PASSENGERS on a luxury cruise were hit by a double dose of bad luck when first they were struck down by a stomach bug and then a dip in the swimming pool literally turned their hair green.

Several passengers on the Southampton-based Oceana which docked today, were feeling more than just green around the gills from their cruise after the pool turned their hair the same colour.

According to sources on board the P&O ship, passengers' hair dye reacted with the chlorine that had been added to the swimming water.

Horrified guests turned to the ship's hair salon to try to restore their original colour.

A passenger who did not want to be named, said: "Their hair was literally green. The thing was, once the hair was sorted, the same thing happened again."

A spokeswoman for the company said that chlorine levels in the pool were "acceptable'' but added that, as a precaution, the pool was drained and refilled. She added that the ten guests affected were given a complimentary appointment at the salon to sort out the hair colour problem.

While hairstylists dealt with the colour crisis the ship's doctors were also working overtime after almost 100 passengers were struck down with gastro-enteritis.

The stomach bug outbreak affected 95 out of the 2,000 passengers during their ten-night cruise around Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands.

This morning the ship returned to its Southampton berth.

The spokeswoman said: "P&O Cruises can confirm that on the Oceana cruise a small number of people had been affected by a mild gastrointestinal illness. The symptoms were short-lived and the affected passengers recovered quickly.

"P&O Cruises have initiated an extensive sanitation programme developed in conjunction with the Southampton Port authorities and it appears to have been contained."

The ship was set to leave for its next cruise to Spain and Italy today.

It is not the first time passengers have been struck down with sickness. The liner was prevented from docking in the tropics last December after 200 guest contracted a stomach illness with symptoms similar to the Norwalk virus.

Sick passengers were banned from disembarking after the ship left Fort Lauderdale for the tropical island of St Maarten. After spending hours waiting for docking clearance the crew left without docking.