The captain of the cruise ship Island Star, which until a year ago sailed as Celebrity's Horizon, decided to end the cruise after engines again failed off the cost of France plunging the ship into darkness, and 1,476 passengers were ferried ashore in tenders.

The ship, which was transferred last year to Island Cruises, first experienced engine and power problems last week as it left Genoa. During the power failure, the captain told passengers technicians were being flown out to the stricken ship.

After emergency repairs, the Island Star headed towards Nice but again suffered a power outage. At that point, Island Cruises apparently decided to bring the cruise to a premature end.

While Island Cruises belatedly announced that the ship "docked at Villefranche," near Nice, France, cruise ships do not in fact dock at Villefranche but anchor in the harbor and tender passengers ashore.

Frightened passengers reported that the captain gave the order to abandon ship and said passengers were evacuated by "lifeboat," but that seems more dramatic than what apparently was the ferrying of passengers and luggage ashore using the ship's tenders.

"The captain said he couldn’t hazard the lives of the passengers or crew," passenger Bruce Ikin told the Liverpool Daily Post. "He reassured all passengers that there was no danger of the ship sinking, but still people were anxious. . .

"There was quite a lot of elderly people on board, so it was extremely daunting," Ikin said. "It all took place during a tropical storm and we were all soaked. As you can imagine, it was quite a task."

While two passengers reportedly collapsed during the transfer to tenders, no other casualties were reported.

Almost 1,500 passengers scheduled to sail from Palma, Majorca, on the ship's next cruise were notified at the last minute that their voyage on the Island Star was being cancelled due to essential repairs on the vessel’s engines.

Island Cruises is a joint venture between First Choice Holidays and Royal Caribbean.