PASSENGERS from Bournemouth have told of their misery at being on a cruise ship blighted by the norovirus sickness bug.

The Oriana docked back in Southampton yesterday and one woman from Everton in the New Forest described the 10-day trip as a “a cruise to hell”.

Antony Wars, 48, from Bournemouth, said restaurants were shut and when they ordered room service one night at 8pm they fell asleep before it arrived at 11.30pm.

“Our food is being served on cardboard plates with plastic knives and forks,” he said.

“You could go to prison and get that sort of service.

“And if you are ill you are confined to your cabin for 48 hours.”

He said passengers met up on the ship and they were so angry he feared “there might be a mutiny”.

Those who fell sick were quarantined to their rooms for 48 hours to try to prevent the sickness from spreading on the trip to places including Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo.

Another passenger from Everton, near Lymington, said people were violently ill without warning and cleaners were going around in overalls and masks.

She said: “It was a cruise from hell.

“If there were more than 1,000 on board I reckon 850 were ill.

“Everyone was going down like flies.”

The Oriana departed from Southampton on Tuesday, December 4, with 1,843 people on board.

A P&O Cruises spokesman said the number of passengers with active symptoms on the last full day of the cruise was six.

She said “enhanced sanitation protocols” were used to try to prevent the spread.

The spokesman said: “These comprehensive disinfection protocols have been developed by P&O Cruises in conjunction with UK and US public health authorities.”

She said all the ship’s passengers were provided with a precautionary health notice advising of “widespread norovirus activity”.