Stranded cruise guests in Africa scramble to get back on board

Eight people who were on a cruise were left behind on an island called São Tomé and Príncipe in Africa. They have been trying really hard for many days to catch up with their cruise ship called Norwegian Cruise Line as it travels up the west coast of Africa.

According to Norwegian Cruise Line, the passengers didn’t return to the ship on time on March 27th.

“Eight people who were on a private tour on the island missed the last boat back to the ship at 3 p.m” The statement said the time in the area.

“Even though it’s a really bad situation, guests need to make sure they come back to the ship on time. The time is announced on the ship’s loudspeaker, in the daily schedule, and right before people leave the ship. ”

Norwegian Cruise Line said that they gave the passengers’ passports to local port agents for the guests to pick up. The cruise company said that if the guests were late for their private tour and missed the ship, they have to pay for their own way to the next stop to catch up with the ship. The cruise company said it was working with the local police and talking to the passengers who are stuck.

A couple from South Carolina, Jill and Jay Campbell, got stuck in Gambia. They said a group of eight people had to travel through six countries for 15 hours to get back to their ship.

But the ship couldn’t park that day because the weather was bad and the tides needed to be just right for it to be safe.

The Campbells said to WPDE that the group will try to get to Senegal next, where the ship is supposed to stop on Tuesday.

The cruise line talked to the group and gave them permission to join the ship in Senegal. They will also pay them back for their travel costs from Gambia to Senegal.

The Campbells got on the ship on March 20th. According to CruiseMapper. com, the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn got to Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday.

The Campbells said that some people in the group are old, one person cannot use their legs, and a woman is expecting a baby. They said one person in the group hasn’t had his heart medicine for five days and has gotten sick.


The time for everyone to get on was missed.

The group rushed after their tour in São Tomé and Príncipe took longer than expected on March 27th.

“We thought we were running out of time, but the tour organizers said they could get us back in an hour,” Jay Campbell said. Campbell told WPDE that the company running the tour called the captain and said the passengers were coming but would be late. The ship was still at the port when they returned, but Campbell said that the captain did not allow them to get on the ship.

“The person in charge of the harbor tried to contact the ship, but the captain didn’t answer,” Campbell told WPDE at the end of last week. “We tried to contact NCL customer service for help with an emergency, but they told us that the only way to reach the ship is through email, and they haven’t been responding to our emails. ”

The Campbells said to WPDE that they didn’t have their medicine and most people in the group couldn’t use their credit cards in São Tomé and Príncipe. So the Campbells used their Visa card to pay for hotels and things the group needed, spending a lot of money.

The Campbells told us that another person who wasn’t part of their group got sick while they were on the tour and had to go to the hospital in São Tomé. Now she’s stuck there too. The Campbells said they were able to contact the daughter of that passenger in California to help her come back to North America.

The cruise company later told CNN that the passenger was taken off the ship for medical reasons. They were checked by the ship’s doctors and then sent to a hospital for more treatment if needed.

“We tried to call the guest many times but couldn’t reach her, so we got help from our port agent in an African island country called São Tomé and Príncipe to get updates about the guest,” Norwegian Cruise Line explained.

The guest has returned to the United States safely, the cruise line said.