Cruise Ship Left 8 Behind, Nightmare Commences
Norwegian Cruise Line says they were late returning from an excursion

A Real Public Relations Disaster.

Norwegian Cruise Line says they were late returning from an excursion
By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2024 12:30 AM CDT
Updated Apr 2, 2024 5:14 AM CDT
Cruise Ship Leaves 8 Passengers Behind in Africa

Eight passengers who were left behind when their Norwegian Cruise Line ship departed from the African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe are scrambling to meet back up with the ship and rejoin the cruise. Jill and Jay Campbell of South Carolina tell WPDE and WMBF that a little more than a week into a 21-day cruise that left from South Africa on March 20, they were with six other passengers on an excursion on the island March 27 that ran late. They say they informed the tour guide, who got in touch with the captain of the Norwegian Dawn, but that when they returned, the captain wouldn't let them board even though the ship was still anchored. The Coast Guard eventually took them out to the ship via boat, but the captain turned them away, they say. Since then, they've been trying to get back to the ship.


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Cruise Ship Left 8 Behind, Nightmare Commences

Very interesting! I have done a lot of cruising and seen people left behind. (Do to their own stupidity) Sounds like a rather good explanation is needed about this.-

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I wouldn't bother trying to get back on the ship. I would fly home so I can start the lawsuit just as soon as possible.


Now if I'm late getting back, I can understand them not waiting. Supposed to be back on the ship at 4:00 because we're leaving at 5:00 and I don't get back until 6:00. My fault. And I can even sort of understand not letting them on even though the ship is still there. But when they bring them out in a boat?


The captain is the King on board ship. Got it. So I wouldn't sue the captain. But I would definitely sue the cruise line. Might not win. But I would sue the hell out of them.

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I always take precautions

We are hearing only one side of the story. I suspect that not only were they late back to the ship but it probably wasn't the first time. Some people think the world revolves around them and then they get PO'd when they find out they're wrong.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Diamond member on Royal Caribbean here...It doesn't work like that at all. A lawsuit will fail...If the rule is to be back at 4:30PM, then be back at 4:00...There are ten thousand things out of your control to make you late and only one thing that can make you early....YOU.

More importantly, I read this article in another publication and it seems this group booked an excursion through a secondary agency besides the ship itself...NEVER book anything on your own because they have no obligation to get you back to the ship on time.

First of all, you have to figure out where to file the thing, and it ain't your port of departure . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

It was Juneau, Alaska, don’t you know?
The Cruise Ship arrival and departures are timed tight!
There were a couple of hundred of us at the bottom of the Gangplank and a Lady Officer on a Bullhorn was encouraging us to expedite!
A rather large lady got halfway up the gangplank and could go no mo.
The Lady Officer is now on her radio.
A couple of strong looking Oriental Sailors (I’m thinking Koreans) appeared with a metal chair.
They loaded her carcass on that chair and swiftly carried her onto the ship.
Back to the Bullhorn - Please Board Now!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

It sounds to me like it wasn't a cruise-line sanctioned excursion, which puts the blame on them, not the ship.

Otherwise, the ship would have waited.

How come we never hear good things about
cruises? There appears always something
negative about cruises. For this reason I’m out.

One of my goals in life, as with Disney, is never
go there and spend my money on them.

When ever someone tells me there going on a
Cruise or Disney, I ask them can’t you do
something more original then that? You
should see their face.

Anyway, the Best to you and your Endeavors

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

Yeah..nah...never had any real desire to get on a cruise ship...I'm more of a Clark Griswald vacation kind of guy, much to my family's dismay..and Disney will never see another dime!

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Life Member GOA and NRA

Sometimes yes sometimes no. Your right about not being on a ship sponsored shore time.

Sometimes the ship will go even if its a ship sponsored shore visit.

Depending where you are tide or distance to the next port of call determines what happens.(A couple people Vs the thousands on board) they will depart! In those cases the cruse company will take care of costs like food, motels and travel cost to the next stop.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Most ships blow their horns as a warning to load.
If this was done and the people were still late, so be it.

The ship has been doing this trip, many times and knows what has to happen to be on time, for it's arivals & departures.

Don't be late.

Ship happens...

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213th FBINA

The Coast Guard brought them out to the ship? That's pretty puzzling to start with. Next, how would they board the ship? I'm betting the cruise line wouldn't even consider taking on that liability. Passenger goes in the water and the lawsuits begin.

You have to remember that it wasn't the United States Coast Guard. I've been on several cruises, and the instructions regarding excursions are very clear. If it's not an excursion you purchased thru the cruise line, you're on your own. We've seen more than one group running down the dock, drink in hand, as the ship pushed away . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Exactly . Not to mention the ship would have to slow down and possibly change course depending on the wind and waves .

In the early '80s, we were part of a group of passengers who were returning to our ship by train after an all-day excursion to San Jose, Costa Rica, when there was a nationwide power blackout. The locomotive was electric, and it lost all power. Night had fallen and we were in the jungle-covered mountains of western Costa Rica coasting downhill. The only light was from the feeble headlight on the locomotive, apparently powered by a backup battery. We coasted for about 20 minutes, but eventually we hit a flat spot and slowed to a halt. And there we sat in the dark, in the middle of the jungle, going nowhere. You literally could not see your hand in front of your face. No cell phones in those days to use as flashlights! We sat for nearly an hour until a diesel switch engine arrived from the port to tow us in. Needless to say we were way late for our ship's departure. Fortunately, it was a ship-sponsored tour, so the captain waited. He had every onboard light lit, (and was blowing the horn). The glow from our big white ship was the only source of light in the port. So it turned out well for us, but if we'd freelanced our shore excursion, there's a good chance we'd have been left behind.

I've been on 15 cruises, and my family and I have always been conscientious about getting back to the ship on time. As to the passengers in the OP's post, I suspect they were thoughtless rank amateur cruisers who were habitual violators of departure time deadlines, and the captain decided to teach them a lesson. The experienced cruisers on board probably applauded.

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What, me worry?

While in the Navy if you miss
ship movement you are in deep
DO-DO !
And the Captain will not listen to
BS excuses.

Every watch the TV show Mighty Ships?


Ships are on a very strict time line. If you miss the boarding time, it's to bad so sad. They must depart on schedule.
Imagine if they just stayed at port waiting for everyone that was late to arrive.


Do airlines wait for people when the door are closed and beginning to taxi.?


Mighty Cruise Ships - TV Series | Smithsonian Channel

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Still Running Against the Wind

My daughter was part of the entertainment cast for 5 years aboard various NCL ships , including the Dawn. NCL clearly states their policy on returning from excursions when you get your tickets, and they are given a specific time they have to be back by when disembarking in a port, so passengers have no excuses when they are late returning.

There are two kinds of shore excursion; ones you get through the ship (ship sponsored) and those you arrange on shore when you get to a port of call. The ship sponsored ones are safe, if you are late, the ship will wait as you are being led by a crew member. If you arrange a private excursion, it is on you to return by the appointed time, or you will be left. In a very few cases, even the ship sponsored excursions have been left behind and it is up to the passenger or crew member to find a way to the next port of call or to wait until the next cruise, which can be 5 days to a couple of weeks, depending on the ship's cruise schedule.

I think it's pathetic for some people to feel so entitled they expect the ship to wait on them if they're running late. They knew ahead of time what would happen.

Best friend's nephew missed his Aircraft Carrier and he faced some sort of trial. He pled the Navy equivalent of "No Contest" when they ask why he missed his ship he told them the ship left 2 hours before his shore leave ended. (which was true.) No brig time, reduced one strip and loss of 30 day's pay. He's a Senior Chief now, so no harm no foul. About 200 men missed the boat! Not Their fault, too bad!

Ivan

ETA: I think that Rule #1 in the Navy is: Don't miss the boat!

The question is does the captain PO 1800 passengers because 8 made them miss the tide and shortened the visit at the next port. As for a boat to ship transfer, I can well understand why the captain wouldn't take on that risk.

Never been on a cruise, but my bus tour left a family behind at Chichen Itza because they were late. It probably had something to do with getting back to the tourist area of Cancun before nightfall. Some wag on the bus asked the tour guide if abandoned tourists were sacrificed to keep the old traditions going.

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Release the Kraken

How do we know it wasn’t the US Coast Guard? They are overseas as well. I would think the cruise ship would have to allow them to board. They enforce domestic and international laws in domestic and international waters……… a Coast Guard boat from an African nation to me would scream Pirates lol

I did a little reading up on this. São Tomé and Príncipe Island indeed has a Coast Guard of their own. US Coast Guard Cutters occasionally visit to help "strengthen regional security and stability." The last mission I could find was in 2019. As for requiring the cruise ship to allow boarding, what domestic or international law was suspected of being broken?

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

We went on one cruise in our lives, to the Bahamas. They gave us wristbands and logged us off the ship and then back on. Capt advised us the ship would blow horns an hour+ before departure.
We stayed within eyesight and earshot of the ship.

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Sure you did

I read on another forum about this and it was suggested it was a passport issue; i.e one of the people had left it on the ship, (which wasn't very smart if so)...Don't know if true.. The other reason could have been simple liability of boarding from another much smaller vessel under extraordinary circumstances like suggested above?

My bad, my comment was regarding the Coast Guard having a reason to board. The Coast Guard had no law enforcement reason to stop the ship and there is no way the cruise ship could be forced by anybody’s Coast Guard to allow passengers to board. Apologies for the misunderstanding. . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I wasn’t implying a law was broken. I mentioned that as a reason for USCG being there. As far as boarding it just seems the same as being pulled over by a cop. When the lights come on you pull over.

I guess you haven't conned too many 92,000 ton cruise ships lately.

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Release the Kraken

Obviously the CG and the Captain of the ship had a conversation about WHY they wanted him to stop and the Captain said that taking on passengers while underway wasn't going to happen AND that probably put an end to that little exercise . The CG can't make him accept the passengers .

I just got back from a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise, our second. Like the first one, it was fantastic.

As has been noted, if you book an excursion through the ship they will wait. If you don’t, they won’t. Though I doubt my BAC dipped below .08 at any point on the journey I understood that much with great clarity.

This bunch of whiners just learned a hard lesson.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

This is probably the exact thing that happened...The CG requested an at-sea solution with the cruise line by both cell phone and radio and the ship Captain declined for safety and/or liability reasons and that was that.

It wasn't a no knock warrant from the CG for cocaine smuggling...It was probably a request and the affected parties would have to pay travel to the next port on their own if they chose to rejoin the cruise.

I'll bet that the displaced passengers are on time next time should they decide to cruise again.

Transferring from a smallish cutter to a huge ship is neither safe nor easy, and cruise passengers are most often in the older, less mobile demographic. It would have been a HUGE liability to try to get them aboard while at sea so I can certainly see the captain's logic on this one.

Some cruise lines have an arrangement that will hold the ship up to 3 hours if you were on an excursion that is delayed - but only if the excursion was booked thru them. If you are sitting in a bar or shopping and lose track of time, or if you are on a privately-booked excursion then all bets are off otherwise.

It’s been said that there is no such thing as being on time, you are either early or late.

You couldn't pay me to get on a cruise ship! The thought of being cooped up on a boat with hundreds, (thousands?) of other people would be a fate worse then death for me!
But if I did I would make sure I was back at the boat on time!

I have done a few cruises and have seen a few people running down the dock as the ship pulled away. I have also seen a couple put off the ship for trying to bring drugs onboard.
One time leaving Cozumel there was a medical emergency on board as the ship passed Cancun, a water ambulance came out to disembark the patient and her husband. The Mexican navy circled the ship with gunboats the entire time. The gunboats were manning all guns. They did not appear to be in a party mood.

This explains it fairly well . . . US passengers slam Norwegian Cruise Lines for leaving them in Africa

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Quotes from article
“After what we witnessed, we truly believe there is a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed — they followed those rules too rigidly,”

I can't see a problem.


“I really feel that they forgot they are people working in the hospitality industry and that really the safety and wellbeing of their customers should be their first priority,” she added, claiming the crew of the ship had a “basic duty of care that they had forgotten about.”


I wonder how the other passengers felt about hanging around. Being on big boats berthed at idle ain't fun.


“The captain could have made an easy decision to turn one of the tender boats back, pick us up, safely load us and then go on the way,” Campbell said.


I'll give 'em credit if they kept a straight while making this absurd statement.

Sea cruises are insanely fun. Following the rules 'tain't that hard.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

'Never get out of the boat. ' Absolutely ******* right! Unless you were goin' all the way...-Captain Willard

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Forum consigliere

Doesn't explain much at all, especially why they were late returning when they were made aware of the time deadline prior to leaving the ship.

Security on a cruise ship is for the most part invisible to the passengers, but it is taken extremely seriously by the crew and the ARMED security personnel. About the only time you see a security person is when disembarking at a port of call or re-embarking after the call is over, or if there is some sort of fracas involving violence while underway. Security maintains a low profile because they don't want to seem intimidating to the passengers, but they are there.

They most likely didn't permit the passengers to re-board after being brought to the ship by the local knee-deep navy, both for the sake of safe transfer and because they couldn't suitably verify identities during the transfer. As for sending out a tender to go back for them, they can't afford to set a precedent or they'd end up having to do it every cruise because the word would get out "don't worry about being late, they'll send a boat for you" if they did it once. It's no small job to drop a tender in the water while under way, or retrieve it, especially for a half-dozen people who knew not to be late.

The last several paragraphs, quoting the statements made by NCL spokespersons, does explain it wasn't NCL's fault these people got left behind, the policy is clear and made known to every passenger both verbally and in print.

I've been on two cruses, both Royal Caribbean. Total of 4 excursions, all booked through the ship/ cruise line. I find so much to do on the ship that was included in the price, there really isn't a reason to ever get off!

Of the 4 excursions, two were "Beech BBQs", The only reason I went to the second one was I officiated the renewal of my daughter's wedding vows on her anniversary! (A Nice crowd gathered to wish my daughter and her husband well!!) Any of the ship's snack bars and dining rooms are much better that the poorly cooked beech food!

Ivan

I love to travel, but for the most part I've planned my own trips over the years, and rented cars to get around. However...

My lady talked me into going on my first cruise ever last summer, from England to Norway on Celebrity. I didn't swoon over the experience, but it was nice. I have to admit it was easy to leave our luggage in our room, and take shore excursions (all sponsored by Celebrity) to sightsee. No glitches whatsoever, and I got to see a part of the world I would not have seen otherwise. This summer, we're going to take another cruise, to Alaska this time. The shore excursions look really interesting, and I'm looking forward to the trip.

Whether or not the passengers in this story screwed up, whether or not they were late, Norwegian bought itself a boatload (pun intended) of bad publicity here. Those folks had left their medications, their valuables, their clothes and toiletries, on the ship, and then had to travel overland to catch up with the ship. The cruise line looks callous and cold at best, not an image anybody in the hospitality industry should covet.

There's another aspect to this as well. Those Americans were stranded in a part of the world that ain't exactly a place I would want to be stranded. In fact, the US State Department has travel warnings posted for a number of countries in West Africa. This could have ended even more badly than it did.

Cross Norwegian off my list...

Travel.State.Gov CSI

Travel Advisories

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Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins

Celebrity would have done the same thing to you . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Boo Hoo, Do stupid stuff, Win stupid prizes.

Notice they never brought up the "we screwed up " Just the "they could have done this, this or this, to accommodate US" despite the fact we ignored the agreement we signed when we booked the cruise and which we were repeatedly warned not to.

I am INITIALED to be looked after and accommodated no mater what I do

A life lesson they obviously learned nothing from

Knowing this crowd, it’s hard to believe no one’s posted this.

Attached Images

IMG_0253.jpeg (33.1 KB, 67 views)

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

NCL was generous imo.


“Given that these guests were on a private tour and did not return to the ship at the communicated all-aboard time, they are responsible for any necessary travel arrangements to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call, per our protocol.”

“Despite the series of unfortunate events outside of our control, we will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjur, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal,” the spokesperson added.

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Sure you did

These big mouths were given about 3 minutes of air time on at least one of the MSM networks.(National news) IMHO that generated a lot of static from people that do not have a clue how cruise ships operate.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

A wild guess, alcohol had something to do with all this.

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Sure you did

There is an old story about a good old boy from up on the Range who buys a lottery ticket at the casino in Hinckley and wins a cruise with celebrity super model Elle McPherson. There is a shipwreck. The story goes on from there, but I am not going to recount it here.
It is the closest I have ever been to going on a cruise,, and the only kind I would have interest in taking.

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Not in jail.