It should have been the holiday of a lifetime.
Tommy Wingate and his family celebrated Tommy's 60th birthday with a luxury Mediterranean cruise.
But instead of looking back on a dream vacation now he's back in Barnsley, Tommy and his family are instead taking legal action for what he says was the 'holiday from hell".
They are some of the many angry passengers taking legal action after their cruises onboard Thomson’s Island Escape ship this year were ruined by gastric illness.
Not only did Tommy, a former miner who is now a part-time taxi driver, develop crippling diarrhoea and sickness, but one night in heavy storms the ship listed so dramatically to one side that many passengers were badly injured and he was thrown around the dining room.
Tommy, of Wakefield Road, Barnsley says: "The ship almost capsized it tilted so dramatically one night- there were tables, chairs and people flying all over the place, it was terrifying.
"Then I became so ill with sickness and diarrhoea that I was quite literally floored - it was agonising, it was demeaning, it was horrible."
Tommy says his wife Joanne, his four sisters and one brother and family friends all became ill on the cruise.
"We had saved up and looked forward to it for so long, it was going to be the best holiday ever, but it was hellish - I wouldn't wish it on anyone," he said.
"If they offered me a free cruise back on that ship I would say no, it was so horrible."
Travel law specialists at Irwin Mitchell have been instructed to investigate the concerns of 86 passengers who travelled onboard the cruise liner between March and June this year on voyages around the Med.
Many passengers affected were confined to their cabins for a number of days after suffering diarrhoea and sickness and lawyers say they have received numerous complaints particularly in relation to some of the food served.
Elizabeth Tetzner, an expert travel lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing the group, said: “The number of people who have contacted us with complaints about this cruise is very worrying. These passengers deserved to have the luxury voyages they paid for but instead suffered horrific symptoms and had their cruises ruined.
"We now hope the tour operator will work with us to resolve our clients’ cases both quickly and fairly.”
