Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[goldmom]

Well, it's not just ships that have to leave passengers.  We were on a ship's tour in Athens.  The last stop was for some shopping in town.  Everyone was given a specific time to meet the bus to go back to the ship.  Well, one couple was missing.  We waited almost an hour and a half and still no couple.  The tour guide was in constant contact with I'm assuming the tour staff on the ship.

 

She finally said we had waited as long as we could and had to leave as it was getting close to sail away time and traffic was always a concern.  She did reassure us that the ship would wait for us.  As we made the trip back to the ship she received a phone call that the missing passengers were onboard.  They had decided they didn't want to shop and got a taxi back to the ship.  I can tell you, we were a pretty annoyed group of people.  Not at the tour guide of course, but at the inconsiderate passengers who left without letting anyone know.

 

We did get to the ship on time.  But, if the passengers hadn't gone back to the ship at some point they would have been left in Athens as the tour group had to leave.

[MommaBear55]

6 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

People do this all the time. Quite literally, all the time. On tons of different itineraries all over the world. People have even died doing non-cruise sponsored excursions.
 

Maybe instead of abandoning his passengers, the captain and the cruise line could’ve fined the passengers, or removed them at the next board of call, or done something other than leaving them behind on an island to then be forced to transit 7 more mid-African countries to catch up with a ship.
 

There absolutely has to be circumstances where the cruise line has to put the safety of those passengers first, regardless. Oh, wait, they had the shareholders to think of. 

Sure, I've done independent excursions on some Caribbean islands, in Mexico, in New Zealand and in Europe. I wouldn't do it in an area that has limited transportation options or where I didn't speak the language. 

 

The Captain did not abandon his passengers, he took care of the thousands that returned on time. 

[zqvol]

Everyone laughs about pier runners. This is no different. 

[kibutzer]

Feel bad, but some were on a private tour, they took responsibility when they chose not to take ship tours. One that was medically evacuated sadly was handled as most are. Our friends were left on a Carribean island when she broke her arm and had to make their own arrangements to get her back to states.  

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, Tyler414 said:

I'll do my best to help some folks with English:

gangway /găng′wā″/

 

noun

1.  
2. An opening in the bulwark of a ship through which passengers may board.

 

 

Nothing about a ramp up into the ship a person can walk on. 🤔

Hmmm....  Cambridge dictionary says something else. And they are not alone.

[Tyler414]

5 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Hmmm....  Cambridge dictionary says something else. And they are not alone.

Once you go on your first cruise, and happen to be at a tender port, after the ship clears with local authorities you will hear an announcement that passengers wanting to depart the ship can now head to the gangway for departure.  The same announcement will happen when docked.  On Celebrity E-class ships, the digital floor selectors in the elevator (lift) have a dedicated button for the gangway.

Edited April 2 by Tyler414

[Panhandle Couple]

Well, I don't know about anyone else....

But I have deleted over 300 e-mails telling me about new posts made on this thread.  

I will probably get another 300 more before it is all over.

[Tyler414]

1 minute ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Well, I don't know about anyone else....

But I have deleted over 300 e-mails telling me about new posts made on this thread.  

I will probably get another 300 more before it is all over.

I am trying to figure how the hell to get off this thread.  

[cruiseny4life]

5 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Well, I don't know about anyone else....

But I have deleted over 300 e-mails telling me about new posts made on this thread.  

I will probably get another 300 more before it is all over.

 

3 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

I am trying to figure how the hell to get off this thread.  

Unclick "following" at the top of the thread.

 

[Two Wheels Only]

3 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

I am trying to figure how the hell to get off this thread.  

 

Use the forum gangway. 😉

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Use the forum gangway. 😉

Oooooooo! You're more witty than I!

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, Tyler414 said:

I'll do my best to help some folks with English:

gangway /găng′wā″/

 

noun

1.  
2. An opening in the bulwark of a ship through which passengers may board.

 

 

Nothing about a ramp up into the ship a person can walk on. 🤔

Just to refresh your memory, this is what you posted earlier:

 

“They returned when the gangway was still down and the captain refused to let them board, but anyhoo.”

 

Why would you mention a gangway being “down” if you were only referencing an “opening in the bulwark of a ship” and “nothing about a ramp up into the ship a person can walk on”? 🤔

 

[soniablue]

9 hours ago, MommaBear55 said:

Two of the passengers were just on Today Show and they basically said NCL abandoned them, they took no responsibility for missing the ship. They've flown through 7 countries over the last 48 hours to get to Gambia where the ship is, but now they aren't sure they'll board the ship today due to lack of trust. Sadly, the interviewers were playing into this and making NCL look like they were at fault.

I saw that report this morning, and I literally yelled at the screen, "They missed the all aboard time!  It must have been a private tour or they were on their own!  It's their own !@#$ fault!"  And sure enough, when I Google it, there's the story.  Grr.

 

Does anyone else get really annoyed in general at pier runners who whine about getting left behind to the media (social or mainstream), not just these?  Take responsibility for your own actions, people!

 

...and also, get off my lawn... 😉

Edited April 2 by soniablue

[IAcruising]

24 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Well, I don't know about anyone else....

But I have deleted over 300 e-mails telling me about new posts made on this thread.  

I will probably get another 300 more before it is all over.

 

There is a reason why I get none, and it doesn't even include rocket science. 😄

 

Interesting thread, but no one will give it a second thought in a few days.

 

[Wehwalt]

1 hour ago, Ray4Fun said:

No matter what is stated. Bad PR is not good for a company. If the story of Julie Lenkoff is true, then they have another incident to be discussed. Leaving a passenger in this situation? Lucky her? I cannot wait to hear the tough love discussion. NCL , do better. 

The HAL GWV last year left a passenger in hospital in Angola, who later died. At least this passenger was well enough to fly home. It is regrettably the nature of cruising that there are medical issues and sometimes the ship does not feel they can treat aboard.

[schmoopie17]

23 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Just to refresh your memory, this is what you posted earlier:

 

“They returned when the gangway was still down and the captain refused to let them board, but anyhoo.”

 

Why would you mention a gangway being “down” if you were only referencing an “opening in the bulwark of a ship” and “nothing about a ramp up into the ship a person can walk on”? 🤔

 

@Tyler414asked how to get out of this thread. After your astute observation about the flaw in his post where the gangway was "down"...I assume he has already departed.

[Tyler414]

Looks like there should be an update to this.   So, someone on an NCL ship had a stroke and was dumped at an African port without notifying any of her emergency contacts.  A couple days later the folks who were late to return and were refused boarding by the captain, and were left behind on the same island.  All the people stranded in Africa by NCL have all meet up and the six are helping the lady abandoned by NCL who had the stroke.

 

They had a major dumping of passengers in Porto Plata a year or so ago when the captain ran aground.  Kicked everyone off the ship to fend for themselves.  Seems like a pattern.

 

There are so many more reasons I will never step foot on another NCL ship. 

[Capitan Obvious]

10 minutes ago, soniablue said:

Does anyone else get really annoyed in general at pier runners who whine about getting left behind to the media (social or mainstream), not just these?

 

Exactly. 

 

Everyone here should put themselves in the position of these guests. Imagine that you are on a tour in an African port...you are running late and you miss the ship. A total of nine people and only one useable credit card to pay for anything.

 

Now...think about the list of things you are going to have to do to get back onboard the ship at a subsequent port.

 

Can you picture the list?

 

Is calling the ABC TV station in Florence, South Carolina on your list of to-dos? 

 

If you need to get to the ship, are you taking the time to send photographs to the TV reporter? How is "Oh, by the way, I'm a volunteer football coach" relevant to the story/situation? Same question on everyone's health issues/situation.

 

You know they had to call the TV station as the TV reporter would have no other way of knowing that someone in an African port missed their ship, and even if the reporter did know, he/she would have no way to call to speak with those people.

[Tyler414]

11 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

@Tyler414asked how to get out of this thread. After your astute observation about the flaw in his post where the gangway was "down"...I assume he has already departed.

Still here, guess I didn't realize I was being bullied for saying down.

[Capitan Obvious]

1 minute ago, Tyler414 said:

There are so many more reasons I will never step foot on another NCL ship. 

 

YMMV, but if I ever decide that "I will never step foot on another NCL ship", I can guarantee that you won't find me hanging on an NCL forum. Its like following someone around after you've dumped them. Ya gotta move on.

[Capitan Obvious]

3 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

Still here, guess I didn't realize I was being bullied for saying down.

 

Nor did you realize that nobody said you were being bullied.

[deckguy]

The South Carolina couple were interviewed on The Today Show this morning.  During the interview Mrs. Campbell said that they hadn't decided if they would rejoin the ship at the next available port because they didn't feel "safe" on how things were handled.  (keep in mind, all their possessions are onboard).  Rather than accept responsibility they're acting like pouty, petulant children with hands on hips as if to say "I'm picking up my ball and going home!"

 

Fortunately, as the story came up for discussion amongst the hosts later, Al Roker stepped up to be the adult in the room and basically said, you know the rules and yes, you'll get left behind.  

 

If they made exceptions for these eight to board, what then is the magic number?  Does the ship wait for the first 5 that are late...the first 15.....the first 25?

[dchip]

15 hours ago, julig22 said:

My opinion. Speaking as someone who had to spend the night in the airport not that long ago because the last plane of the day left without me - and it was the airline who delayed my flight, then messed up my ticket so even tho I made it to the gate in time, I couldn't board.  Neither could a couple of other families with small children who arrived after me.  And I'm 70 years old, sleeping in the airport isn't exactly a piece of cake.

Exactly!!!!!!! Same happened to us. The plane was at the gate for another 15 minutes but the gate was closed. We were delayed 90 minutes out of SFO. We had 120 minutes to make our connecting flight. Instead we spent 13 hours overnight in LAX. 

[blackwing]

23 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

Looks like there should be an update to this.   So, someone on an NCL ship had a stroke and was dumped at an African port without notifying any of her emergency contacts.  A couple days later the folks who were late to return and were refused boarding by the captain, and were left behind on the same island.  All the people stranded in Africa by NCL have all meet up and the six are helping the lady abandoned by NCL who had the stroke.

 

They had a major dumping of passengers in Porto Plata a year or so ago when the captain ran aground.  Kicked everyone off the ship to fend for themselves.  Seems like a pattern.

 

There are so many more reasons I will never step foot on another NCL ship. 

I don't think the "stranded" people had to meet up after they got stranded... it sounded to me like they were all on the same private tour.  The woman with the medical condition was in the hospital because her condition couldn't be treated on board.  Since the ship was only in the port for one day, it seems almost certain that she would have had to depart the ship for good, whether she wanted to or not.

 

I don't know why NCL didn't contact her emergency contact to let them know that she had left the ship.  But as I said earlier, it appears to me that she was a solo traveler.  So if the family is more than willing to allow this octogenarian woman with health issues to travel solo, they don't now get the right to complain that NCL treated her poorly.  Sounds to me that they themselves treated her poorly.  Someone should have gone on the cruise with her.

14 minutes ago, deckguy said:

The South Carolina couple were interviewed on The Today Show this morning.  During the interview Mrs. Campbell said that they hadn't decided if they would rejoin the ship at the next available port because they didn't feel "safe" on how things were handled.  (keep in mind, all their possessions are onboard).  Rather than accept responsibility they're acting like pouty, petulant children with hands on hips as if to say "I'm picking up my ball and going home!"

 

Fortunately, as the story came up for discussion amongst the hosts later, Al Roker stepped up to be the adult in the room and basically said, you know the rules and yes, you'll get left behind.  

 

If they made exceptions for these eight to board, what then is the magic number?  Does the ship wait for the first 5 that are late...the first 15.....the first 25?

Oh please, that lady can just stuff it.  She doesn't feel "safe"?  Ok then.  Please voluntarily depart the ship for good.  Can anyone who is currently on board attest as to whether this couple boarded the ship?  I have a feeling that once her "we are the victim, we don't feel safe, NCL needs to throw money at us and reimburse for everything and treat us like royalty" ploy didn't work that she decided the ship was perfectly safe and got on.

[TRLD]

4 hours ago, pete_coach said:

I find it interesting so many people are claiming the ship is over 100% capacity. Where are all these extra people sleeping?

 

I think there is a lot of conjecture here LOL

 

Bottom line on the topic, the folks pooched and missed the bus (I mean boat LOL). It happens far too frequently. No one to blame but the passengers themselves..

Ships measure capacity by 2 beds per cabin. 100% is when that number is reached. That is not the max capacity due to the number of 3/4 cabins. Max capacity may be 20% higher than normal capacity. Cruise lines holding companies ccl, rcl, nclh were reporting averaging about 109% capacity in 2019 prior to covid in their sec filings.