Costa Allegra
The Costa Allegra cruise ship is pictured in this handout photo taken by an Indian Navy maritime surveillance aircraft following their distress call in the Indian Ocean February 27, 2012. Reuters

The harrowing experiences of the 1000-strong passengers of Costa Allegra are coming to an end with the stricken ship sailing into Seychelles' main port in Victoria.

The evacuation is expected to take several hours and the priority would be to evacuate the physically weak and ill passengers.

The cruise ship lost power on 27 February due to a fire in its generator room and was adrift in the Indian Ocean for the past three days.

Though there were no major injuries reported due to the accident, passengers were left with no hot food or airconditioning and had to survive on helicopter supplies.

Arrangements for hotels and planes are in place for the passengers as soon as they come out of the cruise ship.

There are 31 British nationals among the passengers on the ship and relatives in the UK can contact the company's helpline on 020 7940 3300 for information about their loved ones.

Costa Allegra belongs to the same fleet of Costa Concordia, which capsized off the Italian Coast on 13 January, 2012.