Furious passengers today spoke out about their ‘holiday from hell’ on the ‘plague ship’ as they stumbled ashore today after a 10-day cruise ruined by an unprecedented outbreak of norovirus.

The Mail Online reports holidaymakers demanded refunds as they disembarked in Southampton, Hampshire – but shockingly, the P&O ship was preparing to take to the seas again within hours, at 8pm this evening.

Passengers are expected to start checking in from 3pm for a 23-night trip to Portugal, Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Israel, Greece and Sicily.

Large parts of the ship were closed off to avoid the virus spreading further and passengers were quarantined as many were sick in corridors, theatres and restaurants.

Those who fell ill were ordered to stay in their cabins and miss stop offs as the crew battled to contain the highly contagious virus, which also causes diarrhea.

Angry cruise-trippers today spoke out about the nightmare journey on P&O’s Oriana and the foolishness of taking the boat back out again so soon.

Those on board said the epidemic spread quickly, with some travellers unable to report their sickness because staff reportedly stopped them from leaving the ship at its ports of call.

More crew were sent to join the ship to help with the containment and cleaning.

Passengers claim there was a lack of food and toilet paper following the outbreak of the vomiting bug, while others say they are still waiting for their laundry to be returned to them.

 The virus engulfed the liner but crew tried to blame passengers for bringing it on board.

Chris Meadows, from Southampton, who attended a crisis meeting at the height of the outbreak, said the liner’s captain Thomas Lane admitted to passengers that the crew ‘could not cope’.

‘We had a show of hands of how many people were affected, which was filmed by many of the passengers that attended the meeting.’

The luxury liner’s owners Carnival UK have offered to waive fees for anyone who had to visit the on-board doctor.