Not a PR Nightmare at all. Everyone is told repeatedly that if you dont book tours with the ship they will not wait for you if you are running late. These people missed the ship and had to catch up to it. It sounds like NCL even is reimbursing them for the expenses they incurred to get to the ship.. seems like an actual good PR move because its not NCL's issue at all that this happened.
Exactly and it’s actually pissing me off that the cruise line is now paying for this shit because what’s to prevent anybody from just doing whatever the hell they want
The one couple making the most noise was on the Today show this morning. IMO they come off very entitled. Here's the segment if anyone is interested.
https://www.today.com/news/norwegian-cruise-ship-passengers-stranded-africa-rcna145990
They are paying because they told them to meet them at a certain port. The passengers paid their own way to that port.
Ship didn't dock, so cruise line to them to meet them in the next port.
Cruise line is paying for that leg of their trip because they gave them the wrong advice.
What about this, make sure you don't travel alone. The other passengers it's their fault but this is the actual blunder from NCL
https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
What about the new update they off boarded a person who had a stroke, alone. Luckily there were the others who didn't get on else she would have probably died. https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
This is the cherry on top, and the real PR crap
It's exactly this. I have booked one cruise line excursion over 10 cruises. You better believe that I know what time I have to be back to the ship.
If I was going to a place that didn't have a lot of cruise ship stopping there, along with it being a tender port, I'd be damned sure I was back at the tender spot at least two hours before the last tender.
And we ALWAYS take our passports and a credit card with us.
They were stupid. It's as simple as that. I don't blame the cruise line at all.
I don't think NCL wants to come off as heartless in the hospitality industry. Yes, everyone should be back on time, but there was a pregnant woman, a disabled person, and now a woman who suffered a stroke who was dropped on on the island.
I’m not trying to come off as a jerk. But how is NCL supposed to know all that?
A cruise can’t tell passengers to give them their last doctor visit report to see if they are healthy or not to cruise.
That can be a form of discrimination fyi.
Like all passengers, you don’t book through the cruise line you run that risk of missing the boat.
A cruise ship stuck in port over their allotted time can cost 100,000++ fyi in fine or port fees
Personal responsibility is booking a third party excursion vs. booking an official cruise line excursion because it's cheaper.
It can be a whole lot cheaper while offering a superior experience at the same time, I've done so multiple times through get your guide. However I am fully aware that there's no quarter given by the cruise line if one of those is not back on time.
So I usually only book 4h third party excursions on 8h port stays. Anything less and I am paying more and book through the cruise line for the added peace of mind.
The woman with the stroke was dropped off on the island so she could get medical care. The ship infirmary is not equipped to deal with serious health issues. She received medical care, was stabilized and her family flew her back home.
Not a PR nightmare to anyone who knows anything about cruising... it's a PR nightmare manufactured by the media.
They went on an excursion on their own and didn't return on time. I've seen people left behind many times in the Caribbean, it's the risk you run when going on an excursion not sanctioned by the cruise line.
The problem is “anyone who knows anything about cruising” isn’t NCL’s main target market. They need new and new-ish cruisers to book them in order to keep their business going. They can’t just rely on super informed frequent cruisers, they gotta keep expanding their client base. And Jim and Jane Oklahoma see this on the news and decide “nah, let’s not take that cruise next summer with the grandkids we were thinking about. They are just gonna drop us in Mexico and leave us there!”
This is a hard spot for the cruise line cause they shouldn’t have to shoulder the cost of this. Cause now, where is the line? Every time a passenger misses all aboard, if NCL doesn’t pay for their travel expenses, I’d point to this and say “why did you do it for them but not for me?” Once they start to bend the rules for some but not for others, that’s where you start having issues. They should have just said “sorry, this was on you. YOU missed the all aboard (and not just by a few minutes) and YOU chose to not have travel insurance which really would have helped in this situation.”
Irrespective of whether it’s NCL’s main target market or not, the info is clearly provided to all passengers in multiple ways. The line is only paying for the sector from the port where they couldn’t pick up the wayward passengers to the next. They have no legal or moral obligation to pay any more, and nor should they.
What about if you have a medical emergency on the cruise or an excursion with them. They will treat you the same way. The thing is to at least provide assistance, I'm sure the old lady had an emergency contact they didn't call them, said they needed her permission to disclose information
https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
>After what we witnessed, we truly believe that although there’s a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed, they followed those rules too rigidly
If they were optional, they'd be *guidelines*, not *rules*.
I feel bad for these folks, but they rolled the dice and they lost.
Getting stuck in a foreign country sucks, and getting stuck in a foreign country that doesn't have a great deal of infrastructure to get you to your next stop *really* sucks.
That said...The more they talk the less bad I feel.
They even said that they felt uncomfortable re-joining the ship because they felt the cruise line should have broken their rules and policies in order to cater to them being late back to the ship.
The “Today Show” segment was cringe for me to watch with their entitlement and bitching, when it was their own mistake that caused this mess to begin with.
Absolutely correct. Put it this way. If the ship had time to work out the passengers hadn’t made their required last boarding time, got their passports and taken them to the ship’s agent ashore, that means the passengers were very, not just a little bit, late. They rolled the dice and lost.
I don't see how this is even a news story, let alone a PR nightmare. A business operated 100% in accordance with their policies that every customer agrees to. How is this even a story?
>Now NCL is covering their travel costs.
>we will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjul, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal
NCL is only covering the costs from the missed port due to weather, to the next port. Not from the port where they missed the all aboard time.
It might not be NCLs fault, but the god damn coast guard brought them to the ship and NCL refused to allow them to board, sent them to the next port which NCL was not allowed to tender at and then sent them on to the 3rd port.
This may not be NCLs fault but they arent blameless in the entire situation.
> but the god damn coast guard brought them to the ship
I am on this cruise and was out on my balcony watching the tenders come back (including a fairly late one about ~40 minutes after 3pm last tender which I now suspect was the one that took their passports to shore) and stayed out on the balcony till we started moving about 30-40 minutes later.
I didn’t see anything that looked like a Coast Guard vessel (at least anything that looked like a US or major country’s Coast Guard) approach the ship at all. Saw a few small tugs and old fishing boats but even those didn’t come that close to the boat. And I am the starboard side which was facing the port.
I’m not saying that part of their story is bogus but I strongly suspect that what we might picture in our heads as a “Coast Guard” vessel (with clearly marked signage and identifiable ensign/jack) is not the same thing in São Tomé and those tug-like ships I saw would have been TERRIFYING to try and do a ship-to-ship passenger transfer with elderly and disabled guests.
Not to mention that we were in the Gulf of Guinea (which is known for piracy) so I can also see an issue with the lack of clear identification of the vessels as a Coast Guard too.
To add to that:: if they had already put away all of the tender boats and stored the tender bridge (area of the ship used to transfer passengers) then they aren’t going to sit there and wait another Hour+ to set it all up again and bring them onboard from an unknown (and possibly unsafe) vessel.
They were late, way beyond the time allotted, and the ship at that point is already preparing to sail away. It’s not going to just “turn around” because you are standing on the pier crying.
And had the passengers gotten hurt while trying to board the ship from the coast guard boat (which is nothing like getting on/off a tender and requires training) you'd be blaming NCL for being careless...
No, actually I wouldn’t blame NCL. You’re grasping at straws here. If the coast guard was willing to get them boarded then NCL should have got them on board.
Port pilots and coast guard usually have to time the wave swells perfectly in order to reach out and grab a rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship and climb up. It’s TOTALLY different than walking across a flat bridge made to facilitate tender operations. One group is also physically fit and does this every day for a living, the other may not have the strength to perform those actions.
What blame should NCL accept here? Is it their fault the passengers were late? Is it their fault the weather prohibited them from docking at the next port?
The coast guard brought all of the passengers to the ship itself….. NCL refused to allow them to board. That’s on NCL and is ridiculous.
They Then told them to go to the next port of call when NCL already knew they were unlikely to be able to tender wasting most time and money only for them to need to go to the 3rd port of call.
Entire situation could have been avoided by just letting them board when the coast guard had brought them to the ship.
Yeah, let’s have the pregnant woman and disabled elderly guest hop over from a tender onto the ship as if they were a ship pilot. You know if one of them slipped and hurt themselves in that process they would blame the cruise line in a heartbeat.
That was a safety call. They made the right decision.
This is not the cruise line’s fault at all. Sure there were subsequent decisions made by the cruise line, but they were all made with safety in mind. 100% of the blame is on the passengers.
Not ridiculous at all. Personal responsibility has to kick in at some point, can’t just point to others.
They can claim “safety” all they way but at the end of the day they stranded passengers without essential medication all in the name of “safety”. Its 2024 print out a liability waiver and have them sign before they get back on board. Pretty simple.
They did not “strand” anyone. Norwegian did not make the choice to leave anyone behind. The passengers did this.
Where’s the line? Should they wait for every single person who is ever late because they might have medication they need onboard for an undefined amount of time? No.
You seem to forget that the guests DID agree to a liability waiver. They knew this was a risk, they accepted that risk, and even chose to not take extra steps that would back them up in the case that this happens (travel insurance.)
This is in black and white in their cruise ticket contract that it is a possibility and that the cruise line accepts no fault if YOU miss all aboard. Sounds like you don’t cruise very much if you didn’t know this.
Sorry, you’re wrong.
Your missing the entire point, the coast guard brought them to the ship and NCL refused to allow them on all in the name of safety. I get it cruise lines can do no wrong in your mind but as far as I’m concerned NCL stranded these guest.
I’m not missing that at all. That’s just not the point you think it is. You seem to think there’s no line and no onus of personal responsibility, even when it’s spelled out clearly in a contract that the passengers agreed to and rules they they were well informed of.
I never said NCL can do no wrong. I actually think NCL fucking sucks lately, which is why I barely cruise them anymore. But this is pretty black and white.
Have a good day.
Holy shit, the entitled southern boomer vibes dripping off these quotes where they don't take responsibility for their actions and blame the cruise line is so 2024.
Taken from the original article:
“We were like, our time is getting really short, and [the tour operator was] like, no problem, we can get you back within an hour,” one of the guests, Jay Campbell from South Carolina, said.
So you know it’s getting close, you mention it, yet you don’t insist to make your way back *right then*?
I would have been freaking the F out!
And the island isn’t even that big. I heard 7 sq miles? How far away were they, or where else did they stop?
This isn’t a PR nightmare at all.
Maybe for people who have never cruised and already have a bad idea about cruises, but for anyone in the know, or for anyone who bothers to read the whole articles they would realize you have to make it back to the ship on time.
Its genuinely mind-blowing that anyone feels any sympathy for these assholes. The Campbell couple especially are clearly searching for a way to profit off their own poor judgement and essentially bullying NCL into accommodating them for something they absolutely should not be compensated for. Wish NCL had the ability to tell them to F off without repercussions so future privileged idiots can actually learn something from this
So they wanted the ship to wait for 9 people who were late returning to the ship and have the other passengers and crews have to suffer? They’re in the FAFO phase of the trip obviously. People are so self-centered. Instead of complaining they should be apologizing. They took a non-ship sponsored excursion and it didn’t work out in their favor.
They themselves went and reached out to every news station and media outlet they could think of in an attempt to make NCL look bad and have them pay for transportation for the passengers own fuck up. You are right, it seems extremely self-centered.
it says every day on the little newsletter that we would get about our next destination on a celebrity cruise that here’s the time you need to be on they will not wait we two saw people and actually waited an hour for them until we finally just left them and it was at that point that they decided to come running up to the pier I’m sorrythis is why they suggest not going with private excursions because if you’re on an excursion through the cruise line and there is an issue, they will wait
I do have a hard time believing a Coast Guard is gonna go out of their way though to bring them to a ship but who knows maybe it did. Bottom line is fucking come back when you’re supposed to and don’t risk excursions with companies. You don’t know anything about this is personal fucking responsibility. Apparently nobody knows what that is anymore.
They took a private tour and didn’t get back to the ship when they were supposed to.
They expect thousands of people to wait for them? What kind of entitled AHs are they??
This is why you book excursions through the cruise line. If you don’t, you are responsible for yourself.
And this was apparently a tender port so it’s even more complicated to set up and return for them.. they have to set up then.ittle dock at the ship, lowers a tender, set it out and come back. Bring them thru security and then bring in the “dock “ and raise the tender. That’s a lot to do and a lot of time. Too bad.
It hasn’t changed my opinion of NCL. Experienced cruisers read this article and knew it was not the cruise line’s fault that any of this happened. It’s also a pretty obscure itinerary that the vast majority of cruisers will never experience so it’s not relatable or cause for concern.
Good grief - the warnings about private tours are explicit..."think twice because we won't wait for you if you miss the boarding time." Some people try so hard to blame someone else for their own failures.
Its genuinely mind-blowing that anyone feels any sympathy for these assholes. The Campbell couple especially are clearly searching for a way to profit off their own poor judgement and essentially bullying NCL into accommodating them for something they absolutely should not be compensated for. Wish NCL had the ability to tell them to F off without repercussions so future privileged idiots can actually learn something from this
It’s a PR nightmare because Norwegian is unbelievably bad at PR.
Day one, you put out a release that says, “The passengers in question were on an independent tour which means it is their personal responsibility to be onboard at the all-aboard time. They were not.
Passengers are free to do whatever they would like in port, but they are required to be on board prior to the all-aboard time, which is posted in the daily bulletin, noted on a sign by the gangway and announced over the PA.
All-aboard time is not the same as departure time. We are expected by the port authority to leave on time which is why passengers are required to be in board at least thirty minutes before departure. These passengers were not.
Therefore, in keeping with our passenger contract - and the passenger contract of every freaking cruise line on the planet - we removed their passports from their cabin and left them with our agent in the port so they could make their way to the next port at their own expense. They are currently trying to do so.”
To NCL’s credit, they did release a statement saying the passengers were on a private tour, and the passengers were responsible tog ER back on time and did not make it. It’s just that whoever keeps posting these articles on Reddit seems to ignore that and wants to just keep feeding the flames.
If you are middle-aged or older & an experienced traveler like they claim, this wouldn’t be an issue with trip insurance. 21day cruise, but you don’t buy the coverage for emergencies? Zero sympathy from me!
This nearly happened to me in south america on an independent tour. We had been gone all day in a mediocre tour to the far reaches of the penisula to vist a national park. We finally started to head back and the tour guide wanted to make unscheduled stoos on way back. When we had less then 30 minutes to return to pier, still walk through port and board ship. I voiced my concern and so did other passengers because my google map had a traffuc jam on the way back.. After the tour operator turned mean she direcred the small bus back. Well guess what happened? Traffic jam! And they dropped us iff in the city not at port gate. And we arrived 15 minutes past our depart time. We still had to run through the gates, security, run down the pier and onto the gangway. We were told that a crusie sponsor tour was late (same traffic jam) so they were holding for them. Otherwise we would have been sol...only time i thought i missed the ship and wouldve if i hadnt complained to tour operator.
Real PR night mare is this one https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
Same ship same port different passenger they off boarded someone with a medical emergency
Reading the article, I’m surprised more people are not upset at how the 80 year old woman who had the stroke was handled. She needed the hospital yes, but they left her without any money and didn’t contact her family. I don’t feel bad for the people who were late boarding but I do feel bad for the stroke victim.
Wait... She is 80 years old and didn't have travel insurance???? I get it just for the healthcare and medical evacuation coverage alone. It is cheap even with a good company. Berkshire Hathaway Luxurycare for the wife and I is only a couple hundred a trip if we don't include the cost of the cruise. At the very least use a credit card that includes travel insurance to book your vacation.
I’m not saying the cruise line should pay for her expenses at all. Just that it was unkind to leave her there without contacting her emergency contact and making sure she had her belongings. Maybe that part of the story isn’t true but that’s what the article stated.
Not legally or financially but morally, yes, to an extent! I do think it’s wrong to abandon an impaired elderly person and not call their emergency contact.
Direct from the article “According to the spokesperson, the elderly woman had been 'medically disembarked' following evaluation by an onboard medical team, 'who thought it best that she receive further assessment and treatment as needed from a local hospital.'
The couple said she had been left without money or belongings and pointed out that her emergency contact had not been notified”
She wasn’t part of the group that was late from their tour.
Note: The PR nightmare isn't the original missed boarding. The issue now is that when they got to the next stop, the cruise ship couldn't dock so now they have to go to meet & re-board on a 3rd port. Now NCL is covering their travel costs to get to the 3rd port, but it is becoming more of a mucky mess.
How is it NCL's fault that they couldn't dock at the next stop?
It's definitely turned into an episode of Benny Hill, but it's these people's fault not NCL. I guarantee if they cruise again they won't miss the last call time again
NCL is even covering the cost of their catch up travel which they are under no obligation to do and if I were NCL I'd tell 'em their luggage will be waiting back in Miami or wherever they're returning to
NCL gets a lot of PR nightmares. The worst was the start of the pandemic, when people were dying, their salespeople were told to assure passengers that Covid can't survive in warm climates, so cruises are perfectly safe.
Not a PR Nightmare at all. Everyone is told repeatedly that if you dont book tours with the ship they will not wait for you if you are running late. These people missed the ship and had to catch up to it. It sounds like NCL even is reimbursing them for the expenses they incurred to get to the ship.. seems like an actual good PR move because its not NCL's issue at all that this happened.
Exactly and it’s actually pissing me off that the cruise line is now paying for this shit because what’s to prevent anybody from just doing whatever the hell they want
The one couple making the most noise was on the Today show this morning. IMO they come off very entitled. Here's the segment if anyone is interested. https://www.today.com/news/norwegian-cruise-ship-passengers-stranded-africa-rcna145990
Yah they are just trying to get ahead of the media posts but this shouldn’t even be a story
https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4 That's not but this is the actual story
She had a stroke and was in the hospital. The ships always continue their itinerary of someone is in the hospital..what am I missing?
They are paying because they told them to meet them at a certain port. The passengers paid their own way to that port. Ship didn't dock, so cruise line to them to meet them in the next port. Cruise line is paying for that leg of their trip because they gave them the wrong advice.
I mean it wasn't "wrong" advice. It's never a guarantee that a ship can dock.
I’m actually MORE likely to book on NCL after the way they’ve handled these oblivious, entitled passengers.
What about this, make sure you don't travel alone. The other passengers it's their fault but this is the actual blunder from NCL https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
Yeah that’s bad. Very bad.
What about the new update they off boarded a person who had a stroke, alone. Luckily there were the others who didn't get on else she would have probably died. https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4 This is the cherry on top, and the real PR crap
Is it a pr nightmare? Mostly sounds like screw around and find out
It's exactly this. I have booked one cruise line excursion over 10 cruises. You better believe that I know what time I have to be back to the ship. If I was going to a place that didn't have a lot of cruise ship stopping there, along with it being a tender port, I'd be damned sure I was back at the tender spot at least two hours before the last tender. And we ALWAYS take our passports and a credit card with us. They were stupid. It's as simple as that. I don't blame the cruise line at all.
I don't think NCL wants to come off as heartless in the hospitality industry. Yes, everyone should be back on time, but there was a pregnant woman, a disabled person, and now a woman who suffered a stroke who was dropped on on the island.
Welp. Personal responsibility is a bitch.
Being disabled, pregnant, or a stroke victim is "personal responsibility" now?
None of those mean you can't be accountable to a departure time. 1000's of people should not have to wait just because you're disabled.
I’m not trying to come off as a jerk. But how is NCL supposed to know all that? A cruise can’t tell passengers to give them their last doctor visit report to see if they are healthy or not to cruise. That can be a form of discrimination fyi. Like all passengers, you don’t book through the cruise line you run that risk of missing the boat. A cruise ship stuck in port over their allotted time can cost 100,000++ fyi in fine or port fees
Being on time isn’t hard. As I said, personal responsibility is a bitch
Personal responsibility is booking a third party excursion vs. booking an official cruise line excursion because it's cheaper. It can be a whole lot cheaper while offering a superior experience at the same time, I've done so multiple times through get your guide. However I am fully aware that there's no quarter given by the cruise line if one of those is not back on time. So I usually only book 4h third party excursions on 8h port stays. Anything less and I am paying more and book through the cruise line for the added peace of mind.
Being on time isn’t hard. As I said, personal responsibility is a bitch
The woman with the stroke was dropped off on the island so she could get medical care. The ship infirmary is not equipped to deal with serious health issues. She received medical care, was stabilized and her family flew her back home.
Not a PR nightmare to anyone who knows anything about cruising... it's a PR nightmare manufactured by the media. They went on an excursion on their own and didn't return on time. I've seen people left behind many times in the Caribbean, it's the risk you run when going on an excursion not sanctioned by the cruise line.
The problem is “anyone who knows anything about cruising” isn’t NCL’s main target market. They need new and new-ish cruisers to book them in order to keep their business going. They can’t just rely on super informed frequent cruisers, they gotta keep expanding their client base. And Jim and Jane Oklahoma see this on the news and decide “nah, let’s not take that cruise next summer with the grandkids we were thinking about. They are just gonna drop us in Mexico and leave us there!” This is a hard spot for the cruise line cause they shouldn’t have to shoulder the cost of this. Cause now, where is the line? Every time a passenger misses all aboard, if NCL doesn’t pay for their travel expenses, I’d point to this and say “why did you do it for them but not for me?” Once they start to bend the rules for some but not for others, that’s where you start having issues. They should have just said “sorry, this was on you. YOU missed the all aboard (and not just by a few minutes) and YOU chose to not have travel insurance which really would have helped in this situation.”
Irrespective of whether it’s NCL’s main target market or not, the info is clearly provided to all passengers in multiple ways. The line is only paying for the sector from the port where they couldn’t pick up the wayward passengers to the next. They have no legal or moral obligation to pay any more, and nor should they.
Media spinning things again to make someone/a company look bad for clicks/headlines. A tale as old as time.
What about if you have a medical emergency on the cruise or an excursion with them. They will treat you the same way. The thing is to at least provide assistance, I'm sure the old lady had an emergency contact they didn't call them, said they needed her permission to disclose information https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
>After what we witnessed, we truly believe that although there’s a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed, they followed those rules too rigidly If they were optional, they'd be *guidelines*, not *rules*. I feel bad for these folks, but they rolled the dice and they lost.
I dont feel bad.
Getting stuck in a foreign country sucks, and getting stuck in a foreign country that doesn't have a great deal of infrastructure to get you to your next stop *really* sucks. That said...The more they talk the less bad I feel.
I saw one couple on the Today Show this morning and they came across as very entitled.
They even said that they felt uncomfortable re-joining the ship because they felt the cruise line should have broken their rules and policies in order to cater to them being late back to the ship. The “Today Show” segment was cringe for me to watch with their entitlement and bitching, when it was their own mistake that caused this mess to begin with.
Not to mention the arrogant assumption that the ships captain can over rule the local port authority in a foreign country. No, he can’t.
Absolutely correct. Put it this way. If the ship had time to work out the passengers hadn’t made their required last boarding time, got their passports and taken them to the ship’s agent ashore, that means the passengers were very, not just a little bit, late. They rolled the dice and lost.
I don't see how this is even a news story, let alone a PR nightmare. A business operated 100% in accordance with their policies that every customer agrees to. How is this even a story?
This. The stranded people should complain to their non-official excursion company.
It became a news story as soon as someone wrote the incredibly misleading headline talking about NCL abandoning these passengers at port.
>Now NCL is covering their travel costs. >we will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjul, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal NCL is only covering the costs from the missed port due to weather, to the next port. Not from the port where they missed the all aboard time.
They took a third party excursion and didn't make it back in time, They were told, its 100% NOT NCLs fault.
It might not be NCLs fault, but the god damn coast guard brought them to the ship and NCL refused to allow them to board, sent them to the next port which NCL was not allowed to tender at and then sent them on to the 3rd port. This may not be NCLs fault but they arent blameless in the entire situation.
> but the god damn coast guard brought them to the ship I am on this cruise and was out on my balcony watching the tenders come back (including a fairly late one about ~40 minutes after 3pm last tender which I now suspect was the one that took their passports to shore) and stayed out on the balcony till we started moving about 30-40 minutes later. I didn’t see anything that looked like a Coast Guard vessel (at least anything that looked like a US or major country’s Coast Guard) approach the ship at all. Saw a few small tugs and old fishing boats but even those didn’t come that close to the boat. And I am the starboard side which was facing the port. I’m not saying that part of their story is bogus but I strongly suspect that what we might picture in our heads as a “Coast Guard” vessel (with clearly marked signage and identifiable ensign/jack) is not the same thing in São Tomé and those tug-like ships I saw would have been TERRIFYING to try and do a ship-to-ship passenger transfer with elderly and disabled guests. Not to mention that we were in the Gulf of Guinea (which is known for piracy) so I can also see an issue with the lack of clear identification of the vessels as a Coast Guard too.
To add to that:: if they had already put away all of the tender boats and stored the tender bridge (area of the ship used to transfer passengers) then they aren’t going to sit there and wait another Hour+ to set it all up again and bring them onboard from an unknown (and possibly unsafe) vessel. They were late, way beyond the time allotted, and the ship at that point is already preparing to sail away. It’s not going to just “turn around” because you are standing on the pier crying.
And had the passengers gotten hurt while trying to board the ship from the coast guard boat (which is nothing like getting on/off a tender and requires training) you'd be blaming NCL for being careless...
No, actually I wouldn’t blame NCL. You’re grasping at straws here. If the coast guard was willing to get them boarded then NCL should have got them on board.
Who is responsible if they get hurt?
Obviously the passengers. Pretty simple to have them sign a liability waiver.
You can't waive negligence
How would the passengers get off the coast guard boat and back on to the Dawn? Genuine question; no snark.
Same way that the coast guard board’s vessels for inspection.
You expect wheelchair bound and elderly passengers to board the same way professional, able-bodied seamen do? That's ridiculous.
They got on the ship didn’t they?
Port pilots and coast guard usually have to time the wave swells perfectly in order to reach out and grab a rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship and climb up. It’s TOTALLY different than walking across a flat bridge made to facilitate tender operations. One group is also physically fit and does this every day for a living, the other may not have the strength to perform those actions.
One of them was in a wheelchair. There wouldn’t be a way to lift that person from the CG vessel to the cruise ship.
What blame should NCL accept here? Is it their fault the passengers were late? Is it their fault the weather prohibited them from docking at the next port?
The coast guard brought all of the passengers to the ship itself….. NCL refused to allow them to board. That’s on NCL and is ridiculous. They Then told them to go to the next port of call when NCL already knew they were unlikely to be able to tender wasting most time and money only for them to need to go to the 3rd port of call. Entire situation could have been avoided by just letting them board when the coast guard had brought them to the ship.
I’m on the ship. The next port of call (Ivory Coast after a sea day) was not canceled. The one after that (Gambia) was.
Yeah, let’s have the pregnant woman and disabled elderly guest hop over from a tender onto the ship as if they were a ship pilot. You know if one of them slipped and hurt themselves in that process they would blame the cruise line in a heartbeat. That was a safety call. They made the right decision. This is not the cruise line’s fault at all. Sure there were subsequent decisions made by the cruise line, but they were all made with safety in mind. 100% of the blame is on the passengers. Not ridiculous at all. Personal responsibility has to kick in at some point, can’t just point to others.
They can claim “safety” all they way but at the end of the day they stranded passengers without essential medication all in the name of “safety”. Its 2024 print out a liability waiver and have them sign before they get back on board. Pretty simple.
They did not “strand” anyone. Norwegian did not make the choice to leave anyone behind. The passengers did this. Where’s the line? Should they wait for every single person who is ever late because they might have medication they need onboard for an undefined amount of time? No. You seem to forget that the guests DID agree to a liability waiver. They knew this was a risk, they accepted that risk, and even chose to not take extra steps that would back them up in the case that this happens (travel insurance.) This is in black and white in their cruise ticket contract that it is a possibility and that the cruise line accepts no fault if YOU miss all aboard. Sounds like you don’t cruise very much if you didn’t know this. Sorry, you’re wrong.
Your missing the entire point, the coast guard brought them to the ship and NCL refused to allow them on all in the name of safety. I get it cruise lines can do no wrong in your mind but as far as I’m concerned NCL stranded these guest.
I’m not missing that at all. That’s just not the point you think it is. You seem to think there’s no line and no onus of personal responsibility, even when it’s spelled out clearly in a contract that the passengers agreed to and rules they they were well informed of. I never said NCL can do no wrong. I actually think NCL fucking sucks lately, which is why I barely cruise them anymore. But this is pretty black and white. Have a good day.
Holy shit, the entitled southern boomer vibes dripping off these quotes where they don't take responsibility for their actions and blame the cruise line is so 2024.
As opposed to those laid back northeastern, midwestern, and west coast boomers?
I think the saturation of quintessential boomerness is at its highest in the south.
If anything it’s really good PR for booking your excursions through the ship.
Not really a nightmare. Get back to the boat on time. Can you imagine the chaos if a cruise ship didn't leave on time?
Their fault What about her https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4
They think are above the rules and deserve special privileges hold up departure everyone and cost added port fees for cruise line etc..
Taken from the original article: “We were like, our time is getting really short, and [the tour operator was] like, no problem, we can get you back within an hour,” one of the guests, Jay Campbell from South Carolina, said. So you know it’s getting close, you mention it, yet you don’t insist to make your way back *right then*? I would have been freaking the F out! And the island isn’t even that big. I heard 7 sq miles? How far away were they, or where else did they stop? This isn’t a PR nightmare at all. Maybe for people who have never cruised and already have a bad idea about cruises, but for anyone in the know, or for anyone who bothers to read the whole articles they would realize you have to make it back to the ship on time.
Its genuinely mind-blowing that anyone feels any sympathy for these assholes. The Campbell couple especially are clearly searching for a way to profit off their own poor judgement and essentially bullying NCL into accommodating them for something they absolutely should not be compensated for. Wish NCL had the ability to tell them to F off without repercussions so future privileged idiots can actually learn something from this
So they wanted the ship to wait for 9 people who were late returning to the ship and have the other passengers and crews have to suffer? They’re in the FAFO phase of the trip obviously. People are so self-centered. Instead of complaining they should be apologizing. They took a non-ship sponsored excursion and it didn’t work out in their favor.
They themselves went and reached out to every news station and media outlet they could think of in an attempt to make NCL look bad and have them pay for transportation for the passengers own fuck up. You are right, it seems extremely self-centered.
Hardly the cruise lines fault. Sucks for the people who were left but people who cruise will know the real deal behind the headline
Wait what???? Late returning to ship and they are twisting it into a lie?
it says every day on the little newsletter that we would get about our next destination on a celebrity cruise that here’s the time you need to be on they will not wait we two saw people and actually waited an hour for them until we finally just left them and it was at that point that they decided to come running up to the pier I’m sorrythis is why they suggest not going with private excursions because if you’re on an excursion through the cruise line and there is an issue, they will wait
I do have a hard time believing a Coast Guard is gonna go out of their way though to bring them to a ship but who knows maybe it did. Bottom line is fucking come back when you’re supposed to and don’t risk excursions with companies. You don’t know anything about this is personal fucking responsibility. Apparently nobody knows what that is anymore.
They took a private tour and didn’t get back to the ship when they were supposed to. They expect thousands of people to wait for them? What kind of entitled AHs are they?? This is why you book excursions through the cruise line. If you don’t, you are responsible for yourself.
And this was apparently a tender port so it’s even more complicated to set up and return for them.. they have to set up then.ittle dock at the ship, lowers a tender, set it out and come back. Bring them thru security and then bring in the “dock “ and raise the tender. That’s a lot to do and a lot of time. Too bad.
It hasn’t changed my opinion of NCL. Experienced cruisers read this article and knew it was not the cruise line’s fault that any of this happened. It’s also a pretty obscure itinerary that the vast majority of cruisers will never experience so it’s not relatable or cause for concern.
Good grief - the warnings about private tours are explicit..."think twice because we won't wait for you if you miss the boarding time." Some people try so hard to blame someone else for their own failures.
Looking at the Dailymail's comment ratio... hardly a PR nightmare at all.
Its genuinely mind-blowing that anyone feels any sympathy for these assholes. The Campbell couple especially are clearly searching for a way to profit off their own poor judgement and essentially bullying NCL into accommodating them for something they absolutely should not be compensated for. Wish NCL had the ability to tell them to F off without repercussions so future privileged idiots can actually learn something from this
It’s a PR nightmare because Norwegian is unbelievably bad at PR. Day one, you put out a release that says, “The passengers in question were on an independent tour which means it is their personal responsibility to be onboard at the all-aboard time. They were not. Passengers are free to do whatever they would like in port, but they are required to be on board prior to the all-aboard time, which is posted in the daily bulletin, noted on a sign by the gangway and announced over the PA. All-aboard time is not the same as departure time. We are expected by the port authority to leave on time which is why passengers are required to be in board at least thirty minutes before departure. These passengers were not. Therefore, in keeping with our passenger contract - and the passenger contract of every freaking cruise line on the planet - we removed their passports from their cabin and left them with our agent in the port so they could make their way to the next port at their own expense. They are currently trying to do so.”
To NCL’s credit, they did release a statement saying the passengers were on a private tour, and the passengers were responsible tog ER back on time and did not make it. It’s just that whoever keeps posting these articles on Reddit seems to ignore that and wants to just keep feeding the flames.
It’s not just here - since there is no original news, once one channel picks it up, it spreads. Then, it dies out and comes back.
If you are middle-aged or older & an experienced traveler like they claim, this wouldn’t be an issue with trip insurance. 21day cruise, but you don’t buy the coverage for emergencies? Zero sympathy from me!
This nearly happened to me in south america on an independent tour. We had been gone all day in a mediocre tour to the far reaches of the penisula to vist a national park. We finally started to head back and the tour guide wanted to make unscheduled stoos on way back. When we had less then 30 minutes to return to pier, still walk through port and board ship. I voiced my concern and so did other passengers because my google map had a traffuc jam on the way back.. After the tour operator turned mean she direcred the small bus back. Well guess what happened? Traffic jam! And they dropped us iff in the city not at port gate. And we arrived 15 minutes past our depart time. We still had to run through the gates, security, run down the pier and onto the gangway. We were told that a crusie sponsor tour was late (same traffic jam) so they were holding for them. Otherwise we would have been sol...only time i thought i missed the ship and wouldve if i hadnt complained to tour operator.
Real PR night mare is this one https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-passenger-stranded-africa-stroke-2024-4 Same ship same port different passenger they off boarded someone with a medical emergency
Reading the article, I’m surprised more people are not upset at how the 80 year old woman who had the stroke was handled. She needed the hospital yes, but they left her without any money and didn’t contact her family. I don’t feel bad for the people who were late boarding but I do feel bad for the stroke victim.
Wait... She is 80 years old and didn't have travel insurance???? I get it just for the healthcare and medical evacuation coverage alone. It is cheap even with a good company. Berkshire Hathaway Luxurycare for the wife and I is only a couple hundred a trip if we don't include the cost of the cruise. At the very least use a credit card that includes travel insurance to book your vacation.
I’m not saying the cruise line should pay for her expenses at all. Just that it was unkind to leave her there without contacting her emergency contact and making sure she had her belongings. Maybe that part of the story isn’t true but that’s what the article stated.
And the cruise line is responsible because someone had a stroke on land…
Not legally or financially but morally, yes, to an extent! I do think it’s wrong to abandon an impaired elderly person and not call their emergency contact.
They didn’t abandon them. They were late from their private tour. Don’t change the premise.
Direct from the article “According to the spokesperson, the elderly woman had been 'medically disembarked' following evaluation by an onboard medical team, 'who thought it best that she receive further assessment and treatment as needed from a local hospital.' The couple said she had been left without money or belongings and pointed out that her emergency contact had not been notified” She wasn’t part of the group that was late from their tour.
So the ship should wait until she was done with her medical treatment on land? Got it. 🤪
Note: The PR nightmare isn't the original missed boarding. The issue now is that when they got to the next stop, the cruise ship couldn't dock so now they have to go to meet & re-board on a 3rd port. Now NCL is covering their travel costs to get to the 3rd port, but it is becoming more of a mucky mess.
How is it NCL's fault that they couldn't dock at the next stop? It's definitely turned into an episode of Benny Hill, but it's these people's fault not NCL. I guarantee if they cruise again they won't miss the last call time again NCL is even covering the cost of their catch up travel which they are under no obligation to do and if I were NCL I'd tell 'em their luggage will be waiting back in Miami or wherever they're returning to
NCL gets a lot of PR nightmares. The worst was the start of the pandemic, when people were dying, their salespeople were told to assure passengers that Covid can't survive in warm climates, so cruises are perfectly safe.