Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[karatemom2]

11 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Dumb question about Passports. I saw it mentioned their passports were giving to someone at the port. When we cruise we cruise with our passports. Sometimes we put them in the cabin safe and sometimes they are kept in our luggage in a pocket. How does the NCL crew where to know to find them? 

 
It was reported earlier on this thread from someone actually on this cruise that in this case the ship had collected all passports and were holding them. We have had this experience once on our British Isles cruise where our passports were collected before our stop in Ireland and returned afterwards. Not sure the requirements around this practice for some ports of call, but in any event the ship had all of their passports in hand so it was easy enough for them to deliver them to the port authority when the passengers failed to show. 

Edited April 2 by karatemom2

[Ashlynkat]

Thought folks would like this update from the Dawn. All aboard here in Dakar, Senegal was 5:30pm. At 5:55pm we hear the overheard announcements for missing passengers to contact Guest Service. So of course everyone goes out on their balconies to watch. And sure enough at 6:06pm a car comes racing up the dock. When the folks got out, people started cheering with a few “GET ON THE DAMN BOAT” calls from the balcony. 

Edited April 2 by Ashlynkat
Typo

[CruiseMH]

23 hours ago, pghflyer said:

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.

 

As far as i know that stop at Sao Tome was not the first stop of the cruise. So they had a few port stops before and hence should now how NCL handles this.

 

[pghflyer]

I think it is a misconception that everyone taking independent tours is doing so solely to "save a few nickels", in fact when you combine the FAS credit and Latitudes discounts, NCL is pretty competitive price-wise. We take a lot of independent tours, intentionally, because we don't love the standard highlights bus tours with 100 of our best friends.  In fact, we often pay MORE to have a private guide, more flexibility, more diverse itinerary, and a small group in a small car.  But yeah, you then have to take the responsibility of screening your tour provider and their reviews and reiterating what time you want to be back (and that should be prior to or at "all-aboard" time, not the "departure" time).

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, Ashlynkat said:

Thought folks would like this update from the Dawn. All aboard here in Dakar, Senegal was 5:30pm. At 5:55pm we hear the overheard announcements for missing passengers to contact Guest Service. So of course everyone goes out on their balconies to watch. And sure enough at 6:06pm a car comes racing up the dock. When the folks got off, people started cheering with a few “GET ON THE DAMN BOAT” calls from the balcony. 

Unless there was some reason that wasn't the guests' fault, I'm going with "the rules don't apply to me, I'm on vacation." 🤣🙄

[marrashadow]

I find it interesting her descriptions of the other passengers vs pictures. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/cruise-passengers-including-pregnant-woman-32488918 look at the photos of "pregnant woman"  and "quadriplegic" these are used to invoke pity but not a real representation. They certainly got their 15 minutes. 

[WonderMan3]

3 minutes ago, Ashlynkat said:

Thought folks would like this update from the Dawn. All aboard here in Dakar, Senegal was 5:30pm. At 5:55pm we hear the overheard announcements for missing passengers to contact Guest Service. So of course everyone goes out on their balconies to watch. And sure enough at 6:06pm a car comes racing up the dock. When the folks got off, people started cheering with a few “GET ON THE DAMN BOAT” calls from the balcony. 

Eagerly awaiting for someone to come here and tell us how NCL failed these late passengers. 😂😂

[DCGuy64]

Just now, pghflyer said:

I think it is a misconception that everyone taking independent tours is doing so solely to "save a few nickels", in fact when you combine the FAS credit and Latitudes discounts, NCL is pretty competitive price-wise. We take a lot of independent tours, intentionally, because we don't love the standard highlights bus tours with 100 of our best friends.  In fact, we often pay MORE to have a private guide, more flexibility, more diverse itinerary, and a small group in a small car.  But yeah, you then have to take the responsibility of screening your tour provider and their reviews and reiterating what time you want to be back (and that should be prior to or at "all-aboard" time, not the "departure" time).

We don't book ANY independent excursions unless there's a guarantee that they will deliver us back to the port in good time to make our departure. (Or house and feed us at their expense and pay to have us catch up). It's never happened in 14 cruises.

[Two Wheels Only]

3 minutes ago, Ashlynkat said:

Thought folks would like this update from the Dawn. All aboard here in Dakar, Senegal was 5:30pm. At 5:55pm we hear the overheard announcements for missing passengers to contact Guest Service. So of course everyone goes out on their balconies to watch. And sure enough at 6:06pm a car comes racing up the dock.

 

People were STILL late after all of this drama?🙄

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

People were STILL late after all of this drama?🙄

Ignorance is bliss…

[dmwnc1959]

Just now, WonderMan3 said:

Yes, because we are here daily reading about cruise passengers in Egypt and Morocco being kidnapped and killed. 🙄🙄

In 2024 I wouldn’t put it past them to give them that chance. Which is why I’m safer in New York City. But you go ahead and go to Egypt and Morocco this year, I’ve already been there - when it was safer. Glad I got my world traveling out-of-the-way when the world was a better place. Didn’t have to worry about being stuck in some Third World country.

[DCGuy64]

3 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Yes, because we are here daily reading about cruise passengers in Egypt and Morocco being kidnapped and killed. 🙄🙄

I think the person you were replying to doesn't realize that the percentage doesn't even have to be that high to be perceived as a threat. Even if crime rates have declined relative to the 1980's in NYC, for example, the fact that people have cellphones and social media now (which were absent in the 80's) makes these occurrences more real, graphic, and, seemingly, more frequent. Perception becomes reality.

[Two Wheels Only]

1 minute ago, WonderMan3 said:

Ignorance is bliss…

 

This was Dawn, not Bliss. 😂

[WonderMan3]

2 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

In 2024 I wouldn’t put it past them to give them that chance. Which is why I’m safer in New York City. But you go ahead and go to Egypt and Morocco this year, I’ve already been there - when it was safer. Glad I got my world traveling out-of-the-way when the world was a better place. Didn’t have to worry about being stuck in some Third World country.

Alexa, play “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen”

[blackwing]

56 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Thank you so much for making this observation. I had the same feeling after watching the news reports this morning. Instead of incessantly whining about being abandoned and blaming NCL for their own poor choices in terms of excursion and time management, I would have been much more moved to see them take some personal responsibility and the story be about the kind and amazing people who helped them through this and assisted them along the way to get them back to the ship. People who likely could not even fathom the level of wealth and privilege required to travel the world in luxury on a cruise. They should be grateful and perhaps remember the life and comfort to which those wonderful people are helping them to return and realize that despite this inconvenience they are truly blessed. 

I fully agree.  Why not discuss their bad decision to take a private excursion, why not say anything about the tour operator, why not talk about all the people who helped them from Sao Tome to Gambia to Senegal.

 

My inlaws just did a two week transatlantic repositioning cruise on  Viking and they said the average age of passengers was above 80.  So mostly retirees who don't work.  But this Dawn cruise is three weeks long.  There's at least one pregnant lady on this cruise.  Must be nice to be able to take three weeks off or not have to work at all in order to be able to go on this cruise.  If I went on this cruise, that would exhaust all of my vacation days for the entire year.  These people, especially the lead couple, must be very privileged indeed.

 

 

[organist65]

25 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Dumb question about Passports. I saw it mentioned their passports were giving to someone at the port. When we cruise we cruise with our passports. Sometimes we put them in the cabin safe and sometimes they are kept in our luggage in a pocket. How does the NCL crew where to know to find them? 

Hi. I am on the ship. They collected our passports earlier in the cruise for customs agents, since these countries required visas from some on board.

[dmwnc1959]

17 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Alexa, play “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen”

Which is exactly what’s happening at someone’s house right now. But not mine.

 

🤣 🤣 🤣

Edited April 2 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

8 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Perception becomes reality.

What an excellent way of putting it. Can’t begin to tell you how many people I’ve talked to that won’t go on a cruise because they don’t want their ship to sink like Costa did in Italy. Or have my ship catch on fire like that one Carnival did the other day. Or get Norovirus like that news report said the other week. Or get abandoned on some African island like what I heard on the news last night. Or, or, or. It becomes an echo chamber of perception becoming reality. 

[schmoopie17]

57 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

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

That gangway must have been at least a mile long, since it was a tender stop.

 

Kind of like the super-long extension cord electric cars need to ensure they can reach a charging station. Except their cords need to be about 200 miles long. But I digress...

[schmoopie17]

2 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

What an excellent way of putting it. Can’t begin to tell you how many people I’ve talked to that won’t go on a cruise because they don’t want their ship to sink like Costa did in Italy. Or have my ship catch on fire like that one Carnival did the other day. Or get Norovirus like that news report said the other week. Or get abandoned on some African island like what I heard on the news last night. Or, or, or. It becomes an echo chamber of perception becoming reality. 

But yet they'll still go on cruises knowing full well there are no hash browns or cookies.

What are those people thinking?

 

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, dmwnc1959 said:

What an excellent way of putting it. Can’t begin to tell you how many people I’ve talked to that won’t go on a cruise because they don’t want their ship to sink like Costa did in Italy. Or have my ship catch on fire like that one Carnival did the other day. Or get Norovirus like that news report said the other week. Or get abandoned on some African island like what I heard on the news last night. Or, or, or. It becomes an echo chamber of perception becoming reality. 

Claiming that highly touristed African countries should be avoided by Americans for fear of folks being kidnapped and murdered certainly helps exacerbate those flawed perceptions…

[dmwnc1959]

Just now, schmoopie17 said:

But yet they'll still go on cruises knowing full well there are no hash browns or cookies.

What are those people thinking?

 

The horror! 🤣

[Kp125]

6 hours ago, sammee said:

Wow, unbelievable. Just saw this too. They created their own situation but yet they insist on finger pointing and blaming NCL.

The other passengers should sue these jokers for missing Gambia as the waiting around for them made the ship miss optimum docking time

[SomewhereGirl]

28 minutes ago, Ashlynkat said:

Thought folks would like this update from the Dawn. All aboard here in Dakar, Senegal was 5:30pm. At 5:55pm we hear the overheard announcements for missing passengers to contact Guest Service. So of course everyone goes out on their balconies to watch. And sure enough at 6:06pm a car comes racing up the dock. When the folks got out, people started cheering with a few “GET ON THE DAMN BOAT” calls from the balcony. 

So the ship waited in this port?  Interesting. 

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, Kp125 said:

The other passengers should sue these jokers for missing Gambia as the waiting around for them made the ship miss optimum docking time

I thought it was a tidal issue that caused them to miss Gambia? Someone on the ship posted about it here and it was announced the day before they were to even arrive there so it must have been an issue that was impacting the port for days.