Don't Be Late for the Cruise Ship

09.04.2024 - 15:39 / travelpulse.com / Rich Thomaselli / Africa

Our life is ruled by time.

We’re either rushing to get somewhere, waiting for an event or planning for it. The clock and the calendar can be both your best friend and your enemy.

That is the backdrop for a controversy that has erupted involving Norwegian Cruise Line.

In what has evolved into a he said, she said situation, eight passengers were left stranded after taking an excursion to an island off the coast of Africa. At issue is where the fault lies. The passengers say the NCL ship left without them; NCL says the passengers were late getting back to port.

The moral of the story is, don’t be late for the ship!

This isn't the first time this has happened in the cruise industry, of course, but adding to the significance is the number of stranded passengers and the remoteness of the destination. It's a lot easier to fly to the next port to meet the ship in the Caribbean than it is in West Africa. One couple was even reported to be almost 6,000 miles from home.

This is a definite feeling of helplessness. That's especially true for passengers who just financially can't afford to fly on to the next port or fly home.

Cruise ships run on a rigid timeline and itinerary. Think of it like a football meeting. When the coach schedules a meeting for 3 p.m., he expects you to be in your seat at 2:45 p.m. It's kind of an unspoken rule, and the repercussions can be disastrous.

In this instance, there seems to be some conjecture about where the responsibility lies, whether it is with the tour operator or the passengers themselves.

But you have to live and learn and take the burden of responsibility upon yourself.

Case in point: Early in my sports writing career, I missed a flight en route to an assignment. The plane was still visibly in sight, but the doors were shut and it began to pull away from the gate. It wasn't coming back just for me.

I begged and pleaded about the horrendous traffic to no avail. However, I quickly realized that the situation was entirely my fault. I could have avoided the whole thing by just building in some time to leave earlier. I learned my lesson. In 40 years of flying, I never made that mistake again. I never left my fate in the hands of someone else again.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Being stranded like that is a frustrating feeling, no doubt, but it could have been prevented.

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