Luxury rescue for stuck tourists

[xman]

A new £500m luxury cruise ship has docked in Spain on a mission to pick up 2,220 stranded tourists.The Celebrity Eclipse left Southampton on Tuesday after putting its inaugural celebrations on hold to help those grounded by the volcanic ash cloud.

The ship docked in Bilbao at 0700 (local time) and will set sail for the Hampshire port at 1100 (local time).

HMS Albion arrived in Portsmouth on Wednesday after picking up 730 British military personnel and tourists.

The Royal Navy ship picked up 450 service staff and 280 civilians from Santander in Spain.

The Celebrity Eclipse had been due to leave on a two-day cruise on Thursday.

Coaches brought the tourists from across Spain to Bilbao where they met up with the 122,000-tonne liner.

'Act of goodwill'

Some of the delayed holidaymakers - including around 500 children - have been stranded for up to seven days.

A spokeswoman for Celebrity Cruises said: "Unfortunately we cannot help everybody.

"Celebrity Eclipse can only make one repatriation sailing and our Bilbao pick-up will be restricted."

The spokeswoman called the mission a "massive logistical operation".

President and chief executive of Celebrity Cruises, Dan Hanrahan said: "This is a bigger logistical challenge than we are used to, but we have everything under control and we will get all the guests onboard as fast as possible and into a comfortable bed."

Tour operators requested the voyage to get the Britons home and the cruise firm responded in what was described as "an act of goodwill".

Rescued holidaymakers will be travelling back in luxury on the ship which has a real lawn measuring nearly half-an-acre, as well as bars, 10 restaurants, a casino, a theatre and swimming and spa pools.

Alcohol will be available but passengers will have to pay for it, the spokeswoman said. But meals and entertainment are included.


"They will be treated to as much of a regular cruise as possible," she added.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.