More than 2,000 cruise passengers, including some who had already spent a night aboard the cruise ship Sea Princess, have had their two-week Mediterranean cruise cancelled as a result of a propulsion problem.

The nine-year-old Sea Princess was due to leave Southampton May 13th, but passengers awoke that morning to receive letters telling them that their cruise had been cancelled.

Princess Cruises said the cancellation was caused by "a technical problem which became apparent on the final day of the last sailing" -- some type of propulsion problem that defied efforts to quickly fix it.

"We are enormously disappointed not to be able to offer our passengers this cruise but the safety of our passengers is of the utmost priority," a Princess spokesperson said. "All passengers will receive a full refund and a percent discount on any future cruise.

"Our customer service team has been on hand to assist all passengers with their onward travel arrangements.

Princess said it anticipated that the Sea Princess would resume normal operations on May 26th following repairs.