Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[www3traveler]

2 minutes ago, bortman23 said:

NBC just reported all passengers are back on the ship now, with NCL confirming they will reimburse their travel costs to get back on the ship.

 

 

Expenses ONY FROM GAMBI TO SENEGAL.

[Daniel A]

What I find interesting is that we are only hearing one side of the story from the Cambells.  Why are we not hearing anything from the other 6 people who missed the ship?  Something's not adding up here.  Is it possible that the Campbells put expenses on their credit card because they were the cause of the delay returning to the ship?  The only explanation (from the Campbells) for the late return was that there was an 'issue' during the excursion which caused the late return.  When I hear vague terminology from people trying to make themselves look blameless, it makes me want to know the specifics, not a generalized term which could mean anything.  Has any of the crack media reporting the story even attempted to contact the tour provider or the other passengers for their version of the story?  I would tend to think that would be interesting.

[www3traveler]

I find it interesting that the couple being interviewed several media outlets stated that they would NOT be re-joining the ship and yet they did.

 

Question: how were these people able to reach out to the media outlets in New York City to get their story aired??

Edited April 3 by www3traveler
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[Woofbite]

19 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

  In every situation that I can recall, the trip guide would go to the hospital and make continual check-ins until either they were released, a family member could show up (if that serious) or another representative from our company or from a trusted local associate company could be there to continually check on them 

In this case the ship's agent must have delivered the passport to the lady in the hospital and I'm pretty sure he would help contact her relatives  and assure that she was well taken care of.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 minutes ago, bortman23 said:

NBC just reported all passengers are back on the ship now, with NCL confirming they will reimburse their travel costs to get back on the ship.

 

 

The report says they will reimburse the Gambia to Senegal leg only - not the cost from the island to Gambia.    They said the rules are OK as long as they don't enforce them "too strictly:  Huh??   

[Oakman58]

The one thing I would like to know, what was the name of the tour operator that caused those passengers to miss the boat.

 

I do have sympathy for those passengers who missed the boat.  They made a terrible mistake not booking through the cruise line, but it was a mistake.  We all make mistakes, some more grievous than others.

 

And how many times on CC has someone asked about taking an excursion through the cruise line only to have many members tell them to book through an independent tour company because it's cheaper and better than the ship's tours.

[Daniel A]

2 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

And how many times on CC has someone asked about taking an excursion through the cruise line only to have many members tell them to book through an independent tour company because it's cheaper and better than the ship's tours.

Amen to that, brother!  💁‍♂️ 

[JamieLogical]

4 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

The one thing I would like to know, what was the name of the tour operator that caused those passengers to miss the boat.

 

I do have sympathy for those passengers who missed the boat.  They made a terrible mistake not booking through the cruise line, but it was a mistake.  We all make mistakes, some more grievous than others.

 

And how many times on CC has someone asked about taking an excursion through the cruise line only to have many members tell them to book through an independent tour company because it's cheaper and better than the ship's tours.

 

I would have more sympathy for them if they hadn't taken to the media and tried to make it sound like they were wronged by NCL.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

This could be the tour - but I suspect that the couple may have caused their own delay.  It's odd that they don't mention the tour operator since they imply they had some responsibility for their tardiness.    Would like to hear the "rest of the story" from the other six people.  

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g480235-d26341948-Tour_for_Cruiser_Ship_in_Sao_Tome-Sao_Tome_Island.html

Edited April 3 by The-Inside-Cabin

[Qchell]

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered, but there are a lot of posts on this thread.  🙂  Has anyone seen any explanation as to why they were late to the ship other than "issues with the tour"? Thx!

[Woofbite]

16 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

 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.

 

I say just call it a gangplank and be done with it!

[Wayfairers]

8 hours ago, Qchell said:

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered, but there are a lot of posts on this thread.  🙂  Has anyone seen any explanation as to why they were late to the ship other than "issues with the tour"? Thx!

I have wondered the same thing.  I would really like to hear the real story as I book mostly independent tours and want to understand what happened and learn from their experience.  I doubt we will ever hear, but maybe one of the passengers left behind is on here and will respond.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

7 minutes ago, Qchell said:

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered, but there are a lot of posts on this thread.  🙂  Has anyone seen any explanation as to why they were late to the ship other than "issues with the tour"? Thx!

No - If there was a good explanation regarding the reason for the tour delay we would have heard it.   I suspect that some one on the tour went on a hike to see something and they were late getting back tot the van.  

 

Basic Questions unanswered

 

What was the tour itinerary?

 

What time did the tour expect to return?

 

When did the tour leave the dock?

 

Did any passengers leave the tour to explore and were late returning to the van?

 

Why was the tour late?   Traffic?  Landslide?  Weather?   

 

The responsible party was either the tour organizer or the tour operator - Since the tour organizer is not criticizing the operator - I think the answer is obvious as to who is to blame.

Edited April 3 by The-Inside-Cabin

[Asawi]

Many here talk about the bad rep NCL get from all exposure. I'm not sure it will have too much impact. It will probably blow over pretty soon.

What I'm thinking is that a good thing from all this exposure maybe make people understand that they really CANNOT be late. The ship MAY just leave without them. I think way too many don't take that serious enough. 

As for the part reimbursement, I find it reasonable that NCL cover the cost from Gambia to the next port since they skipped the port and the group had already had a hard time. Yes, because of their own actions, but there is such things as goodwill and empathy to consider.

[Wayfairers]

7 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

No - If there was a good explanation regarding the reason for the tour delay we would have heard it.   I suspect that some one on the tour went on a hike to see something and they were late getting back tot the van.  

 

Basic Questions unanswered

 

What was the tour itinerary?

 

What time did the tour expect to return?

 

When did the tour leave the dock?

 

Did any passengers leave the tour to explore and were late returning to the van?

 

Why was the tour late?   Traffic?  Landslide?  Weather?   

 

The responsible party was either the tour organizer or the tour operator - Since the tour organizer is not criticizing the operator - I think the answer is obvious as to who is to blame.

I agree.  I do wish the tour organizer would tell their story to educated the rest of us on what not to do.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 minute ago, Wayfairers said:

I agree.  I do wish the tour organizer would tell their story to educated the rest of us on what not to do.

I searched the local news sites https://www.w3newspapers.com/sao-tome-and-principe/

 

Nothing reported so far that I could find

[mjkacmom]

15 hours ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

Reading what you posted might lead some to believe that these guests are being fully reimbursed, but that is not the case. 

 

They missed the ship in Sao Tome. They then traveled to Gambia, but that port stop was cancelled due to the tides. Then they had to travel to Senegal where they finally boarded the ship.

 

NCL is only reimbursing them for the travel from Gambia to Senegal (due to the stop in Gambia being cancelled). They are not being reimbursed for anything else that they spent.

I’m sure their travel insurance will cover those costs.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Interesting quote from Jay Campbell

"“We were on a tour of the island but we had an issue on the tour and they didn’t get us back in time,” said Jay.

 

Why didn't he describe the "issue"  hmmmmm

 

He could have said

 

We had a flat tire

 

We got in an accident

 

The road washed out

 

We ran out of gas

 

But - only says "an issue"  

 

Cruise line responds after Garden City couple among those left behind on African island (wmbfnews.com)

[blackwing]

11 hours ago, omahabob said:

Never did it.

Never did it.

Can't be. I have no emergency contacts, so I can't possibly be required to provide them. It's possible I simply entered "none". I suppose it's also possible I made up a fictitious one. That sounds like something I might do.

I think the point is that somebody upthread said that Norwegian doesn't ask for emergency contacts, so that they wouldn't have known who to contact for the lady who had a stroke.

 

Norwegian does ask for an emergency contact.  Whether someone provides one or not is entirely their choice.

 

34 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

What I find interesting is that we are only hearing one side of the story from the Cambells.  Why are we not hearing anything from the other 6 people who missed the ship?  Something's not adding up here.  Is it possible that the Campbells put expenses on their credit card because they were the cause of the delay returning to the ship?  The only explanation (from the Campbells) for the late return was that there was an 'issue' during the excursion which caused the late return.  When I hear vague terminology from people trying to make themselves look blameless, it makes me want to know the specifics, not a generalized term which could mean anything.  Has any of the crack media reporting the story even attempted to contact the tour provider or the other passengers for their version of the story?  I would tend to think that would be interesting.

I've been wondering the same thing.  Why isn't the pregnant lady talking about how awful it was to be stranded while pregnant?  What about the lady in a wheelchair?  What about the lady who was shown in a photo trying to force herself onto some ship?

 

I think the explanation for why all expenses were put on the lead couple's card is that they were the only ones with a Visa.  Somewhere it was said that the other people's cards weren't accepted.  To that, I say, what?!?  You're going on a three week cruise that stops in various African countries that don't see many Western visitors and you don't take the time to call your credit card company to make sure your card will be accepted in those countries?  At the very least, you might call them to alert their fraud department that you are going there so your card doesn't get declined.

 

So I agree with you that there's definitely more to the story and that the lead couple the Campbells probably aren't going to share the full details because they know that they are at least partly to blame.

 

33 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

I find it interesting that the couple being interviewed several media outlets stated that they would NOT be re-joining the ship and yet they did.

 

Question: how were these people able to reach out to the media outlets in New York City to get their story aired??

I agree.  I think her whole "I don't feel safe" whining was a ploy to get the entire costs compensated.  It didn't work, so they got on the boat.  Their photo has been prominently displayed on worldwide news so people will recognize them, I wonder what kind of reception they are getting.  @Ashlynkat have you run into these people?

 

29 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

I do have sympathy for those passengers who missed the boat.  They made a terrible mistake not booking through the cruise line, but it was a mistake.  We all make mistakes, some more grievous than others.

I have some degree of sympathy, it sucks getting left behind and missing the ship.  But I lost sympathy for the lead couple whose story seems disingenuous.  I'm way curious to hear from the other 6 as to exactly why they were late.  

10 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Many here talk about the bad rep NCL get from all exposure. I'm not sure it will have too much impact. It will probably blow over pretty soon.

What I'm thinking is that a good thing from all this exposure maybe make people understand that they really CANNOT be late. The ship MAY just leave without them. I think way too many don't take that serious enough. 

As for the part reimbursement, I find it reasonable that NCL cover the cost from Gambia to the next port since they skipped the port and the group had already had a hard time. Yes, because of their own actions, but there is such things as goodwill and empathy to consider.

I think it was a good decision for NCL to give reimbursement of the costs to get from Gambia to Senegal.  Those countries are close to each other, it can't cost that much.  

 

The general public can be ignorant, and all they see is "NCL paid the costs" and think "oh that's good" and move on.  Most of the general public isn't going to figure out that NCL only paid a small fraction of the costs.  But in the court of public opinion, NCL paid, and NCL did the right thing.  A win for NCL.

[Capitan Obvious]

While "why were they late" would be interesting to know, I'm still stuck on . . .

 

--On an African island

--Missed the cruise ship

--Have to figure out a way to the next port

--Obvious move is to call a TV station in Florence, SC

 

How exactly is that going to help? I mean, who does that?

[zak477]

Even today, the story is repeated on many news outlets, mostly cut/paste jobs. The word "issue" was repeated over and over as the excuse for not showing up on time. 

We have been on many cruise and when on the ship sponsored land tours via buses we always get one person at a tour stop that does not return to the bus on time.  We wait, the guide starts looking for them, he/she calls the tour office, they might call the ship. Then the inconsiderate person shows up. Many times they have been booed by us waiting. Now it is one thing to inconvenience 30 people but to do this to over 2300 is totally irresponsible. These Campbells sound like entitled people that probably went shopping for that special item and the heck with others. 

 

[RocketMan275]

3 minutes ago, zak477 said:

Even today, the story is repeated on many news outlets, mostly cut/paste jobs. The word "issue" was repeated over and over as the excuse for not showing up on time. 

We have been on many cruise and when on the ship sponsored land tours via buses we always get one person at a tour stop that does not return to the bus on time.  We wait, the guide starts looking for them, he/she calls the tour office, they might call the ship. Then the inconsiderate person shows up. Many times they have been booed by us waiting. Now it is one thing to inconvenience 30 people but to do this to over 2300 is totally irresponsible. These Campbells sound like entitled people that probably went shopping for that special item and the heck with others. 

 

There have been reports of the same couple being late at every stop the tour makes.  

[Daniel A]

33 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Many here talk about the bad rep NCL get from all exposure. I'm not sure it will have too much impact. It will probably blow over pretty soon.

What I'm thinking is that a good thing from all this exposure maybe make people understand that they really CANNOT be late. The ship MAY just leave without them. I think way too many don't take that serious enough. 

As for the part reimbursement, I find it reasonable that NCL cover the cost from Gambia to the next port since they skipped the port and the group had already had a hard time. Yes, because of their own actions, but there is such things as goodwill and empathy to consider.

Something that is a positive for cruise lines in general, all of this publicity around a private tour missing the boat will probably increase bookings for cruise line excursions.   "This is what could happen to you."

[noshoobie]

8 minutes ago, zak477 said:

Even today, the story is repeated on many news outlets, mostly cut/paste jobs. The word "issue" was repeated over and over as the excuse for not showing up on time. 

We have been on many cruise and when on the ship sponsored land tours via buses we always get one person at a tour stop that does not return to the bus on time.  We wait, the guide starts looking for them, he/she calls the tour office, they might call the ship. Then the inconsiderate person shows up. Many times they have been booed by us waiting. Now it is one thing to inconvenience 30 people but to do this to over 2300 is totally irresponsible. These Campbells sound like entitled people that probably went shopping for that special item and the heck with others. 

 

Booing?? You must be a Philadelphia Sports fan. LOL. (you can see where I'm from). Has anyone ever thought that the "issue" might have been embarrassing - like explosive d***hea? (Sorry - hope no one is eating breakfast while reading this. lol

[graphicguy]

@Ashlynkat...thank you for giving us a first hand account.  You're just trying to enjoy your cruise along with your other 2,000+ guests.  And, then have to endure this drama with other passengers literally missing the ship.

 

It sounds like the couple got their face plastered all over the news actually did rebound the ship.  Given there were probably no lawyers jumping out of their chairs to litigate this made their threats to not reboard, and forfeit their entire cruise fare, less than attractive.

 

One last thing.....I've had occasion to need the on board Medical Centers for minor issues.....dispensing meds for stomach ailments, x-rays to check for broken bones, etc.

 

Limited experience, but I'd say I would not be one who would want them treating anything major like a stroke. That is better left to a land based hospital.  Their medical personnel, while nice folks, didn't give me the impression they were either trained or experienced enough to treat anything serious.