Cllr Smith believes the Marco Polo luxury liner with its 800 passengers should not have been allowed to dock at the town and said the decision could have had potentially horrendous implications.

"What if it had been typhoid on that boat?," she said.

The passengers on the German-owned vessel, which docked early on Sunday, are thought to have been struck down by norovirus, a highly contagious vomiting and diarrhoea bug.

There has been criticism that the passengers were allowed to disembark and mingle in Invergordon, visiting cafes and restaurants, and potentially infecting the local population and threatening local businesses.

Cllr Smith said: "I don't think the CFPA have behaved responsibly because if they knew they there was illness on that ship, why did they allow it in?

"There were two ambulances seen on the quay early on the morning that the ship docked. If the Marco Polo needed outside medical help from NHS Highland at that point, should it not have been made to wait at quarantine anchorage for clearance?

"The CFPA are trying to say it's nothing to do with them. Well, of course it is – they bring these ships in and they control the port. It suits the CFPA for it to be their port when they want, but not at other times – such as this.

"It could have been a much more serious illness which these unfortunate holidaymakers contracted and brought ashore, posing a huge risk to the health of people not only in Invergordon but throughout the Highlands.

"I don't think the CFPA were prepared for a situation like this, despite the hundreds of thousands of cruise line passengers that dock at Invergordon each summer. There doesn't seem to have been a plan in place. I think the they have been caught napping."

She added: "The communication from the CFPA was also very poor. As local members, we left messages with them on Monday at 5pm but didn't hear back from them until 24 hours later. The chief executive of Highland Council was not told about the situation until 6.30pm on Tuesday evening."

Cllr Smith said it was her understanding that under maritime law, ships are required to state that they are contagious disease-free before they enter port. Only then will the harbour master issue what is known as a "Free Pratique" licence.

"Was this licence issued to the Marco Polo by harour master Ken Gray," she said. "Or was it allowed to come in without this clearance."

Fellow Cromarty Firth councillor Martin Rattray agreed: "I definitely think there are lessons to be learned from this. The port authority and other bodies should have alerted the community far sooner. I think when things have settled down, people will have to get round a table to work out a strategy for this type of situation arising again."

CFPA port manager/harbourmaster Ken Gray said: "Our focus at the moment is on providing support in any way we can to the lead authorities in this incident and the ship. The most important thing at this time for us is on ensuring this incident is brought to a successful conclusion.

"Once this incident has ended, there will be a full discussion with all the agencies involved on how it was handled. I can say that everyone involved has worked extremely hard on this incident to make sure it is resolved as successfully as possible and would like to thank all the medical staff and NHS Highland for all their hard work at this very difficult time."

As the North Star went to press, it was understood that, following a recommendation from NHS Highland, the Marco Polo operators Transocean Tours were considering sailing the vessel and its passengers to Tilbury in Essex at 6pm yesterday.

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