Hundreds of ferry passengers endured a 700-mile round trip to Holland on storm-lashed seas, but spent just six minutes there... in a car park.
The 250 holidaymakers were on a “mini cruise” to Amsterdam but their ship was battered by high winds and the 13-hour overnight crossing turned into a 30-hour hell.
Many were violently ill as the boat navigated huge waves but once they got on land, late at night, they were packed straight on to a bus to take them to get the ferry back home.
One tourist, Mark Dunn, 25, said: “I’ve done more miles than Judith Chalmers. It was blowing a gale.
"I think it was gale force eight or nine. We did not get there until 11pm. We spent six minutes in the terminal car park.”
The DFDS Princess Seaways boat set off on the 320-mile journey from North Shields, North Tyneside to the port of IJmuiden on Friday.
Passengers, who paid prices from £48 for the break, were then meant to have six hours on Saturday for sightseeing 15 miles away in the Dutch capital, before arriving home on Sunday.
But, because of the delay, they did not see it at all and were instead taken 50 miles south to Hook of Holland.
There, they boarded a boat for a 109-mile crossing to Harwich, Essex, before being driven 240 miles back to Tyneside, arriving home in a daze at 4.30am on Monday.
James O’Neill, 31, of Bedlington, Northumberland, said: “We should never have set off. People were being sick all over.
"I was on a stag do and ended up paying to fly home on Sunday. I never want to get on a boat again.”
Max Foster, of DFDS Seaways UK, apologised and blamed the “unpredicted severe adverse weather conditions” that had hit the North Sea.
He added: “We have offered passengers the opportunity to take their mini cruise at another time.”
