Passengers on board Iona say their holiday has suffered a “really disappointing start” after the ship remained in Southampton for a second day.
It comes after 16 containers, mostly containing bananas, fell from the cargo ship Baltic Klipper near the Nab Tower on Saturday evening.
The 5,200-capacity vessel was due to leave on Saturday afternoon for a 14-night voyage to Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands, with its first stop in Madeira on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency confirmed the containers – which included bananas, avocados, plantain and several empty units – were carrying non-hazardous cargo and that no crew were injured.
The disruption has left thousands of passengers confined to Iona as it remains berthed in Southampton pending departure. Among them is Nick West, 61, from Reading, travelling with his wife Deb, 63, and daughter Hailey, 38.
He said: “The trip had already started a bit rough as there were two-hour delays getting onto the ship yesterday.
“At about 7pm last night, an hour after the containers are said to have hit the water, the captain came on the speakers and made an announcement.
“The captain said that there had been an incident in the Solent and a number of containers had fallen from a ship, adding that the darkness was going to hamper the recovery operation.”
READ MORE: P&O Cruises’ Iona delayed leaving Southampton by containers
HM Coastguard teams, along with the ship’s owners, are working to locate and recover the missing units, while warning broadcasts have been issued to protect vessels in the busy shipping lane.
Two containers, believed to be those from the ship, have washed up on Selsey beach in West Sussex, with bunches of bananas spotted on the shoreline.
Nick added: “At about 7am I got up and went for some breakfast – I saw out the window that we were still in Southampton. One woman even turned to me at the buffet and said do you know where we are.
“I explained that we were still in Southampton and not in Madeira.
“The captain then made another announcement this morning to say that the recovery operation had been delayed.
“It’s a really disappointing start and due to the bad weather it’s really difficult to find somewhere to sit with all 5,000 passengers taking shelter from the rain.
“All the staff are still working hard onboard but it’s not the best start to our trip and in just a few hours we will be 24 hours behind schedule.”
Just after speaking to the Echo at 12.30pm, Nick said the captain had told passengers they had just been given clearance to depart.
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