A North-East couple on board a cruise ship struck by a serious sickness bug yesterday spoke of their relief at being on their way home.

Ray and Elizabeth Duffy, both 63, from Northallerton are on the Aurora where more than 500 passengers and 17 crew have been infected with the Norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

The ship, owned by P&O Cruises, is now sailing back to Southampton after docking in Gibraltar on Monday.

Although the Duffy's escaped the virus, they say that their trip was ruined by the outbreak.

Mrs Duffy said: "We are looking forward to coming home to Northallerton. It has been a very disappointing cruise and we have all put a lot of money into a holiday that we were looking forward to for a long time."

Passengers were refused entry to Greece on public health grounds last week, a decision that the Duffy's say left them feeling like refugees.

"We were very upset when we could not get into Athens," said Mrs Duffy. "The morale of the ship has very much gone down since all this started. We felt like refugees. Nobody wanted us and it was a terrible feeling."

However they say that the efforts of the crew have helped to contain the bug.

Mrs Duffy said: "My husband and I have been impressed by the crew and how hard they have worked with the sanitation and cleaning procedures. Everywhere you go you are given wipes to sanitise yourself and the whole ship is cleaned every night while we are in our cabins.

"Some of the crew have been working 16 hours a day. They were a little bit slow to start with, this is why I think the illness spread."

Mr and Mrs Duffy have been going on cruises since 1984 and say the last three weeks has not put them off future trips.