Technical fault halts cruise ship

The Sea Princess was hit by a virus last year

More than 2,000 cruise passengers have had their holiday cancelled after a problem was discovered with their ship.

The Sea Princess was due to leave Southampton on Sunday but holidaymakers awoke to find the ship had not moved and the cruise had been cancelled.

Princess Cruises said the cancellation was caused by "a technical problem which became apparent on the final day of the last sailing".

The ship was hit by a virus last year which affected 200 passengers.

'Safety a priority'

A spokeswoman from Princess Cruises said: "All passengers will receive a full refund and a 25% discount on any future cruise.

"Our customer service team has been on hand to assist all passengers with their onward travel arrangements.

"The Princess will resume normal operations following repairs - on the 26th of May.

"We are enormously disappointed not to be able to offer our passengers this cruise but the safety of our passengers is of the utmost priority."