TWO friends have told how their dream Caribbean cruise turned into a holiday nightmare.

Ray Gatley and Arthur Gallagher were among 2,400 passengers stranded in the Caribbean in the middle of their 14-night cruise when a power failure on the Norwegian Dawn forced the luxury ship to divert to Puerto Rico, where they were flown back to Miami.

Furious passengers were forced to sleep on sun loungers on the deck after air conditioning failed, toilets in their cabins stopped working and rooms were plunged into darkness.

After being diverted to Puerto Rico, passengers were evacuated and flown to Miami.

Ray, 61, of Hereford Way, Middleton, said: "We noticed black smoke spilling out of the funnel and knew something was wrong.

“Some of the passengers were clearly frightened and thought the lifeboats may have to be manned.

"It was like an evacuation from Dunkirk trying to get us off Puerto Rico and when we arrived at Miami there was no one from the cruise line around.

A coastguard helicopter and local authorities were alerted as the ship was becalmed for six hours until departing to Puerto Rico on partial power.

After the vessel arrived in Puerto Rico ship owner Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) chartered planes to evacuate passengers on a three-hour flight to Miami.

Arthur, 63, a retired engineer, of Eliott Walk, added: “Technical problems can't be helped, but the communication from the management was appalling.

"We were all called to a meeting only to be offered tours around Puerto Rico instead of being told what was going to happen to us when we got to Miami.

"The toilets weren't working and the crew had to guide us through the ship with torches. The whole affair has been a shambles."

The cruise set off from Miami and visited Antigua, Barbados, St Kitts and the Dominican Republic before being hit by problems. They were also due to sail to the Cayman Islands and Mexico before finally returning to Miami.

NCL has offered passengers a 75 per cent refund for the nine-day vacation and a full rebate for the five-days which were cancelled, with a 50pc reduction on any cruise taken in the next 12 months.

Crane Gladding, a senior vice-president at NCL, said: "Norwegian Dawn experienced technical difficulties en route to Miami and in spite of our best efforts we were unable to complete the repair. We have offered refunds and have apologised for the inconvenience."