‘No deck parties, no movies under the stars, no late-night outdoor bar hopping or pool dipping,’

‘No lights, no party atmosphere, no lapping up tropical breezes on their balconies. All around the ship, as the sun set, all curtains were drawn and all shutters closed. Bright lights, which normally signal the presence of the Sea Princess on the ocean, were dimmed or turned off altogether.’

Ms Jasinski, a media specialist who was a guest speaker on the ship, said that the Captain later announced that ‘as well as the dusk-till-dawn blackout… we would have a compulsory pirate drill’.

She said that passengers joked that they knew what to do because they had seen Captain Phillips, a movie which depicts a hijacking by Somali pirates, starring Tom Hanks.

However, it quickly emerged that ‘this pirate threat was not something to be joked about’; the captain even shamed the residents of three cabins who refused to take part because, apparently, they did not want to abandon their game of bridge.

‘Any remaining smirks soon disappeared as the pirate drill alarm sounded and the crew was instructed to move to their designated muster stations,’ she continued.

‘Passengers were sent back to their cabins so they could be counted. They were advised to sit on the floor and to hang on to hand rails in case the ship had to manoeuvre away from pirate ships.’