Cruise line passengers who are trapped in ports in the Gulf ‘danced around the pool’ while suicide drone bombardment took place overhead, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Passengers and crews have been confined to their ships after escalating hostilities raised fears over safety in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.
Darren Lee, from Manchester, is currently stuck with his family, including a 12-year-old son, on MSC Euribia in Dubai and is among thousands of cruise passengers scattered across at least six docked ships as they await news.
The father-of-two explained that despite the ship being surrounded by ‘booms’ as Iranian drones were intercepted, some people ‘carried on with their life as if nothing was happening’ and ‘danced outside around the pool’.
Mr Lee, who is with his partner, son and 19-year-old daughter, told the Daily Mail: ‘We’d heard a couple of booms, which we’ve been told were interceptions of rockets and drones.
‘A drone was intercepted right over our heads and there was a really loud boom, which made everyone run inside.
‘Some people were carrying on with their lives as if nothing was happening even though there were four or five interceptions every hour.
‘People were dancing outside around the pool and we remained inside to stay safe.’
Cruise line passengers sunbath and continue their days while suicide drone bombardment took place overhead
Cruise line passengers who are trapped on MSC Euribia in Dubai ‘danced around the pool’
The family, who arrived in Dubai on Thursday for a supposed two-night stop, join thousands of travellers and crew stranded in the ports of Dubai and Doha, with no viable exit routes or ‘safe corridors’ open at the moment.
Cruise ship passengers are just the latest holidaymakers to become stranded in the region, with other tourists also caught up in the escalating chaos.
Families have described terrifying scenes as missile interceptions lit up the skies above Dubai, hotels were evacuated and airports descended into confusion as flights were cancelled without warning.
There are now concerns about how long passengers will be stranded and how the ships will cope with providing basic services such as food, drink, water.
Mr Lee, who now lives in Spain and runs his own swimming pool servicing company, said his anxieties about being able to get home outweigh his fears about the war.
He said: ‘I’m worried about not being able to get home, I’m not worried about the war at the moment.
‘I googled it and Emirates, I think, has 5,000 flights a day, and they have not flown for three or four days so there is going to be a massive backlog.
‘The realisation is starting to hit me now but I’ve always tried to be a positive person.’
Cruise liner passengers on MSC Euribia (pictured) are among thousands of other passengers scattered across at least six docked ships from major companies as they await news
The family independently booked flights yesterday at £1,600 per ticket with Emirates, but their flight was cancelled, leaving Mr Lee feeling like it is ‘Groundhog Day’.
He added his insurance company has refused to cover the £6,400 cost of the flights, saying ‘it was an act of war’.
However, despite the chaos, Mr Lee said his son ‘doesn’t actually want to go home’, as he enjoys the reality of ‘playing football all day, every day’.
According to leading travel portal Hosteltur.com, the cruise companies affected are MSC Cruises and Celestyal Cruises.
The portal said MSC Euribia – which the Lee family are on – remains docked in the port of Dubai under strict security measures, with embarkations suspended until further notice.
The ships Celestyal Journey and Celestyal Discovery have also had their departures cancelled and are being kept under supervision in regional ports.
‘The activation of emergency protocols has forced captains to suspend scheduled itineraries in the face of the latent risk in the Strait of Hormuz and the exponential increase in the cost of insurance policies that, in many cases, have stopped covering operations in the area.
‘This forced immobilisation is not only a problem of fuel or supply logistics, but a matter of security that transcends leisure to enter the terrain of a large-scale operational crisis,’ Hosteltur.com said.
The family arrived in Dubai on Thursday for a supposed two-night stop, but remain stuck on the cruise ship
‘The sector, which was in the middle of the peak of the winter season, is now facing a situation of technical paralysis that transcends the simple cancellation of itineraries.
‘The impossibility of carrying out the planned rotations has forced companies to reevaluate not only the safety of their guests and crews but also the viability of their logistics structures.
‘The industry is waiting for safe corridors that allow the evacuation or repositioning of fleets to less compromised international waters.’
The magnitude of the standstill is currently affecting at least six large cruise ships that are immobilised in the ports of Dubai and Doha.
The ships would have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz to reach safer waters.
These vessels, which were scheduled to continue their voyages or transfer passengers, have been ordered to remain docked or anchored in areas considered safe until international organisations determine new shipping routes.
A spokesperson for Celestyal Cruises said: ‘At present, in line with instructions from local authorities, we are unable to disembark guests.
‘We are working closely with the relevant authorities and will begin disembarkation in Dubai as soon as permission is granted.
Thousands of passengers are currently stranded at Dubai Airport
‘Once approved, we will provide support to assist guests with transfers from the shop to Abu Dhabi Airport.
‘All guests who were due to travel on cancelled sailings will be offered the option of a full refund or a future cruise credit. We strongly encourage guests to speak directly with their travel provider. We sincerely apologise to guests for the disruption.’
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for MSC said the company is ‘following the guidance of the regional U.S. military authorities to keep the ship in the port of Dubai,’ as airspace remains closed.
They added: ‘At this time, the situation on board is calm, and our guests and crew are comfortable and well looked after. We continue to provide a high-quality service to all guests.’
The situation has led to a saturation of port services, complicating not only passenger management but also the provisioning necessary to maintain the basic operational capacity of the ships, which have effectively become floating hotels with no ability to move.
The impact is concentrated mainly on the groups that dominate winter operations in the Persian Gulf.
But cruise passengers are not the only holidaymakers trapped by the spiralling conflict.
British tourists caught up in chaotic scenes at Dubai Airport have spoken of their nightmare experiences during the Iranian missile and drone attack on the city.
Grandmother Mina Pattni, 62 and her family were staying at the Fairmont Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah, which was hit by either a drone or debris, starting a fire.
‘It was absolutely terrifying,’ said Mina, from Leicester.
‘We were just sitting down to eat on Saturday night when we heard some interceptions of drones or missiles in the air.
‘That was scary enough, but just as we ordered, there was this terrific bang and we could see that the side of the building had been hit and everyone was evacuated until the fire was extinguished.’
Mina was travelling with her husband Latash, 67, and their daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons Krish, two, and five-month-old Rohin.
‘The children were very frightened,’ said Mina.
‘They picked up the slightly panicky mood from the other guests, though the hotel staff were very good and still managed to serve cold food, even though the gas in the hotel had to be turned off.
‘With our flight home on Sunday cancelled, we decided to stay with a relative in Dubai, mainly so that the children would be in a calmer atmosphere.’
Like several other Brits congregated outside Terminal 3 at DXB yesterday, the Pattnis hoped to make it on an Emirates flight to Heathrow, or possibly a later one to Gatwick.
Travellers were corralled outside the busy Emirates terminal waiting to be called forward for their flights, heading mostly for Russia and the Indian sub-continent, but with a few headed for the UK and Europe.
Many of the people laden down with luggage in the throng were critical of poor communications from the airline, but said they couldn’t fault the hotels where they had to extend their stays.
Father and son James, 18 and Jim Dixon, 61 from Leicester were due to fly back to the UK from Dubai on Saturday afternoon, and after checking in, they were held at the airport for five hours before being moved to a hotel to begin the long wait.
‘The communication hasn’t been great, to be honest,’ said Jim.
‘We’ve had more information from people back home, but I do understand it’s a pretty exceptional situation.
‘His mum is fretting a bit, but we’ve reassured her that it’s not so bad. It doesn’t feel like a war zone really, we were in a nice hotel and it was fairly relaxed.
‘The hotel told us that Emirates had told us to come here today and get on a flight to Heathrow. We hope we’ll be back today, but if not, we’ll see what happens.’
Accountants John Barndell, 37 from London and Greg Coull, 35 from Edinburgh had been on a business trip to India and were only supposed to be in transit at Dubai to change flights.
‘We were well taken care of by the airline and the hotel, though the comms could definitely have been better,’ said John.
‘We just want to get any flight to Europe – we’ll go anywhere,’ he said.
‘If we had been an hour earlier or two hours later, we’d have probably made it back to London.
Natalie Copeland, 45, and her husband Olly, 47, from Snettisham, Norfolk, were returning from a dream holiday to Singapore and Sri Lanka when they were caught by the travel chaos.
Window firm boss Olly told the Mail: ‘We had a nice four-hour flight from Colombo and just had about 90 minutes to change flights, so we had a pint and when we went to the gate, it was obvious everyone was confused.
Police press officer Natalie added: ‘I couldn’t get a signal on my phone, but someone told us it was Donald Trump up to his tricks again and the penny dropped. Initially we were told we’d be delayed for a couple of hours, but then it was cancelled’
So their 90-minute stopover turned into a four-day wait, which they hope will end today with a flight back to Heathrow.
They described the situation for the thousands of travellers who were stranded as ‘quite chaotic’, and the hotel they were assigned to was ‘old and dirty’, but they were thankful for a bed for the night.
Natalie added: ‘That first night was quite frightening and we got an emergency safety alert coming up on our phone in the middle of the night, which didn’t help.
‘We hope we’ll get home by tonight and we’ll have some different holiday memories from the ones we expected!’