A WOMAN whose luxury cruise took a turn for the worse when Somali pirates tried to get onboard has praised the ship’s crew.

Rosalyn Chidzey, her husband, Bert, 64, and 300 other guests were enjoying a blacktie dinner on The Spirit of Adventure, when the captain informed them the ship was being pursued by pirates.

Minutes later, they were hiding in a secure room as the crew tried to fend off the invaders, who wanted to take control of the ship and hold the passengers ransom.

The couple, from Gainford, County Durham, had boarded the boat on January 2 in Port Louis, Mauritius, and were nine days into the 16-day cruise when the attack took place in the Indian Ocean, north-west of Madagascar.

Mrs Chidzey, a customer services assistant at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, said: “We were on our soup course when the captain came on the public address system and said there was a suspicious boat trailing us which wasn’t responding to radio contact.

“A moment later, he came on saying the ship was speeding towards us and he wanted us to go to the Sirocco Lounge, which had steel doors.”

Once in the lounge, the ship’s pianist chose a fitting soundtrack, playing numbers such as All The Nice Girls Love To Sail, We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside and Onward Christian Soldiers.

“There was no panic and everybody was quite sedate,”

said Mrs Chidzey, 59.

“People were singing and laughing. Perhaps some people were nervous underneath, but it didn’t show.”

As the pirates got closer, the guests were asked to move away from the windows and lie on the deck.

The Maltese-registered ship is not allowed to carry firearms, so on the bow outside, the engineering crew was using water canons to deter any pirates who tried to climb onboard. There was also razor wire around some areas of the ship.

However, it was a trap laid by Australian captain Frank Allica, a veteran of the Vietnam war, which proved to be the pirates’ downfall.

He let out a length of wire behind the ship, which became tangled in the rudder of the pirates’ boat, meaning they were unable to keep up in the chase. After an hourand- a-half, the guests were able to carry on with their meal.

“The wine began to flow and we had a very good evening in the end,” said Mrs Chidzey.

“When the captain arrived, he got a standing ovation. I can’t speak highly enough of the crew, they were all very professional and matter-offact with us.”

The boat was then escorted by Tanzanian and then Dutch naval vessels, before docking in their final destination, Mombasa, Kenya.

The cruise was organised by Acromas, part of the Saga group.

Mrs Chidzey said: “We are both experienced travellers and were aware of the potential dangers of that region.

“At the start of the cruise, the captain gave us a talk about the threat of pirates, which was quite reassuring.

He told us that if the pirates got onboard there is no way we’d be harmed because they wouldn’t fight back and we would just be used for ransom.

“You can’t lie in bed worrying about what might happen if you go somewhere.

“I would use the company again for certain because the staff were excellent, the ship was excellent. This just added a bit of extra excitement.”