GREEN hair and upset stomachs. Those were just some of the incidents passengers were recalling as they returned to Southampton yesterday after what should have been a luxury holiday aboard the Oceana cruise liner.

As reported in later editions of the Daily Echo yesterday, dozens of passengers who had spent ten days aboard the Southampton-based liner were struck down with a stomach bug days into their holiday while others had their hair dyed green after a dip in the ship's pool.

As they came into dock yesterday some passengers were still showing signs of their eventful cruise.

One former crew member, who asked not to be named, explained how her hair went green after she spent time in the pool.

"I have worked on board for about 11 weeks and my hair never went green before. Altogether there were about 17 cases, including children.

"I did think the water tasted a bit funny on this cruise but they said they checked it all out."

The 23-year-old from Portsmouth, who still had tinges of green in her hair, added: "We were told to put tomato ketchup on our hair and, surprisingly, it did work. The passengers were offered treatments in the salon to make up for it as well."

Operators P&O said that when the problem was reported to them they tested the swimming pools and hot tubs on board, all of which were found to have the regulation levels of chemicals and chlorine.

Along with the green hair, passengers were also struck down by a stomach bug that affected 95 of the 2,000 holidaymakers.

Among those affected was Marie Pearson, 33, from Lancashire, who contracted the bug halfway through the cruise.

"I just felt so ill for three days, and I am still not right. We were all given questionnaires to see if they could work out what it was.

"To be honest, they did everything they could to contain it, like handing out wipes and cleaning everything very thoroughly. I think it has put me off going on a cruise, though - it just made me feel awful."

The company spokesman for P&O said the results of tests were awaited to see what had caused the outbreak.