THE short history of the P&O cruise ship Aurora already reads like a tale told by a superstitious sailor.

The first time the ship set sail, in 2000, she suffered engine failure. On a cruise in the Mediterranean in 2003, the passengers suffered food poisoning. This year it was engine failure again.

But the 1,921 travellers who boarded at Southampton on December 16 thought that the short hop to Zeebrugge for some Christmas shopping would be a safe bet. They were travelling on a £200 million, 76,000-tonne vessel, built to plough through the world’s oceans. She appeared capable of making Belgium. But that was before bad weather set in.

Andy Leighton, 56, a pensions adviser, said: “I got up in the morning expecting to be pulling into Zeebrugge, but instead we were off the south coast.”

It turned out that the ship had made it no nearer to Belgium than the Isle of Wight. “We went round and round in circles before heading back to Southampton,” Mr Leighton said. “Inclement weather” had prevented the Aurora from docking in Zeebrugge. A spokeswoman for Carnival, the multinational which owns P&O Cruises, said: “We hope everyone enjoyed their weekend on Aurora. We have had many positive reports from passengers that they had an excellent time on board.”

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