Cruise Britons left at sea in legal row

For dozens of British holidaymakers an 11-day cruise around the Mediterranean sounded like the perfect way to see in the New Year.

But to their amazement, the holiday of a lifetime on board the luxurious liner Triton turned into a disaster after a legal row between the ship's owners and a German bank over a loan.

First, a stop-off in Sicily was cancelled at the last minute, while Athens was left off the itinerary altogether.

Then the 14,000-ton liner docked in Rhodes, to the passengers' surprise, before heading towards Patras in Greece, which they had never expected to see.

Ralph Christie, 42, a carpet retailer from Leeds, paid £2,900 for the cruise and took his wife and two children.

"Everything was fine at first," he said. "We flew from Stansted to Genoa on 22 December and went to Nice, Rome, Crete and Egypt. Then we skipped Sicily and have been at sea ever since, although we docked briefly in Rhodes. We heard that if the boat went to Athens, it was going to be impounded and now we don't know where we are going.

"The staff on board Triton have been a little abrupt, although we feel sorry for them. There is shock and disbelief among the passengers, most of whom are over 50.

"A lot of people have spent a lot of money. We think we should get a full refund and compensation." Royal Olympia Cruises, which runs the trip and whose head office is in Greece, said the holiday had been disrupted because of a legal dispute in the US.

Chris Lorenzo, a spokesman for the company based at its London offices, said that Triton is a member of the same group of companies that owns two other ships which have been detained in America.

He said: "The event in America is connected to this event in Greek waters. The Triton was not actually detained, impounded or seized, although disruption to its itinerary is linked to legal action in America."

The two ships in America, the Olympia Voyager and its sister ship Olympia Explorer, were detained on 22 December - the day the Triton set sail from Genoa. Mr Lorenzo, who said Sicily had been missed off the tour because of bad weather, said the Triton headed for Patras where it will be detained.

Another ship will transfer passengers to Venice where most will have to take a five-hour coach journey back to Genoa because of the lack of available flights in the city.

Mr Lorenzo said: "Any disruption to a cruise, more so over a festive season, we deeply regret and we apologise most sincerely for any disruption to our passengers. Our first priority is to try to get things back to normal."