[imagesource:gencraftai]

Shame, eight passengers were left scrambling on an African island after their cruise ship left them behind.

The stranded passengers, including a pregnant woman and an elderly man with a heart condition, claim they were left on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe because they were late to return from a private tour.

They claim they were on the little-known island without money and vital medications after the vessel left port without them.

The tourists – six from the US and two from Australia – were aboard the Norwegian Dawn, a Norwegian cruise line ship, which departed from Cape Town, South Africa, on March 20 for a 21-day voyage up the coast of Africa set to end in Barcelona, Spain, on April 10.

Little did the group of eight tourists know that their dream trip would be cut short and turned into a bit of a nightmare.

NBC News notes that on Wednesday, the group returned late to the ship for the all-aboard time of 3PM after gallivanting on a private excursion around the island, which was not organised by the cruise line.

Jay and Jill Campbell of South Carolina, a couple in the group that was left behind, said that their tour’s operator notified the cruise captain that they were going to be late to rejoin the ship and that the local Coast Guard tried to get them on the vessel but that they weren’t allowed to board.

As a result, they’ve all been stranded for days on the island, grappling with language, currency issues and complicated travel to catch up with the ship.

A Norwegian spokesperson said it was a “very unfortunate situation” adding, “Guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time.”

The cruise line said that after the guests failed to return, their passports were delivered to local port agents, in line with protocol. The company said it was working with local authorities to understand “the requirements and visas needed for the guests to reboard the ship at the next available port of call.”

Understandably, you cannot make a whole ship wait just because your tour ran overtime.

However, one guest was left behind unfairly after she disembarked for medical reasons. Julia Lenkoff, 80, had “medically disembarked” from the cruise to seek local treatment on that day, Norwegian said. Norwegian said that its care team tried to call Lenkoff several times and was unable to reach her and that it worked with its port agent in São Tomé and Príncipe for updates on her health.

The Campbells met Lenkoff and were able to put her in contact with her family in California, who flew her home — a move Lenkoff’s daughter said “saved her life.”

For the remaining forgotten tourists, the wild goose cruise chase took on many twists and turns, as on Monday, they were supposed to rejoin the ship in Banjul, Gambia, but the ship was unable to safely dock there because of “adverse weather conditions” and “tidal restrictions,” Norwegian said.

The guests were then contacted and provided with information to rejoin the ship at Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday. Jill said they travelled through seven countries in 48 hours to arrive in Senegal on Monday night but were unsure if they even wanted to rejoin at this stage.

“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 cruise line spokesperson said in a statement.

Well, the whole ordeal sure turned into a trip nobody will ever forget.

[source:nbcnews]