AN Essex woman aboard a cruise ship turned away by four Asian and Pacific governments due to fears about a strain of coronavirus has thanked the "amazing crew".

Bev Thurbin is among passengers on the Westerdam cruise ship, which had been turned away due to fears about the spread of Covid-19.

The ship has now docked in Cambodia.

The Westerdam was refused permission to dock in the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand but ship owner Holland America Line said there were no known cases of the Covid-19 virus on board.

Health checks will now be carried out on the 2,200 passengers and crew on board the ship which is in waters outside Sihanoukville.

Mrs Thurbin said everyone on the ship "is and always has been virus free".

The 55-year-old, who boarded the ship in Hong Kong with her husband Mick, 57, thanked the "amazing" crew and captain for a "first-class service in a very difficult and unusual cruise".

"We've been fine on the ship, you get the odd people who got stressed about it," she told the PA news agency.

"But everyone has been in good spirits and this has been helped by the most wonderful staff and crew, they just kept us all positive and happy."

Mrs Thurbin, a legal PA, said those aboard the cruise ship had been refunded and offered another cruise of the same value.

"We saw the cruise advertised and thought it would be good to see quite a bit of Asia in just 14 days," she told PA.

"We really have no complaints apart from the disappointment of not seeing the places we planned to."

She and her husband, a postman, have booked onto another cruise in New Zealand next year.