Trouble-prone cruise ship company P&O's horror run has continued, with its flagship Sapphire Princess striking engine problems.

Passengers on board Sapphire Princess have reported the boat is "limping" to Malaysia after a malfunction in an engine turbine between Darwin and Indonesia on Tuesday.

They also said there was no beer and a shortage of some wines.

Sunshine Coast resident Steve Harris received an email from Brisbane-based friends which said the luxury 18-storey vessel was travelling so slowly, a scheduled stop in Bali was cancelled.

He said the couple, who paid $7500 each for the 18-day cruise to Thailand , were angry the stopover was cancelled to make up time.

"My friends on board were supposed to be in Padang Bay (southeast Bali) on Sunday, but the schedule was changed to ensure the boat arrived in the final port of Thailand on time," Mr Harris said.

"They said there was also a beer shortage and a lack of some wines, which wasn't proving popular with Australian passengers."

The ship is due to arrive in Thailand next weekend.

P&O Cruises spokesman John Richardson said crew members were having trouble starting one of the gas turbines used to boost the ship's speed from 17 to 22 knots.

"The gas turbines operate separately to the diesel engine, which is fine, and they allow the boat to perform high speeds," he said.

A technician is due to join the boat in Singapore on Tuesday morning, and Mr Richardson said any delayed passengers would be compensated.

But he said it was unlikely the 116,000-tonne cruise ship would run out of beer.

"I'm trying to contact the boat to find out about the beer situation . . . it's possible the ship could have run out of certain types of Australian beer. After all, there are 1000 Australian passengers on board," Mr Richardson said.

Many of the 2700 passengers boarded Sapphire Princess, Australia 's largest cruise ship, in Sydney on March 7. Brisbane passengers boarded the vessel, which was too large to go under the Gateway Bridge , on March 9.

The faulty turbine is the latest in a run of incidents on P&O ships, particularly the Brisbane-based Pacific Sky.

This week, Pacific Sky was forced to abort a cruise in Noumea because of engine trouble.

The 46,000-tonne ship was dubbed "the unluckiest vessel on the water" after technical problems delayed two cruises and ended another late last year.

On January 8, a 23-year-old Victorian man disappeared after jumping into the sea from the ship's eighth level.