Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[IAcruising]

5 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

20% = .2

1/.2 = 500 percent chance.  IOW, they're already dead.....five times over.

 

I am so proud of you right now, I'm tearing up.

 

Basically, the post reads that a harbor pilot will die 5 times every time they attempt to board the ship. That's a tough gig.

 

[southerngoose]

@luv2kroooz   They should hire you to write the press release!   I agree that they should have mentioned the risks of injury to reboard in that manner and the drama involved in setting up the tender after it was all put away.    Seriously...how do you board the "less abled" members safely in the middle of the water?   They would have to have everything set up with the gangway in order to even attempt that.

 

I'm empathetic to the folks who were left, frankly.  But I also understand why the captain might not want to pick them up in the water.   I also liked your part where it said that the ship was ready to welcome them back on board - yes, they made a mistake, but they didn't do anything "wrong", please welcome them back on board.

[TRLD]

based upon the information given by the article and posting from the person on board they were not only late, but apparently over an hour late. The tender had taken their passports in and returned. The tender dock was stowed and all tenders back in place. 

 

Not confirmed but it was possible that the ship was already moving. They were already an hour behind schedule (departures are usually determined by the time to reach the next port by the planned arrival time at a specific speed. Delays usually mean a late arrival or a faster cruise speed and higher fuel cost or both. If the ship was already underway it would need to stop, reopen the tender platform and either receive a shore based craft or lower and send a tender.  By the time all that was done you were probably looking at a 3 + hour delay with its corresponding impact on the ships schedule.

 

The other interesting thing is that they were apparently trying to contact the ship by every method but the one that should be the first one used, the port agent.

 

 

Edited April 1 by TRLD

[gizfish]

3 hours ago, CynCyn said:

Maybe they could have taken her thing to her……like her passport and meds. 

Why are you assuming that didn't happen?  The medication thing is moot since she is in a hospital with access to whatever meds she may need, and no hospital would allow her to be taking her own meds due to liability issues.  And, the passport thing has been gone over many times.  The ship would have given her passport to the port agent who then gets it to her.

[gowilk]

an interesting question would be

How did they did find this trip? Viator, get your guide, trip advisor?
if so, would any of those companies have liability or would provide at least partial compensation?
just wondering

In any case it’s never wise to book private excursions in little traveled ports when you’re tendered ( a truly cautionary tale)

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

The one article? There are tons. Just because you haven’t seen one of the 3 - 4 deaths a year doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. I think I first heard about the dangers while watching Below Deck, but a quick google works as well.

So now it is 3-4 a year out of how many pilot boardings?  That would be less than one in twenty.   I will concede I have no idea on facts but let's be real.

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, PATRLR said:

I don't suppose you have a source for this claim?  I'm pretty sure you don't and I doubt it's even remotely close to true. 

If it were true, then that would mean 1 out of every 20 ship boardings would result in a death. Even if you meant to say 1/20th or 1%, that would still be 1 out of every 2000 boardings resulted in death.

I'd be surprised if anyone on these boards has ever heard of a pilot dying while boarding a ship they were a passenger on.  Probably 100s of thousands of pilot boardings - anyone ever hear of a pilot dying while boarding?

Exactly.

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, www3traveler said:

You have never sailed out of Astoria, Oregon (across the Columbia River Bar-- one of the most dangerous places in the world). Bar (or Harbor) are among the most dangerous jobs in the world.  

False.  We have.  I even reported here about our trip there with three ships.  Star, Jewel, and a Princess ship.  Star docked, rest tendered.  I mentioned how nicest local people at Port greeting us.  You even replied to the comment.

[Oakman58]

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.

[pe4all]

11 hours ago, CynCyn said:

Maybe they could have taken her thing to her……like her passport and meds. 

My dd had severe abdominal pains one cruise.  The ship's infirmary did tests and felt it was her appendix, and she (and I) were off-loaded to Belize where she was admitted to a medical facility.  The port agent (which truthfully I never knew existed - even after over 40 cruises) took care of transporting us to the facility, checked us in, and then went back to the ship where  my dh was with my special needs dd.  The port agent packed a small suitcase, got our passports, etc. and brought it to the hospital and made sure all was well before she left us.  

   23 hours ago,  BirdTravels said: 

She was not “dumped”. Her medical condition, whatever it was, could not be safely treated on board. And for HER safety and wellbeing, she was medically evacuated to a shore side medical facility. At that point, her travel insurance needs to handle her transport. 

  And yes - our travel insurance then kicked in and picked up all expenses.  Luckily it turned out to be some kind of infection that mimicked appendicitis, and 3 days later we were permitted to leave Belize. (the hospital actually took our passports and would not return them until dd was medically cleared to travel.). Our insurance paid for all expenses, including the flight back to the U.S., our hotel stay as we waited for dh and dd to return from the cruise, and all food expenses.

Edited April 1 by pe4all

[Panhandle Couple]

6 hours ago, gowilk said:

an interesting question would be

How did they did find this trip? Viator, get your guide, trip advisor?
if so, would any of those companies have liability or would provide at least partial compensation?
just wondering

In any case it’s never wise to book private excursions in little traveled ports when you’re tendered ( a truly cautionary tale)

I checked trip advisor for this port, and it is the smallest page for them. 4 tours listed, 2 that had no POC or ratings.  The other two had POC but minimal info.

 

I suspect this was done by a dock hawker.

 

Also, per internet stats, main language is Portuguese, only 5% speak English.

[graphicguy]

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.

[GALSews]

18 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

However, my friend @yakcruiserapparently didn't know about the "....." rule.

I go with /s; I want to be quite obvious as my kids like to point out "I look up when they say gullible is written on the ceiling."

[Mrs f.]

23 minutes 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.

Everyone on Sao Tome knows who ran the tour. I know who ran the tour.Their website looks good. Wondering what delayed them.   I have a private tour later this year.  NOT WITH THAT COMPANY.  I spoke to my guide and he knows what time i want to be back.. We are starting at the furthest point and working our way back to port. 

 

The passengers were interviewed on our local station. They come from the area.  They and their guide should have kept an eye on the time.   In any case NCL doesn't look good in the press.

[yakcruiser]

1 hour 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.

Read an article on an Aussie site that said 80 year old lady is on a plane headed back to the states and other passengers are now in Gambia trying to make it to Senegal to catch up to boat.

[CruisnHallelujahs]

It is now the headline story on Daily Mail if anyone wants to read it.  

[pghflyer]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13259793/south-carolina-couple-stranded-africa-norweigan-cruise-ship-jim-jay-campbell.html

[njkate]

On 3/30/2024 at 1:24 PM, beastlet said:

 

Yes, I suppose. But you are not stranded, and any expenses will be on Norwegian's dime.

They do wait a while though. My parents were on a tour in St. Petersburg that got stuck in traffic and was hours late. When they got to the ship, the captain was standing there waiting and people were on the deck and clapped while they all got on the ship. 

St Petersburg Russia? That’s a horse of a different color, last place someone needs to be stranded 

[graphicguy]

Good news that the 80 year old is in the way back home.  The rest are on the way to Gambia?

 

Cautionary tale….if your cruise tour operator is cutting your all aboard time too close, insist on them leaving immediately for the tender or port.  The tour operator missed the last tender.  How can they justify that?  

[TravelBluebird]

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

Good news that the 80 year old is in the way back home.  The rest are on the way to Gambia?

 

Cautionary tale….if your cruise tour operator is cutting your all aboard time too close, insist on them leaving immediately for the tender or port.  The tour operator missed the last tender.  How can they justify that?  

 

Senegal now, I believe, since due to weather conditions the ship will not make port in Gambia.

[shout19661966]

The moral of this story for people who never cruise or never took a non ship sponsored excursion. If you take a non ship sponsored excursion go in the morning and be back to the boat by 1pm. Do not cut it down to the last minute because the ship will leave you. Some will say well its a all day excursion i have no choice then book it with the ship or expect to fly to the next port to catch up if you miss all aboard. Its not rocket science. The rules are clear and simple.

Edited April 1 by shout19661966

[Laszlo]

I've been on 13 cruises, on 7 of them someone along the line forget to check their watch or had a small non NCL excursion that ran late and they missed the ship. On our 14 day we had people who ran late on the first stop, the second and the third. After the first stop the Captain made and announcement after dinner. He basically said everyone has had their wake up call.... when I say the ship is leaving at 5pm we are leaving at 5pm... not 5:01. Yet at the second and third stop people still managed to not make it back in time Lol

[pghflyer]

Not that it makes it OK to be late.....but I do think the whole departure time (advertised when you purchase) vs the be onboard time (told usually the night before arrival or day of) makes for confusing planning.  Especially for new cruisers who think they can just stroll up right at departure time (uh, no) but also that different lines have different "all aboard" lead times so you never really know until you are there and have booked an excursion.

[Mrsmickrory]

Got to feel sorry for the 8 passengers involved. We've been on dozens of non ship tours over the years in small groups and the first thing we establish is what time we will return.

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. Fortunately the other six on the bus were American so they eventually let us go and we returned to the ship with about 20 minutes to spare.

Doesn't say in any reports why they were held up, perhaps the bus broke down. Awful predicament to find yourselves in, sure it will get resolved.

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, Mrsmickrory said:

Got to feel sorry for the 8 passengers involved. We've been on dozens of non ship tours over the years in small groups and the first thing we establish is what time we will return.

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. Fortunately the other six on the bus were American so they eventually let us go and we returned to the ship with about 20 minutes to spare.

Doesn't say in any reports why they were held up, perhaps the bus broke down. Awful predicament to find yourselves in, sure it will get resolved.

What a refreshing take. Empathy! It's nice to have some times. Thank you for saying this.