Mum trapped on cruise ship with son, 3, in Dubai with missiles firing overhead
A British mum has spoken of her anxiety and fear at being stranded upon a cruise ship for almost a week in the Gulf with her 3-year-old son.
Mother-of-three Emily Kingsley, 33, who is on the MSC Euribia ship that is docked in the Rashid port Dubai, described being ‘filled with anxiety and scared’ that she ‘can’t get home’ to her two other children.
Mrs Kingsley – who boarded the cruise on Saturday with her husband and three-year-old son – has not left the liner since.
The captain has told passengers to stay close to the terminal area as missiles fly overhead.
The family from Wiltshire, whose other two daughters aged nine and ten are at home with their grandparents, are amongst apparently 200 other Brits stranded abroad.
‘It’s been pretty unnerving,’ Mrs Kingsley told Metro. ‘My son is fed up and just wants to get off the boat but we are staying here as have seen some pretty scary things.
‘Missiles being intercepted above our heads, black smoke clouds on the port, loud bangs and explosions.
‘We get emergency alerts on our phones and it’s pretty worrying.’
With their flight home on Saturday cancelled, the family – who were meant to be on a week’s holiday – do not know when they can return and for how long they will be stranded on the boat.
Mrs Kingsley said: ‘We actually have no idea as we are getting no information from Emirates as every time we call them the lines hang up as it is obviously so busy and their live chat does the same thing.’
The family can’t praise the ship’s staff enough for being ‘so caring’ and jokingly said whilst much of the ship’s facilities are up and running, ‘the casino has been shut the whole time so annoyed a lot of the guests.’
As for how she is spending her time, Mrs Kingsley said she is able to sit in the sun and her child has been able to use the kid’s club.
Understandably, her frustration at not getting through to Emirates is ‘making my anxiety sky high’.
She added: ‘It’s so frightening hearing bangs and missiles, although I do have faith in the defence system here. I’m just desperate to get home as I need to see my other kids.
‘For now I’m just trying my hardest to get some information from the airline or embassy but nobody gets back to us. It is so upsetting.’
Other Brits have also told of their nightmare trapped abroad unable to catch a flight home.
Mum Emma Hudson, 43, has been stranded in the UAE since Saturday, after her British Airways flight was cancelled.
Iranian attacks have forced Dubai airport to close, leaving Emma and her husband Paul, 41 and daughter Sadie,14, stuck in their hotel.
She said the family are ‘traumatised’ by the constant loud bangs of missile interceptions and that they had to seek shelter in the basement.
Emma claimed that British Airways told her to go to the bombed Dubai airport to seek help with accommodation, which is costing her £350 a day.
This can’t be paid for by her insurance because they don’t cover ‘war’, she added.
The mum said the British Embassy told her to ‘stay inside’ and ask local charities to help with funding.
Calling on the government to do more to help Brits, the learning support assistant, from Middlesborough said: ‘British Airways and the government have 100% failed their own.
‘The airline told me the only way they can help with accommodation is if I go to the airport and speak to ground staff.
‘I said, “is that a joke?”, the airport has been bombed twice.
‘My daughter suffers with anxiety, and she’s been absolutely petrified.’
The family’s flight home on March 4 was cancelled before the rebooked plane back to the UK on March 4 was also scrapped.
The earliest flight for Emma to get out of the UAE is booked for March 9.
Metro understands that British Airways are asking customers to keep any receipts for additional accommodation costs and other expenses to submit online so they are not out of pocket.
Another couple say they have endured a ‘holiday from hotel’ after being stranded in Thailand due to the conflict.
Laura and Paul Webster, from Birmingham, are stuck in Phuket, Thailand and have been told by their travel agent that there are no available flights to get them home during the next two weeks.
They were booked to fly with Emirates to Dubai on Wednesday for three nights before heading home to Birmingham.
But their flights were cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East, and they are unable to find alternatives.
The pair are now miles away from their young children back in the UK, who are being looked after by former partners.
Mrs Webster, 40, told the Press Association: ‘We’ve got work, we’ve got kids. We want to get back ASAP. We don’t care if that means four flights.
‘The travel agent said there’s none on their central reservation system.
‘They keep trying to put us on Emirates via Dubai and the flights keep getting cancelled because of the airspace.
‘When we’ve tried to look for flights ourselves, there’s just none.’
Mrs Webster said that there are ‘loads of people’ in their hotel who are stuck and that while they secured three extra nights of accommodation, they will be forced to ‘fend for ourselves’ after that.
She added: ‘You can’t claim for it on insurance, because it’s war. It’s just horrible. It’s literally a holiday from hell.’
Emirates has told passengers it is operating ‘a reduced flight schedule until further notice’.
The airline said passengers transiting in Dubai ‘will only be accepted for travel if their connecting flight is operating’.
British Airways said in their most recent statement: ‘We remain unable to operate flights from Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv.
‘We’ have scheduled a further flight from Oman (Muscat) to London Heathrow departing at 02:30 local time on 8 March.
‘This flight is for BA customers who are in Oman or the UAE with an existing booking.
‘We are constantly reviewing the situation and will continue to do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues in the region and remain in regular contact with them.’
Emirates has been approached for comment regarding Emily Kingsley and Laura and Paul Webster.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.