by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 11:35 AM ET, Tue April 2, 2024
Eight travelers are trying to catch up with their cruise ship after it left them behind in the African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, reports CNN.
The passengers were sailing aboard the Norwegian Dawn along the western coast of Africa. They were late arriving back at the vessel on March 27 as it began sailing to the next port.
The guests were “on their own or with a private tour” and “missed the last tender back to the vessel, therefore not meeting the all-aboard time of 3 p.m. local time,” according to a statement from Norwegian Cruise Line shared with CNN.
“While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship’s intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel,” the statement continues.
When it became clear the eight passengers would not make the all-aboard time, the cruise line gave their passports to local port authorities. The guests have now traveled through at least six countries to try to meet the ship, which still has all of their luggage.
On March 31, they had hoped to catch up with the vessel in Gambia, but it was not able to dock there because of low tides. Next, they’re going to try to rejoin the ship in Senegal on Tuesday, April 2.
The stranded guests were on a private tour in São Tomé and Príncipe when they realized they were running out of time. The operator promised to get them back to the ship in less than an hour and even contacted the ship to let the crew know the guests would be late.
When they arrived at the dock, the captain would not let them board, reports WPDE.
Sao Tome and Principe, Africa. (Photo Credit: Anna/Adobe)
“The harbor master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call,” one of the passengers, Jay Campbell, told WPDE. “We sent emails to NCL, the NCL customer service emergency number, they said, ‘Well, the only way for us to get in touch with the ship is to send them emails, they’re not responding to our emails.”
According to WPDE, several of the stuck travelers are elderly; one person is a paraplegic while another is a pregnant woman. One of the passengers became ill because he has not had access to his heart medication, which is still on the ship.
"Although there’s a set of rules or policies that the ship may have followed, they followed those rules too rigidly,” said Jill Campbell to NBC News. “I believe that they really forgot that they are people working in the hospitality industry and really the safety and wellbeing of the customers should be their first priority.”
The cruise line has agreed to pay for the extra travel costs the passengers have incurred over the last few days.
"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," a Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told NBC News. "We remain in communication with the guests and are providing additional information as it becomes available."
The ship is sailing a 21-day voyage from Cape Town, South Africa, to Barcelona, Spain. It departed on March 20 and will arrive on April 10.
This is the latest incident to plague the Norwegian Dawn. In February, Mauritius barred the vessel from docking at its ports over concerns about a possible cholera outbreak.
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