Nightmare: Family of 9 Left Abandoned in Alaska, Forced to Pay $9K to Cruise that Ditched Them
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
An Oklahoma family’s dream vacation turned into a nightmare earlier this month after their cruise ship set sail without them following a tour-bus mixup.
The nine family members, including six young children and a senior citizen, were left to make their way home to Tulsa from a remote Alaskan island without their passports, luggage and prescription medication.
Cailyn Gault called the experience a “horrible ordeal.”
Her husband, Joshua Gault, told KJRH-TV that he and his family disembarked from the Norwegian Cruise Lines Encore on July 12 in Ketchikan to attend a lumberjack show.
When they tried to board the bus to return to the ship, they were turned away.
Cailyn Gault said non-ticketed passengers from another ship had taken their seats on the dedicated excursion bus. The driver, rather than collecting everyone’s tickets, had simply done a head-count.
“We go to get on the bus, and one of the attendees is like, ‘The bus is full, and, you know, you got to wait for the next bus,'” Joshua Gault said.
Unfortunately, they learned too late that there was no “next bus.”
“We reached out to the Port Authority to let them know we were left behind by the excursion operator, and they sent a van to retrieve all 9 of us at the designated pick up location,” Cailyn wrote in her post.
However, “just minutes from port, our driver got a call that the ship refused to wait and pulled the gangway. “
Her husband called the predicament “a nightmare.”
“Six kids on board, minor children, and a 78-year-old mother-in-law, all on medication. We all had to quit cold turkey medication these last few days because it was all on the cruise ship,” Gault told KJRH.
The ship’s next stop was in Canada, but because they didn’t all have their passports, they were unable to intercept it at that port.
Since the next stop after that was the final destination on the cruise, the Gaults had little choice but to make their way home.
It was another huge financial and logistical challenge to make last-minute travel arrangements for nine people.
“To add insult to injury, NCL charged our credit cards $8,500 in port fines,” Cailyn Gault added.
That turned out to be a charge of $971 per passenger for missing the ship, she said.
This was on top of the $30,000 the family had paid for the cruise, they said.
While the Gaults made it home, Joshua Gault told KJRH that some members of the family now have COVID. “We’re unhealthy and beaten down,” he said.
On July 16, Norwegian Cruise Lines provided a statement to KJRH, saying they had asked a port agent to help arrange a hotel for the family in Ketchikan and flights to Seattle.
“We will be reimbursing the family for all of the out-of-pocket expenses they incurred over these two days, as a result of missing the ship in Ketchikan, including meals, accommodations, etc. Reimbursements will be processed once receipts for these expenses are provided to us.”
The cruise line also said, they have “initiated the process to refund the family” for the fines they were charged, which they said were “imposed by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, as a result of the guests not visiting a foreign port prior to returning to the U.S., as required when an itinerary originates from the U.S. in accordance with the Passenger Vessel Services Act.”
The cruise line said it will give the family a pro-rated refund for the two cruise days missed.
“As a gesture of goodwill, the company will also be providing each of the nine guests with a Future Cruse Credit in the form of a 20 percent discount of their cruise fare that can be used towards their next voyage.”
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