An island couple who were stranded on a coronavirus-struck cruise ship have arrived back in the UK.

Wes and Kathy Taylor’s 14 night Cape Horn cruise turned into a nightmare ordeal - and it is not over yet.

The Coral Princess finally docked in Miami over the weekend after spending nearly a month at sea as various ports would not allow passengers to disembark. By the end of the journey two passengers had died of the coronavirus and another died on the way to the hospital.

On Sunday evening, Wes and Kathy boarded a BA flight from Miami International Airport, which touched down at Heathrow yesterday morning.

The couple, both 69, of Onchan, were confined to their cabin on Tuesday last week after a first case of coronavirus on board the ship was confirmed. In total, five crew members and seven passengers became infected.

The Coral Princess had set sail from Santiago, Chile, on March 5 with more than 1,000 passengers on board, including 370-plus British nationals.

Having visited the Falklands, Princess Cruises announced it would be halting all cruises and passengers would be disembarked at the nearest port, which was to be Buenos Aires.

They spent two days in port waiting to be taken to the airport - only for the Argentine authorities to give the ship 1.5 hours to leave the port.

The Coral Princess continued on to Rio de Janeiro where again the passengers were kept waiting for two hours in port before being told they could not disembark.

Their nightmare voyage continued as the ship sailed onto Barbados for a fuel stop where test swabs from passengers who had taken ill were sent off. The results came back positive a day later.

Now with confirmed cases on board, the US coastguard refused to allow the ship to dock at Fort Lauderdale. Instead, it berthed at the Port of Miami port on Saturday.

In a statement, Princess Cruises said it was ’deeply saddened’ to report that guests had died.

Chartered flights were arranged by the cruise line to fly passengers home to the UK, Australia and California.

All guests were screened before disembarkation and they were required to wear a mask and practise social distancing measures.

Those passengers with respiratory symptoms, or who are still recovering, had to remain on board until medically cleared by the ship’s doctors.

The Taylors, meanwhile, landed in Heathrow from where they were taken by taxi to Liverpool. They are staying in an apartment organised by Princess Cruises until they are allowed to return to the island.

Health Minister David Ashford announced at a press conference on Monday that repatriation would be by application-only via designated sailings fron Heysham.

This will begin on April 15 and the process to bring home the 190-plus stuck outside the border could take five to eight weeks to complete.