An Oklahoma family of nine was forced to pay almost $9,000 in fees after being left stranded while on a Norwegian Cruise Line vacation to a remote Alaskan island.
“You know, it was 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,” said the father, Joshua Gault, to KJRH.
The Gault family disembarked the Norwegian Encore ship in Ketchikan, a town of roughly 8,000 people in the Revillagigedo Islands, on July 12 to attend a lumberjack show that they booked through the cruise line, the outlet reported.
Issues arose when they attempted to board a bus back to the port, with Gault saying an attendant let people from another cruise ship take their seats because they only did a headcount, not a ticket check.
“We see the chaos getting onto the buses. 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,'” he recounted to the outlet.
So, the Gaults waited… and waited.
No other buses ever came to pick them up, so they called the port authority for help.
Finally, a van was sent to come pick up the family — but it was too late.
By the time the Gaults arrived back to the dock, the Encore had already set sail with their belongings, passports, and medicine.
“While some of their passports were transported off the ship, one stayed behind, [which] meant the family of nine couldn’t meet the ship at the next port in Canada,” KJRH reported.
The Gaults spent multiple days and thousands of dollars trying to get home, as they dealt with more bad luck in the form of canceled flights and overnight airport stays in numerous cities.
Norwegian Cruise Line also issued a $971 fine for missing the boat — for each of the nine family members.
This added up to nearly $9,000, on top of everything else the Gaults had to pay to get home to Tulsa.
“You know, Norwegian treating this like it was a customer service issue rather than it was an emergency is, I think, the worst part about it,” said Gault.
When they finally arrived back in Oklahoma, some of the family had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“So yeah, we’re beat down right now. We’re unhealthy and beaten down,” Gault added.
Norwegian Cruise Lines said they will be reimbursing the family in a statement to the outlet:
On the afternoon of Friday, July 12, a family of nine guests missed the ship’s all aboard time in Ketchikan, Alaska due to a misstep by a local tour operator. When the guests did not return to the ship at the published time, we attempted to contact them but were unable to reach them. As such, we alerted the local port agent in Ketchikan and requested that they assist the family with booking a hotel for the night. As the guests would be unable to downline in the next port of call, Victoria, British Columbia, the port agent also helped the guests with securing flights to Seattle the following day, July 13.
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. Additionally, we have already initiated the process to refund the family for the fee 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. In addition, these guests will be receiving a pro-rated refund for the two cruise days they missed.
“As a gesture of goodwill, the company will also be providing each of the nine guests with a Future Cruise Credit in the form of a 20 percent discount of their cruise fare that can be used towards their next voyage,” the company added.
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