Dawn passengers left “stranded” on African island

[TRLD]

4 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

True or false.  Does it say the guests will be reimbursed for their travel costs?  OMG people love to fight around here.  So in reality NCL paid the people to get back on the ship?  The 8 got to another place on their own.  Seriously, that's your point you want to argue? 
I am out of this conversation.  This board is bad for mental health.  Lets fight about the dumbest things to keep the thread going.
Ready.  Set.  Go!

Just to be clear NCL is not reimbursing their out of pocket expense in getting to Gambia.

 

Because NCL canceled that port call, they are reimbursing the expenses in getting from Gambia to the port where they were actually able to rejoin the ship.

[JamieLogical]

55 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

So I see all 8 passengers have rejoined the ship and NCL has reimbursed them for travel costs to the ship.  There is a happy ending after all!!

 

Norwegian Cruise captain refused to let eight passengers who were late reboard ship (yahoo.com)

 

Oh great. Now we all get to pay for their stupidity!

 

Edit: now seeing they are only being reimbursed for travel from Gambia to Senegal. That is more reasonable since NCL did miss the Gambia port stop. But still, none of this reimbursement would be necessary if the group hadn't missed the ship in the first place.

Edited April 2 by JamieLogical

[Capitan Obvious]

3 minutes ago, deckguy said:

What a horrible precedent to establish regardless of the amount paid.  Dock runners who don't make the ship will from now on have their hands out.  Courts too will now recognize that a policy of reimbursement has been established and through the Reasonable Person Standard, others now have the reasonable expectation of financial payment.

 

Respectfully, I disagree with you.

 

There is a travel pact between the cruise line and the guest. Everyone agrees to the schedule.

 

The guests failed to return to the ship on time. Therefore, the guests had to pay to get to the next port (Gambia), which they did. However, the ship didn't make it to Gambia...so since the cruise line now did not show up where they promised, NCL is paying for these guests to get from Gambia to Senegal.

 

Each party is paying when the schedule conflict falls on them. Seems very fair to me.

[TRLD]

12 minutes ago, deckguy said:

What a horrible precedent to establish regardless of the amount paid.  Dock runners who don't make the ship will from now on have their hands out.  Courts too will now recognize that a policy of reimbursement has been established and through the Reasonable Person Standard, others now have the reasonable expectation of financial payment.

It actually does make sense and not a precedent. They missed the ship and were responsible for costs to rejoin the ship. They did pay and will not be reimbursed for their expenses in getting to Gambia where they should have been able to rejoin the ship. 

 

However the Gambia stop was canceled. As a result NCL has agreed to pay the costs from where they normally would have rejoined the ship to the following port.

 

Basically it is they missed the departure time and have the responsibility for getting to the next stop, but since NCL canceled that stop they are not responsible for the expense from that port to the ship.

Edited April 2 by TRLD

[Mike07]

4 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Oh great. Now we all get to pay for their stupidity!

 

Edit: now seeing they are only being reimbursed for travel from Gambia to Senegal. That is more reasonable since NCL did miss the Gambia port stop. But still, none of this reimbursement would be necessary if the group hadn't missed the ship in the first place.

 

 

If you have homeowners or automobile insurance, stupidity is covered in the policy and factored into your rate. I assume the same with travel insurance.

[AliceS]

Beware private tours?   Have done many and get back way before the time to respect.    
Do you expect anything else when you miss departure time?   Especially in such a foreign port of call.   Come on….

[Capitan Obvious]

4 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

I get the precedent. I get rules.

 

But what about the heart of the hospitality industry? Is everything based upon what NCL's general counsel says?

 

NCL (part of the hospitality industry) offered these guests a variety of tours which all came with the return to the ship guarantee. These guest declined those tours. 

 

Instead, these folks were all on a private tour. A tour where the tour guide failed to keep the tour schedule, and failed to return the guests on time.

 

The tour company, as well as the tour guide, is part of "the hospitality industry". So...what about the heart of the hospitality industry?

[sharonann24]

So I will add my comments to the board though it seems I am in the majority this time.  It is clearly stated each day that you are in port the time at which you MUST be aboard.  Taking a non NCL tour can be a gamble so you need to check the length of time and the time of return.  We took a non NCL tour in St. Petersburg against the advice our our TA but I had done my homework and the reviews were accurate and we were back well in advance to boarding time, which for me is key.  We did a NCL walking tour last summer in Bergen and the tour director did dally a bit and we just made it to the ship--HOWEVER since it was an NCL tour, the ship was in contact with our guide once it became clear we were running late.  I had to assure my very panicked 94 year father and a seasoned veteran cruiser and my DH that we would be fine since it was NCL. This now affirms to me that I will book only NCL tours when we cruise in October. I want that peace for mind (also the tours seem reasonable by NCL standards). I think this also is a caution that you should carry a copy of your passport at all times and have at least one credit card.  

[JamieLogical]

5 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

If you have homeowners or automobile insurance, stupidity is covered in the policy and factored into your rate. I assume the same with travel insurance.

 

Right... travel insurance should cover this... not the cruise line.

[Kortehgehn]

27 minutes ago, deckguy said:

Courts too will now recognize that a policy of reimbursement has been established and through the Reasonable Person Standard, others now have the reasonable expectation of financial payment.

Full disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.  However, I think the issue for courts regarding any such future claims is not necessarily so clear.  Also, I doubt that a Reasonable Person Standard could successfully be applied as suggested in that situation.

Edited April 2 by Kortehgehn

[scubacruiserx2]

  I read earlier that NCL would hold the ship and not leave people behind if on the ship's cruise . The HAL policy is the same and yet we were on a cruise thru the Panama Canal where they did in fact leave 33 people behind on a ship's cruise in Costa Rica . Here's the video of the Captain's announcement while we were at dinner .

 

 

 

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

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. 

Those passengers were not left to fend for themselves.  They were provided food and lodging, air transportation home, a full refund, and a FCC equal to their fare.

[G-DawgMN]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

Those passengers were not left to fend for themselves.  They were provided food and lodging, air transportation home, a full refund, and a FCC equal to their fare.

 It sounds better when people sensationalize it though. Also I know people were made because NCL didn’t have enough planes on hand to fly everyone out at the same time. Some had to wait. 

[TheMichael]

I loved when they felt moved to take their grievances to the Today Show (quite literally "we know they have rules but they shouldn't have applied to us"), and Al Roker basically spoke for all (well, most) of us in putting their gripes into perspective.

 

People seem to have an expectation that a cruise vacation will take care of them like Mommy even when they're off the ship.

 

The fact is, any responsibility the cruise line might have had to do whatever it takes for your personal well-being certainly stops when you venture out from the ship into a foreign (or even foreign-ish) land. YOU have the responsibility of knowing what you'll do if you miss the ship.

 

It's travel, and I can guarantee you, people who don't do it via cruising have plenty of stories about missed flights, hotel bookings that somehow disappear, officials wanting payoffs, rejected visas, and worse, and they don't have the advantage of a cruise line pulling the strings to get them to the next place.

 

Frickin' entitled frickin' people. I'm sorry.

[WonderMan3]

OMG, now this story is on the NBC evening news. It just won't die. 😄😄

[TRLD]

3 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

  I read earlier that NCL would hold the ship and not leave people behind if on the ship's cruise . The HAL policy is the same and yet we were on a cruise thru the Panama Canal where they did in fact leave 33 people behind on a ship's cruise in Costa Rica . Here's the video of the Captain's announcement while we were at dinner .

 

 

 

Sure now give the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.

 

The excursion got cut off from the port by a mud slide and had no way back to the ship. The Captain waited until he had to leave in order to make the scheduled Panama Canal transit time. HAL took care of all arrangements to get the passenger to Colon where the ship made an unscheduled stop to pick them up.

 

Cruise lines do not guarantee that they will always wait for cruise line excursions. They do guarantee that they will take care of the passengers and get them to the ship as soon as possible during those few times when they cannot wait.

[Mike07]

13 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Right... travel insurance should cover this... not the cruise line.

 

 

You already pay for peoples stupidity in many aspects of your life.

[TheMichael]

Just now, WonderMan3 said:

OMG, now this story is on the NBC evening news. It just won't die. 😄😄

 

They're looking for Compensation with a capital C.

[RocketMan275]

3 minutes ago, G-DawgMN said:

 It sounds better when people sensationalize it though. Also I know people were made because NCL didn’t have enough planes on hand to fly everyone out at the same time. Some had to wait. 

True, there are no passenger planes that can carry 4000 people at one time.  NCL had to use multiple aircraft.  And, it is very difficult to charter a large number of aircraft at one time.

Edited April 2 by RocketMan275

[Mike07]

1 minute ago, WonderMan3 said:

OMG, now this story is on the NBC evening news. It just won't die. 😄😄

 

 

And viewers can make their own determination on NCL.

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, WYB! said:

Does anyone know if the passengers have travel insurance, and if so what kind and any idea of what would be covered or not covered?

While I've not yet experiencing missing the ship (knock on wood) I've seen it happen on a few occasions myself.

 

On a recent voyage on the NCL Sun, I was in Montevideo, Uruguay and it was getting close to all aboard time (10 minutes before). I was traveling with my mother and the ship had my cell phone number.

Ship's security went to my room to verify I was really not on the ship and my mom was in the cabin.

Security also called me on my cell phone to find out where I was, (I was just outside the ship in the terminal using the wifi). I reboarded with a about 2 minutes to spare before the all aboard time but surprised that they actually called me before all aboard time. I was also not the last to board.

Once I got back on board, security stopped by the cabin to inform her that I was back on board. I learned that they were there when I got back to the cabin.

 

Safe travels,

 

- WYB

Most travel insurance would not consider expenses due to missing a cruise ship departure by being late as a covered event.

 

They would consider the expenses for the 80 year old that was medically left as being covered including transportation home.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

So I see all 8 passengers have rejoined the ship and NCL has reimbursed them for travel costs to the ship.  There is a happy ending after all!!

 

Norwegian Cruise captain refused to let eight passengers who were late reboard ship (yahoo.com)

not exactly. They reimbursed the costs to get to the ship from Gambia, since the ship was unable to port in Gambia.

 

"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. As of this morning, all eight guests have rejoined the ship.”

[Mikel1733]

I understand cruise lines having strict guidelines regarding sailing times.  We've alway taken ship tours to alleviate worrying about getting back on time.  I'm really concerned NCL had left an elderly woman 2 days earlier who was disembarked at the same port who was thought to have had a stroke, then according to family didn't even contact them.  I'm sure the news will sort more information out, but I'm disappointed in NCL.  Not sure we will sail with them again.

[Daniel A]

46 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

but the passengers are in Africa. Some haven't had their medications.

So, when one needs medications on a daily basis to survive, it's always a good policy to roll the dice with a private tour (of unknown reliability) as to whether or not you'll get back in time to take your next dose???  Darwin had a lot to say about people like this.  😉 

 

Sorry, but maybe the television station in South Carolina will air lift some medication to them and if they don't, it's the TV station's fault if things go sideways...

[TRLD]

2 minutes ago, Mikel1733 said:

I understand cruise lines having strict guidelines regarding sailing times.  We've alway taken ship tours to alleviate worrying about getting back on time.  I'm really concerned NCL had left an elderly woman 2 days earlier who was disembarked at the same port who was thought to have had a stroke, then according to family didn't even contact them.  I'm sure the news will sort more information out, but I'm disappointed in NCL.  Not sure we will sail with them again.

Normally the port agent will follow up on medical removed passengers and assist them as necessary in making their arrangements after discharge from the medical facility.