Even cruise ships and celebrities have to bow before the forces of nature. Dame Shirley Bassey for one found this out the hard way on Sunday: she was supposed to visit P&O Cruises’ Adonia, the cruise liner that she christened six months ago, but massive storms sweeping the South of France prevented the ship from entering the harbour of Monte Carlo.

The cruise ship was expected in the port of Monte Carlo on Sunday morning, but authorities decided it would be safer for it not to enter the harbour.

This meant the scheduled lunch meeting between Carol Marlow, the Managing Director of P&O Cruises, and Dame Shirley had to be cancelled. Guests aboard the Adonia were also robbed of an opportunity to see the living legend stepping on board their cruise liner.

The huge storm moved in while the ship was still docked at Marseille on Saturday and by the time it had to leave the weather forecast for Monte Carlo already cast doubt over the intended visit.

After a rather bumpy night at sea Adonia arrived at Monte Carlo at the first light of dawn, only to hear that port authorities had decided to close the harbour. The ship had to proceed to her next port of call - La Spezia in the north of Italy – and anchor there for the night.

Passengers on board the ship fortunately did not become bored over the past three days as Marco Pierre White, the chef that has become an international celebrity, was on board signing copies of his latest book Marco Made Easy.