Cruise ship returns to UK waters

The ship was due to return to the UK on Saturday

Cruise liner passengers who had been stranded in Madeira for two days at the end of a three-month cruise are back in British waters - a day late.

Nearly 500 holidaymakers on the MV Van Gogh were in the Portuguese island port of Funchal from Tuesday as a result of a legal dispute.

They got under way after the owners reached agreement with administrators.

Van Gogh Cruises said the boat arrived in Falmouth, Cornwall, at about 2000 BST and was ready to dock.

Coach travel booked by passengers would be available from 0830 BST on Monday.

But anyone who wanted to disembark and make their way home independently could do so, a spokesman for Van Gogh Cruises said.

One-off arrangement

He said: "The report from yesterday from the ship was that passengers were in good fettle.

"They were happy to be coming home and they have had a wonderful time.

"We are just delighted that the ship is coming in now."

The cruise liner set sail on 4 January for a round-the-world trip costing its 460 passengers anything up to £9,000.

We would like to take this opportunity to again apologise to all passengers Van Gogh Cruises

It took in the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Tahiti, New Zealand, Sydney, Mauritius and Cape Town.

Passengers were due to arrive in Falmouth on Saturday.

But a dispute between the administrators of Gloucestershire-based Travelscope, the previous operator, and current owners Dutch-owned Club Cruise resulted in a court order detaining the vessel in Funchal.

Receivers had the MV Van Gogh impounded while trying to get £1.5m from the current owners.

The cruise was originally booked through Travelscope but, after it went into administration, Association of British Travel Agents arranged for the Van Gogh trip to go ahead in a one-off arrangement.