Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[blackwing]

On 3/30/2024 at 3:26 PM, graphicguy said:

It gets even schmaltzy mentioning the tour operator was a high school football coach along with the pictures of the happy, allegedly agrieved couple.  

 

This looks more an more like a shakedown of NCL by the tour operator who screwed up.  They don't want to be on the hook for the guests they could not get back to the ship on time.  I'm convinced of that, now.

6 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

I'll say one thing, NCL is getting a whole lot of bad press because of this story.  This story even showed up on our local news, and I live in the Midwest.  Leaving U.S. citizens behind on an African island isn't going to bode well for NCL, and it doesn't matter who's right or who's wrong.  The way the press is telling the story, NCL is the bad guy.

This is what annoys me, the mentioning of him being a volunteer youth football coach and the pictures from their Facebook showing them all glamorous and happy.  Trying to get people to feel sorry for them.  And it seems like it is kind of working, at least to the general public.  Most people who read this story in the Daily Mail probably aren't experienced cruisers and don't know about the dangers of taking non-ship sponsored excursions.  All they see is "that cruise line left them behind".  Especially when these people's version of the story is "the captain refused the call and said to leave them behind".

 

I do feel sorry for them.  But these people are supposedly experienced cruisers and should have known better.  They can't now play both sides and take absolutely zero responsibility.  That's the part I'm not seeing here... them acknowledging that they should have done things differently.  It's all about the Big Bad Cruise Line leaving them behind.

 

Edited April 1 by blackwing

[yakcruiser]

4 minutes ago, Mrsmickrory said:

 

Even allowing for contingency time we always get back a good hour before the ship sails, only time we ran into a problem was in Ushaia when some Argentinian soldiers boarded our minibus and us four British passengers got the third degree as they went through every stamp in our passports which took a while.

I've heard you British folks aren't too popular in Argentina.

[luv2kroooz]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

And....just like that...poof....story came and went.  

 

No more about the tour company who didn't get the passengers back on time, not even a blurb about where the passengers are now.

Not so fast. It's all over YouTube. Cruise vloggers covering it too.

[graphicguy]

3 minutes ago, blackwing said:

This is what annoys me, the mentioning of him being a volunteer youth football coach and the pictures from their Facebook showing them all glamorous and happy.  Trying to get people to feel sorry for them.  And it seems like it is kind of working, at least to the general public.  Most people who read this story in the Daily Mail probably aren't experienced cruisers and don't know about the dangers of taking non-ship sponsored excursions.  All they see is "that cruise line left them behind".  Especially when these people's version of the story is "the captain refused the call and said to leave them behind".

 

I do feel sorry for them.  But these people are supposedly experienced cruisers and should have known better.  They can't now play both sides and take absolutely zero responsibility.  That's the part I'm not seeing here... them acknowledging that they should have done things differently.  It's all about the Big Bad Cruise Line leaving them behind.

 

I'm with you.  

 

They are making a pretty obvious and concerted effort to block the fact that the tour operator was so late in getting the tour participants back to the tender that the couple missed the absolute LAST tender that would have got them to the Dawn.  The "fluff" about the tour operator being a high school football coach was (in my mind) a feeble attempt at lending an air of what a "responsible" person he was.

 

The fallout from them being late, especially if they had assured the group they had nothing to worry about as they would be on time, is several thousand dollars just in flights, hotels, additional transport, etc.  I don't recall, but does it mention if the tour operator had insurance? 

 

In either event, they're trying to swing the pendulum to the innocent party of the group...NCL...they have deep pockets.

 

The only thing NCL did was safely dock on time, and safely leave on time.  Not sure how they end up being the bad guy in all of this.

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

And....just like that...poof....story came and went.  

 

 

Huh? It’s all over news sites now. This is what you see with a quick google search.

 

 

[graphicguy]

Oh...this is funny!  Not ONE of those headlines state the real reason...."Cruise Tour Operator was so late returning with their guests they missed their ship".

 

Yeah....they're going after the deep pockets.

[cheersforbeers]

If the news doesn’t make it sensational it won’t sell.  They never let facts stand in their way!

Edited April 1 by cheersforbeers

[kitkat343]

The whole debate over the phone call is ridiculous.  Everyone on private excursions needs to return to the ship on time.  You can't just call the ship and ask them to wait.  It's fine to call the port agent and notify them of how far away you are, and they will relay that information to the captain and if you get lucky the ship will wait.  If the ship needs to leave, it will leave.  It's your responsibility to get back on time or else you can figure out how to get to the next port or get home.

 

When my son was 3, we took a cruise to Guatemala.  There are very few cruises that stop in Guatemala despite the fact that it was really beautiful because the port fees are very high.  So there aren't a lot of private tour companies (at least not 10 years ago when I went).  The private tour operator with the best reviews also had one review that stated the reviewer had been on a private  tour with the HAL captain's wife and children.  The private tour operator was running late, and kept telling the worried passengers "everything is fine I've never missed a ship". On the Ryndam, the captain announced to all the passengers that his wife and children were on a late tour, and they could wait a half hour for them but after that they'd need to leave.  Thankfully they returned within the half hour and the wife and children were able to board.  Normally I wouldn't have booked with them, but since there were very few options I booked a private tour for just my family because I knew on a private tour we could tell them "thanks we had a great tour.  Our son wants to go take a nap - could you take up back now" and they would return us to the ship immediately.  And thankfully we didn't have any trouble returning because we had the private tour and they took us back when we asked to go.  

 

On my first cruise, I was on a private group tour in  Belize.  We were going cave tubing, and then visiting the Belize zoo.  The cruise tour operator had put us together with a. family with two children.  We were on time for our tour, but the family was late.  We waited 40 minutes in the port for them, and then the tour operator sent us to the cave tubing with a different private tour group.  When we finished the cave tubing, the other family still wasn't there so we waited more in the parking lot.  By the time the family arrived and we headed off to the zoo, we were running late.  The tour operator kept assuring us that he was calling the Carnival tour guides to find out where they were because as long as we got back before the ship tours we would be fine.  We arrived late (but before all the ship tours returned) and were able to reboard without a problem.  But if the ship had left without us, that wouldn't have been Carnival's fault.  It would have primarily been the fault of our private tour operator, and also the other family that started late and we still had some responsibility since we could have insisted on joining another group going straight back to the ship from the cave tubing instead of going to the zoo when it was starting to get late (I didn't realize how long it would take to go to the zoo, or else I wouldn't have cut it that close).  But none of this was Carnival's fault and they didn't have to hold the ship for us (which I'm sure they didn't since there were still ship tours arriving after us).

 

I do feel sorry for them and I hope ships wait when they can, but understand that the ship needs to leave whenever they need to leave and this is the risk we run when we choose private tours.  Now that I am traveling with kids, we get private tours for just our family and haven't had any issues since we aren't depending on any other passengers in our group being on time and we can always ask to go back immediately if we start to run late.   

 

 

[flamingos]

16 hours ago, TRLD said:

The tender had taken their passports in and returned

Thank you, that was my question. The original article I read says they were left with no documents, no money, no medications, nothing from their cabins.

 

 

[Snowrose]

The ship was apparently using tenders. And one of the passengers was paraplegic. It could be that there was no safe way for them to board from the Coast Guard vessel, either because of needed equipment or winds/waves.

 

We have no problem taking private tours but we always make sure they're returning hours before the ship would be leaving.

Edited April 1 by Snowrose

[Laszlo]

58 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I'm with you.  

 

They are making a pretty obvious and concerted effort to block the fact that the tour operator was so late in getting the tour participants back to the tender that the couple missed the absolute LAST tender that would have got them to the Dawn.  The "fluff" about the tour operator being a high school football coach was (in my mind) a feeble attempt at lending an air of what a "responsible" person he was.

 

The fallout from them being late, especially if they had assured the group they had nothing to worry about as they would be on time, is several thousand dollars just in flights, hotels, additional transport, etc.  I don't recall, but does it mention if the tour operator had insurance? 

 

In either event, they're trying to swing the pendulum to the innocent party of the group...NCL...they have deep pockets.

 

The only thing NCL did was safely dock on time, and safely leave on time.  Not sure how they end up being the bad guy in all of this.

I wonder when the Go Fund Me Page for them gets started Lol

[marrashadow]

Very few tours booked on alternate sites offer guaranteed on-time drop off. Big part of risking it is knowing how much time you have. One browse through Viator and you will see bad reviews linked to this and companies refusing refunds after itinerary change. Also if they had communicated with the ship would it not make sense to tell them a passenger has meds they need to survive? If they went to rooms for passports they would have grab meds if notified.  The difficulty re-boarding is not black and white as someone said if the ship already pulled anchor that is a long process to re-drop and secure a boat that size even if traveling at a slow speed(see Baltimore bridge) Itinerary and other docking requirements are a factor for a ship to delay. Next just getting to new place to board, this isn't like it would be in Caribbean which is tourist friendly. Africa is made of a multitude of countries and each has own rules and there are different requirements to fly in versus sail in and are not always tourist friendly. Although you feel bad, this is a rather common occurrence across all cruise lines. They just played the pity card to the media. Which also if you were so concerned about getting home but you called your hometown media outlet? I mean I'd be figuring out what to do and how to fix the pickle I'm in. I'd be looking for a consulate getting a hold of travel agent/insurance provider not worrying about making a cruise line look bad. There is plenty of time for that after you are no longer stranded in a foreign country. I always take these with a grain of salt. Carnival is having people pulled off boats in handcuffs and that's not got a single article but its all over social media. BTW based on what I can tell its legitimate reasons drugs, violence, using stolen credit cards ect so not faulting them just saying this is news because they are pushing it to be. What we know is cruise lines hate bad press and often will reverse stance for an exception to avoid it and I'm betting they want a refund.

[CruisnHallelujahs]

If you read the comments on the daily mail article you will find the public doesn’t put the blame on NCL. 

[Crown Vic]

Just as a matter of interest, what is the Captain’s name and also the name of the General Manager? Just interested…

[julig22]

20 minutes ago, marrashadow said:

 Also if they had communicated with the ship would it not make sense to tell them a passenger has meds they need to survive? If they went to rooms for passports they would have grab meds if notified.  The difficulty re-boarding is not black and white as someone said if the ship already pulled anchor that is a long process to re-drop and secure a boat that size even if traveling at a slow speed(see Baltimore bridge) Itinerary and other docking requirements are a factor for a ship to delay.

For this specific cruise, the ship had everyone's passport, no need to go to rooms. It also wasn't "anchored" but yes, it wouldn't be an easy task getting passengers onboard after the tender operation ceased.

None of the articles actually give a time line - meaning that by the time the alleged phone call was made, the tenders could have already been lifted, after making a final trip to leave passports at the port.  

[fergusonvt]

On 3/30/2024 at 1:40 PM, itsnotjustme said:

I always say once I embark on a cruise ship, my responsibilities plummet. Tough questions like which restaurant for dinner, what entertainment, etc.  My biggest responsibility on a cruise it to meet the all-abord time.  It certainly sounds like members of the group were aware they could be late but did not sway the tour operators to make sure they were not.

 

I do not blame NCL.  Even if in the harbor still, they would have to make an additional tender round trip, and possibly re-lower and re-lift that tender.  That would make them late for the next port penalizing all the passengers or make them spend a lot of extra money in fuel for faster cruise speed.

 

Exactly, and I can also see why the ship wouldn’t let them board when being approached by a boat with Island national guard on it.  It’s up to them to protect the other passengers on the ship.  They wouldn’t know if the national guard had guns and were perhaps going to try to board with the passengers.

[luc122]

5 hours ago, graphicguy said:

And....just like that...poof....story came and went.  

 

No more about the tour company who didn't get the passengers back on time, not even a blurb about where the passengers are now.

 

https://nypost.com/2024/04/01/us-news/6-american-2-australian-cruise-ship-passengers-stranded-on-african-island-after-norwegian-cruise-refused-to-let-them-board/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app

 

Just read in the NY Post the passengers traveled to Gambia, which was the next stop on Sunday,  but the ship couldn’t dock there due to low tide. 
So now they’re making their way to Senegal for Tuesday, but they have to take a ferry, but the ferry hasn’t been running lately. told they’ll just get a little boat to take them, then it’s just a 4 hour car ride to the dock. 
 

this is becoming a real adventure! 

[blackwing]

3 minutes ago, luc122 said:

 

https://nypost.com/2024/04/01/us-news/6-american-2-australian-cruise-ship-passengers-stranded-on-african-island-after-norwegian-cruise-refused-to-let-them-board/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app

 

Just read in the NY Post the passengers traveled to Gambia, which was the next stop on Sunday,  but the ship couldn’t dock there due to low tide. 
So now they’re making their way to Senegal for Tuesday, but they have to take a ferry, but the ferry hasn’t been running lately. told they’ll just get a little boat to take them, then it’s just a 4 hour car ride to the dock. 
 

this is becoming a real adventure! 

They'll probably end up all becoming friends for life after this series of misadventures.  The South Carolina couple with the credit card, I hope the other strandees are Zelling them money along the way.  I don't understand why someone would go ashore without a credit card.

[welwyngirl]

2 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

I've heard you British folks aren't too popular in Argentina.

More popular than Americans in Hiroshima, I would think!

[graphicguy]

17 minutes ago, welwyngirl said:

More popular than Americans in Hiroshima, I would think!

Have been to Hiroshima.  Everyone was quite cordial to me during my 2 week stay!

[yakcruiser]

11 minutes ago, welwyngirl said:

More popular than Americans in Hiroshima, I would think!

I asked for it. Score one for the Brits. Actually these folks should be thankful that they are traveling up the west coast of Africa. There are countries on the east coast of Africa that would not take kindly to Americans on their land.

[blackwing]

I can just imagine the other 6 people telling the South Carolina couple that Norwegian is going to have to reimburse them for everything, so it's easier if SC pays for everything so there is only one claim for reimbursement.  Or that SC should pay for it all since they are going to be the ones filing the lawsuit and get damages.  Ugh.  If I were SC I would definitely insist on Zelle payments every time.  All of these people are rich enough to go on a 2 to 3 week repositioning cruise from South Africa to Barcelona, so they should be doing the right thing and paying their share.

 

I definitely think NCL gets sued regardless by these people.  Hope the judge throws out the claim and forces the strandees to pay NCL's legal costs.

[graphicguy]

6 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I can just imagine the other 6 people telling the South Carolina couple that Norwegian is going to have to reimburse them for everything, so it's easier if SC pays for everything so there is only one claim for reimbursement.  Or that SC should pay for it all since they are going to be the ones filing the lawsuit and get damages.  Ugh.  If I were SC I would definitely insist on Zelle payments every time.  All of these people are rich enough to go on a 2 to 3 week repositioning cruise from South Africa to Barcelona, so they should be doing the right thing and paying their share.

 

I definitely think NCL gets sued regardless by these people.  Hope the judge throws out the claim and forces the strandees to pay NCL's legal costs.

Legal suits filed where?  São Tomé?  Suing whom?  The tour operator for promising to get the guests back on time, and failing?

 

NCL?  For what?  What contract did they breach?

[CruisingAlong4Now]

You can see the aborted stop at Banjul, Gambia.

 

The Dawn is currently (6:00 pm, EDT)  enroute to Dakar Senegal.

 

NORWEGIAN DAWN Current Location (cruisemapper.com)

Edited April 1 by CruisingAlong4Now

[blackwing]

12 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Legal suits filed where?  São Tomé?  Suing whom?  The tour operator for promising to get the guests back on time, and failing?

 

NCL?  For what?  What contract did they breach?

I agree with you, any lawsuit they file would have zero merit.  But trust me, with the amount of publicity this is getting, some lawyer is going to offer to file a lawsuit for them for free.  The lawyer will say he will do it on contingency and get a cut of any money obtained.  Then hope that NCL will settle the case.