, a spokesman for Cruise Collection, the company that chartered the ship, said it was expecting to have to pay out around £360,000 in refunds and compensation. He said: "They will all be getting a full refund and we have to speak to our legal advisers but there will be compensation. Our main concern was for the passengers and we are terribly sorry for what has happened to them and did all that we could."

Mr Gardiner added that the owners of the liner, Cruise Holdings Maritime Corporation, had recently spent around £1.4m on a refit. Cristof Karavos, a spokesman for the operating company, said the ship had been checked twice before coming to Britain and was given permission to sail on both occasions.

- INDEPENDENT