Mutiny On The MSC! Cruise Ship Passengers Revolt After Three Days Stranded at Sea

Passengers aboard the MSC Opera staged a mutiny after being stranded nearly three days in the Baltic Sea with little food, no power and no running water.

The ship, with 1,700 people on board, set sail from Southampton, England on Saturday, May 7 for a 10-day cruise. The following Saturday, off the coast of Sweden, its electricity failed.

'We stopped in the middle of the Baltic, nobody knew why, for about three hours. Then it came across the tannoy that the boat was experiencing some difficulties and then it stopped again for 12 hours, and then finally they got some tugs out to pull us in," passenger Mary Birch told The Daily Mail.

During the ordeal the ship's toilets stopped working. Passengers lacked water and were only given rolls to eat.

Birch adds that the restless passengers had a "bit of a mutiny" demanding for the captain – who had not been seen – to come down.

He did not, but ship staff gave passengers free alcoholic drinks to calm them down.

Tugboats were sent for the ship Sunday; the boat reached land on Monday. Passengers were shuttled to Stockholm and flown to Bournemouth, England.

According to an MSC Cruises spokesperson, all passengers will receive a voucher for another 10-day cruise. Meanwhile, the Opera's next cruise, scheduled to leave on Tuesday, has been canceled.

Last fall, the Carnival Splendor experienced a fire that knocked out the ship's engines. Beleaguered passengers were reportedly forced to eat SPAM provided by the U.S. Navy, though Carnival denies serving the canned ham.