P&O Cruises has apologised to almost 1,900 passengers for cancelling one of its cruises because a ship’s refit was not complete.

Aurora was due to depart Southampton on Monday afternoon on a three-day trip to Zeebrugge, Belgium, but passengers received an email on Sunday saying it could not sail.

Stacey Pinhorne, who was due to sail, told the BBC she was “very disappointed”, and that the company should have given more notice.

P&O Cruises said its customers would receive a full refund.

Up to 1,874 passengers are affected by the cancellation but they found themselves unable to speak to staff at the cruise line as its customer services offices were closed on Easter Sunday.

Ms Pinhorne and her friend, Kim, booked a week off work to celebrate their 50th birthdays on the trip.

She said it was “quite a shock” to receive the email from the company 24 hours before they were due to board.

“At the start of it I thought: ‘Is it a joke? Is it a spam email? How do I know if this is actually true?’

“Even the day before I was getting an email saying: ‘One day till your holiday, make sure you’ve checked in’… so there was no warning that there could be any issue.

“We weren’t even told there was a refit happening.”

She added that she “wouldn’t be rushing to book with them again”.

A P&O Cruises spokesperson apologised for the cruise’s cancellation, putting it down to the refit delay.

They added: “We appreciate how disappointing this is for our guests who were booked to travel.

“All guests will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit of 20% of monies paid.”

Aurora is currently in Rotterdam in the Netherlands as its refit continues.

Its next cruise is scheduled to leave Southampton on Thursday.