Saga cruise passengers injured during storm after captain refused pleas to dock

Saga cruise passengers caught up in a storm that led to four people being admitted to hospital begged the captain to dock but were refused.

Holidaymakers on the Canary Island Quintet Cruise said they called on the captain to dock in Lisbon after hitting choppy waters but were told it was not possible by the ship’s lead.

The demands came before the Spirit of Discovery ship, which was 10 days into an over-50s Canaries cruise, was caught in a storm in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France which left four in hospital.

Saga said that around 100 of the 1,000 passengers onboard were injured with the majority only receiving minor injuries.

Jayne, 72, told The Telegraph that the ship started hitting rough seas as it travelled up the Portuguese coast, while passengers could see further storms forecast on the ship’s path to the UK.

She said: “We said to the captain, this storm’s coming, and we’re going to hit it somewhere in the Bay of Biscay.

“Why don’t we go into Lisbon, which has a nice long dock area for cruise ships, but we were told that we can’t go there because the maritime pilots are on strike.”

She claimed that subsequent checks by the passengers showed that the strikes by Lisbon port staff were scheduled two days later.

Saga has rejected the claim and said it operates the “highest health and safety protocols’’ with regards to routes and port calls.

It added that the captain’s decisions were based on advice from the ship’s master and marine meteorologists.

The ship was eventually caught in a storm in the Bay of Biscay for 18 hours facing gail force winds and 30ft waves.

Passengers said that during this period some travellers were left crying out of fear for their lives, while others left messages to loved ones out of fear they would not escape the ordeal.

One 80-year-old passenger told The Telegraph: “A lot of people I spoke to thought they were going to die, you had people ringing families and saying this could be it, due to the violent rolling of the waves.”

He added: “Even the captain sounded panicked when we initially stopped.”

The Spirit of Discovery was on a 14-night Canary Island Quintet cruise, which departed on Oct 24.

However after 10 days it cancelled its last call at Gran Canaria and headed to Coruna to get ahead of the approaching storm.

After it emerged that Coruna port was closed, the ship continued to the UK before getting caught in the Bay of Biscay.

Passengers were injured when the ship made a sudden turn as part of a safety manoeuvre to stop the ship.

Those that spoke to The Telegraph claim that they were not given warning and this led to some being thrown across the deck.

Jayne, who claims she was was thrown 10ft during the manoeuvre, said that it caused glass and crockery to smash across the deck, with passengers being instructed to crawl on their hands and knees to the cabin.

The 80-year-old man, who preferred not to be named, said: “Over the tannoy, there were announcements for stretcher parties and I thought, oh my god. That was very unpleasant.”

Nigel Blanks, chief executive of Saga Cruises, said: “Spirit of Discovery has arrived safely back in port and all passengers have disembarked and are on their way home.

“We have apologised to all our guests who experienced such difficult weather conditions; we know that this was a very distressing experience for them.

“We operate to the highest health and safety protocols and every decision – particularly with regard to routes and potential ports of call - was made based on advice from the ship’s Master and forecasts from our dedicated marine meteorologists.

“We did everything we could at all times to keep our guests as safe as possible and to support them through the storm, including expert medical attention for those injured.

“I want to thank our guests for their patience and understanding and all our crew, who went over and above to care for everyone onboard.”