Two American passengers on a Norwegian Cruise ship were left scrambling after their ship left port without them. Now, they say they're uncertain as to whether or not they will continue the 20-day voyage after popular vacation Liner neglected its "basic duty of care."
Jill and Jay Campbell were among eight passengers who had to rush through seven different countries over 48 hours to catch up to the cruise ship at the dock in Senegal.
"After what we witnessed, we truly believe there is a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed - they followed those rules too rigidly," Campbell said on the TODAY show.
"I really feel that they forgot they are people working in the hospitality industry and that really the safety and wellbeing of their customers should be their first priority," she added, claiming the crew of the ship had a "basic duty of care that they had forgotten about."
Six Americans and 2 Australian passengers were left on an island after the ship refused to let them board. 6 American, and 2 Australian cruise ship passengers were stranded on an African island of São Tomé after the cruise refused to let them board.
Those who were left behind said they took a private tour of São Tomé that ran over the departure time of their cruise ship on Friday.
They say the ship was still anchored when they arrived and the island's Coast Guard even escorted them to the ship. But the captain apparently had other thoughts and refused to let them board.
"The captain could have made an easy decision to turn one of the tender boats back, pick us up, safely load us, and then go on the way," Campbell said.
"They had no port to call for the next day, they were simply going to be at sea."
The Campbells and others were left on the island without their belongings, money, medicine, or travel documents. Luckily, the Campbells had their Visa card with them and paid more than $5,000 in food, toiletries, and hotels for the group, they told WRAL.
The group also came across an elderly woman who said she was left behind by the ship after suffering a stroke on another tour. The Campbells arranged to help her board a flight to the United States.
They also met up with an elderly woman who said she was left behind by the ship after she suffered a stroke on another tour and was sent to a local hospital - and the Campbells helped arrange for her to fly back to the United States.
The group first tried to catch up to the ship in Gambia. However, after traveling 15 hours through six countries, found that the ship could not dock due to low tides.
In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said it is a "very unfortunate situation," but noted that guests are responsible for returning to the ship at the published all-aboard time.
"When the guests did not return to the vessel at the all-aboard time, their passports were delivered to the local port as per the regular protocol," the spokesman said. "Our team has been working closely with the local authorities to understand the requirements and necessary visas needed for the guests to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call."
"Given that these guests were on a private tour and did not return to the ship at the communicated all-aboard time, they are responsible for any necessary travel arrangements to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call, per our protocol."
"Despite the series of unfortunate events outside of our control, we will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjur, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal," the spokesperson added.
"We remain in communication with the guests and are providing information as it becomes available."
