A LINDALE couple who were stranded on a cruise for 35 days are now back at home.

Geoff and Heather McClure set off on their cruise onboard the Coral Princess on March 5 and were due to disembark the Coral Princess on March 19.

However after the Lindale couple and a number of other passengers contracted coronavirus the ship was docked in Miami and everyone was confined to their cabins.

Last week, after more than a month at sea, the couple - some of the last remaining passengers, were allowed to disembark and flown home by a chartered flight.

Princess Cruises said all remaining passengers would be on flights home by last Thursday.

The firm said the process of getting people off had been complicated because passengers had not been allowed to go to local hotels.

Additionally, a new federal law in the USA prohibited cruise passengers from flying on commercial planes.

Mrs McClure, who works for the Lake District National Park Authority, said she was relieved to be home.

"We arrived home Saturday and we're now in quarantine for 14 days," the 55-year-old said.

"We are settling down but it’s taking some doing, Geoff is so tired but he's getting stronger by the day and we've been walking around garden to build our strength up.

"I'm so glad I didn’t have to go back to work yesterday as I just don’t feel up to it.

"Our friends and relations are dropping essentials off for us at our gate.

"We are taking it that we will never know what the swab test result showed, whether Geoff had Covid-19 or not but he was extremely ill whilst onboard. "