Travel News

Cruisers 'held to ransom' in Madeira

Passengers on board a cruise ship have been stranded in the port town of Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira and are effectively being held to ransom, according to reports.

The Van Gogh, which has about 460 passengers from the UK onboard, was detained by police in Madeira and has been held there for the past two nights.

After setting off from Falmouth on January 4th, the vessel sailed around the world, visiting destinations including Ecuador, Tahiti and Cape Town, and was due to return to the UK on April 5th.

It has been detained in Funchal over claims that the owners of the ship owe £2 million after taking over the cruise route at Christmas.

Mark Horwood, managing director of Van Gogh Cruise Line, told the BBC: "We can't understand why the administrators placed this claim on the vessel in Madeira, rather than waiting for her to arrive in Falmouth - obviously when the passengers would have disembarked and the ship would have been empty."

One passenger, 64-year-old Gladys Hobson from Tyneside, said that everybody onboard the vessel was shocked and first thought that the incident was an April Fools' joke.

She was able to look on the bright side, however, adding: "We're in a beautiful place. You couldn't be in a better place to be held ransom."

The Cruise Line said that it was working with its lawyers to have the ship released from Madeira as soon as possible.

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