Norwegian Cruise Line passengers stranded on African island without belongings after mistake

Norwegian Dawn passengers were left in port without personal belongings after a huge mistake. Photo / Pexels

A group of eight cruise passengers claim they were left high and dry without belongings on a West African island after being denied embarkation on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

The group of US and Australian cruisers, who included a pregnant woman and a paraplegic guest, were left in the port of Sao Tome unable to get back to their cabins after a simple mistake. Their shore excursion had been late getting back to the ship.

The travellers say they now do not have access to prescription medicine, credit cards or luggage, all of which are still in their cabins aboard the Norwegian Dawn.

On March 27, the passengers had been visiting the island nation in the Gulf of Guinea as part of a 21-day sailing from Cape Town to Barcelona.

Guests of the 2300-passenger ship were allowed to disembark and explore Sao Tome at their leisure, the capital of Africa’s second-smallest island nation.

However, the short port of call had a strict cut-off of 3pm, for a 5pm departure.

Passenger Jay Campbell, who was joining the cruise from South Carolina with wife Jill, said they advised their guide of the tight timetable.

“They were like: ‘No problem, we can get you back within an hour’,” Jay Campbell, a US schoolteacher, told ABC 4.

However, as it became apparent their group was running late, they asked the harbourmaster if they could radio the cruise.

The large ship Norwegian Dawn was unable to berth in Sao Tome, so guests had to return using small boat tenders. However, they could not get a reply from the ship’s captain.

“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’,” said Campbell.

Eventually, they had to beg the Sao Tomean coastguard to take them out to where the ship was anchored.

But, despite sailing right up to the Dawn, they were refused permission to embark.

Elderly passenger repatriated via Portugal

Among the eight passengers refused boarding was an 80-year-old who reportedly had been taken to hospital after an incident during a tour. This guest has since been repatriated to the US, with assistance of the US Embassy in Angola, reports WMBC news.

However, the remaining travellers were trying to come up with a plan to intercept the ship before it sailed for Spain.

The passengers did have passports with them, but little else.

The Campbells, who had bank cards, told ABC they had spent over $7500 on accommodation, food and onward travel for the group.

As of Tuesday morning, the crew were still scrambling across Africa to catch up with their belongings.

After travelling to Gambia for the ship’s April 1 port of call in Banjul, they were again left stranded after the Dawn missed the port due to adverse tide conditions.

The ship’s last port of call is Dakar, Senegal, on April 2 before a three-day repositioning back to Spain’s Canary Islands, from where it will sail on to Barcelona for April 10.

Among the travellers is a pregnant woman, a person with a heart condition and a traveller whose paraplegic condition means she requires a wheelchair. There were at least two Australian guests affected by the missed embarkation, according to news.com.au.

The Campbells claim they have had no contact with the cruise operator despite the difficulty, and have had to rely on their own resources to try to reunite with their belongings.

The cruise line’s representatives were contacted for comment.

Norwegian Cruise Lines South African sailings

On Monday the cruise line disputed the Campbells’ version of events, saying it had been in contact with affected passengers.

“When the guests did not return to the vessel at the all-aboard time, their passports were delivered to the local port agents to retrieve when they returned to the port.

“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,” NCL said in a statement.

Ultimately, many of the guests had chosen to do independent sightseeing or booked with a third-party guide, and NCL could not be held responsible for their timekeeping.

“Guests are responsible for any necessary travel costs to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call.”

Norwegian Dawn has suffered several setbacks to recent cruise sailings out of South Africa. In February the ship was the subject of a cholera scare, which delayed it calling into Mauritius.

Passengers were held under quarantine at sea for two days until stool samples showed the disease was not on board.

There has been a large increase of cruise products sailing out of Cape Town due to the decision of operators to avoid the Red Sea and Suez, over security concerns for shipping lanes in Yemen. This has led to some lines replacing itineraries with long repositioning routes into the Mediterranean via West Africa.