The Norwegian pilot on the cruise ship carrying more than 1,300 people that was caught in a fierce storm off the coast of Norway has said the situation worsened when engine problems appeared.

Inge Lockert told the Vesteraalen newspaper that “everything went as it should until we got engine problems”.

“It was a very big team effort,” he told the daily.

“When we got the engine running again, we realised we were going to save ourselves.”

Norway Cruise Ship Mayday
Some of the remaining passengers look out (Svein Ove Ekornesvag/AP)

The ship, Viking Sky, made a mayday call on Saturday afternoon after the engine failures.

Five helicopters winched off 479 passengers, and the airlift evacuation went well into Sunday.

The operation was halted later Sunday when the ship’s engines restarted and the vessel limped into a nearby port with the remaining 900 passengers onboard.

A total of 36 people was admitted in local hospitals and as of Tuesday, one person was in critical but stable condition in an intensive care ward.

Seven others were expected to be discharged later on Tuesday, hospital officials said.

Norway Cruise Ship Mayday
Helicopters fly over the cruise ship Viking Sky after it sent out a mayday signal (AP)

Mr Lockert was one of two pilots from the Norwegian Coastal Administration who boarded the ship on Saturday to help the crew take the ship into port, the Vesteraalen daily said.

Only Mr Lockert has spoken publicly.

The identity of the captain, a Finn, is not known.

On Monday, Norwegian officials said they have opened an investigation into the ordeal.

The ship was on a 12-day cruise along Norway’s coast before its scheduled arrival on Tuesday in Britain.

The passengers were mostly an English-speaking mix of American, British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian citizens.