Cruise ship stranded for hours after blackout off Adelaide coast

Hundreds of passengers on a cruise ship were left stranded out to sea off the South Australian coast after the vessel lost power this morning.

Hundreds of passengers on board a luxury cruise ship were left without power for hours following an issue with the vessel off the coast of South Australia.

The Vasco da Gama, which is operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages, was due to dock in Adelaide this morning but instead the nearly 830 passengers found themselves stranded out to sea with no power.

At about 5.45am the ship went into a “controlled precautionary blackout” while sailing off the Port of Adelaide, according to a statement from Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

The Vasco da Gama was stranded at sea after losing power. Picture: Cruise and Maritime Voyages

“Local authorities were notified of the incident as a precaution by the ship’s Captain,” the statement read.

“An alarm light on the engine control room’s panel led the vessel’s officers to initiate a controlled blackout as a precaution against damage to systems on-board and in order to investigate the alarm.

“All precautionary post-incidents checks were completed with no causes for concern identified.”

The power was restored about two hours later and the ship continued sailing towards Adelaide, docking at around 10am.

Shot of Vasco da Gama from the news chopper. Passengers telling @9NewsAdel “Fiasco De Gama" is listing at 15 degrees & more tug boats are on their way to help pic.twitter.com/e8gdR1Jg5U

— Sam Okely (@samokely) December 5, 2019

During the blackout a concerned passenger, Ian, called 2GB’s Steve Price saying the situation was “quite serious”.

“We’re drifting. We’ve got no power, no water, no toilets, no cooking, nothing,” he said.

“It’s like a ghost ship. There is not a sound to be heard”

Ian told the radio host the trip was meant to be the “cruise of a lifetime” and he and his wife had been on board since London.

“We can’t use the toilets, can’t cook, can’t go get something to eat because the kitchen’s won’t work. Everything is electric,” he said.

“We’re just completely buggered.”