THOUSANDS of stranded British tourists were this morning being rescued from their holiday nightmare.

Celebrity Eclipse was due to dock in Bilbao at 6.30am UK time after completing the first leg of its mercy mission from Southampton.

About 2,200 holidaymakers, including several hundred children, were set to begin boarding the £500m luxury liner at 8am.

They arrived in the early hours of the morning after a fleet of coaches was chartered to bring them to the Spanish port.

It was planned that the ship would set sail at 11am after a fast turn around to ensure they arrive in Southampton by 6pm tomorrow evening.

Despite the reopening of airports across Europe, Celebrity Cruises president Dan Hanrahan had no regrets about sending his newest liner on one of the biggest ever peace-time repatriations.

“We know that people are still backed up and having trouble getting flights back to the UK,” he said last night.

“It’s great that the airports have reopened and that people are now getting home.

“The worst case scenario for us was that we would be told to turnaround, but that hasn’t happened at all.”

Stranded travellers were warned not to come to the port in the hope of getting a spot onboard the ship.

The emergency pick-up was restricted to customers of Thomson, First Choice, Thomas Cook and the Co-op Travel Group who have been allocated a space.

At 8pm last night, Celebrity Eclipse was in the Bay of Biscay, about 200 miles north of Bilbao and 350 miles from Southampton.

The ship’s captain, Panagiotis Skylogiannis, pictured, said the return leg would be business as usual despite the extraordinary circumstances.

“We handle 2,000 guests onboard on a regular basis and we don’t see it as a challenge, we see it as something we have trained to do,” he said.

“I never thought I would be part of such a mission in my career, but it’s nice that Celebrity Cruises have given me the opportunity to be a part of this.”

A passenger list was finalised by the tour operators yesterday and the task of allocating cabins had begun.

Once aboard, the exhausted Britons will have free use of the liner’s ten bars and restaurants, gym, arcade and three swimming pools.

The disco, casino, shops and health spa will be open for business, while a special performance will be held in the theatre.

“I am pleased that they will have a taste of the Celebrity Cruises experience, unfortunately it will only be for one-anda- half days,” Captain Skylogiannis added.

“They will have everything that a Celebrity guest would have onboard a normal cruise and hopefully they will love it. I am sure they will.”

Perhaps the only people disappointed to see the liner arrive in Bilbao will be the 88 Spanish tourists being brought home.

Among the lucky passengers were Margarita de la Calle and Suso Flores from Galicia, in north-west Spain.

The couple, who will tie the knot in August, arrived in London on April 10 for a ten-day holiday, only to be left stranded in the capital.

“This ship is fantastic. I cannot believe this is really happening,” Ms de la Calle, 33, said. “We want to come back next year.

It would be our way of saying thank you to the company that has looked after us.”

Daniel Rodriguez and Cecilia Alba, from Valencia, found themselves in a similar situation after their flight was grounded on Friday.

“Last year we planned a holiday to New York, but that was cancelled because of swine flu. Now we are on this ship because of a volcano, it feels like destiny,” Mr Rodriguez, 37, said.

Reporter Peter Law, on board Celebrity Eclipse

NOBODY knows what to expect when we arrive at Bilbao this morning.

The only thing for certain is that there will be at least 2,500 British holidaymakers desperate to get home.

From the moment we set sail from Southampton on Tuesday night, this mercy mission to Spain has been a surreal experience.

As a cruise ship virgin, I had no idea what to expect as checked-in at the City Cruise Terminal just hours after our spot on the ship was confirmed.

Leaving Southampton behind, my colleague, Daily Echo photographer Chris Moorhouse, and I were among just 200 passengers on board a liner built to handle 2,850.

Our deck was filled with the excited shrieks of a group of 26 Spanish schoolchildren that had been stranded in London by the ash cloud.

The sun has shone brightly as we’ve cut through the calm seas of the English Channel and Bay of Biscay.

Walking the decks of the “ghost ship”, we lucky few are outnumbered at least 12-to-one by the ship’s more than 1,200 crew members.

The eerie silence was only broken on the top deck by the cheesy holiday tunes playing at the pool bar.

At night, a jazz band entertained a handful of onlookers in the enormous atrium, while a string quartet played to an audience of zero.

That will all change this morning when the first British tourists begin boarding for what will surely be another extraordinary journey.