A couple claims they found themselves stranded on a small African island after missing a cruise ship’s boarding deadline, according to local media.
Norwegian confirmed to Business Insider that they were denied boarding, saying it was their responsibility to be on time.
The Campbells said they are frequent cruisers and boarded the Norwegian Dawn on March 20 for their third trip with the cruise line in a year.
However, an excursion last Wednesday with six others to São Tomé and Príncipe, an island nation of some 220,000 people off the coast of West Africa, took an unfortunate turn.
The couple claims the excursion was overrun and its operator informed the captain that eight passengers were late.
According to WPDE, they were denied entry aboard the ship upon their return, even though they could still see the ship from the shore.
The ship was anchored, Jay Campbell said, but the captain refused to let them board despite passengers’ repeated calls and emails to the ship and the cruise line’s emergency line.
The São Tomé and Príncipe Coast Guard even took the passengers to the ship, but they were unable to board and had to turn back, WPDE reported.
In total, WPDE said nine passengers were not allowed to re-enter the ship, including four elderly people and one paraplegic.
The Campbells told the outlet that the ninth passenger was late for another reason: an 80-year-old woman who suffered a concussion on the island and was hospitalized there.
Most of the stranded passengers did not have their medications or working credit cards, WPDE said.
The Campbells, who had work cards, said they covered $5,000 of the group’s expenses on food, toiletries and hotel bills.
“We’ve never had an experience like this before,” Jill Campbell told WPDE.
Norwegian Cruise Line said in an emailed statement to BI that eight tour guests missed the latest offer to return to the ship.
The cruise line said passengers missed the “boarding time of 3 p.m. local time.” He said it was a “very unfortunate situation” but passengers were responsible for being on time.
He added that the return deadline had been “widely communicated” via the ship’s intercom, in printed communications and on messages posted at the ship’s exits.
The elderly passenger who suffered a concussion was sent back to the United States, where she “returned safely,” a Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson said.
According to WPDE, the group flew to Gambia on Sunday, hoping to join the ship in another port.
A spokesperson for the cruise line said the ship could not safely dock in Gambia due to adverse weather conditions, adding that efforts were being made for guests to join the ship in Senegal on Tuesday.
Even though cruise ships should remain punctual, stories of ruined vacations like this pose a reputational risk and could turn people off.
For example, two passengers on the MSC Splendida found themselves stranded last summer in an Italian port after arriving too late for departure.
A Tic Tac the video showed the couple waving and pleading with the crew to wait for them, even though the gangplank appeared to have already been removed.
Other passengers may face the stress of being stranded in remote locations through no fault of their own. Last September, more than 200 people found themselves stranded in a remote area of Greenland after their cruise ship ran aground.
And last November, passengers were left stranded at a Brisbane port after a Royal Caribbean ship was overbooked.
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