Family of nine speaks out after being left behind in Alaska by cruise line

If they went off on their own, then it would be their fault. But they should be fully reimbursed since they booked it through the cruise line

What doesn't make sense to me is that the bus had the capacity to accommodate everyone on the way to the event, but somehow didn't have enough space to take everyone back. That doesn't make any sense. Unless they changed vehicles, why didn't the cruise line ensure that there would be enough space to bring everyone back?

They booked the excursion through Norwegian, they should be fully reimbursed. Fully.

It amazes me how many people make disparaging comments against the family who didn't even watch the video. When you book a cruise sanctioned excursion you are guaranteed a ride from the ship and a ride back with a guarantee of being back on the ship before it departs. The fact that the 3rd party excursion group failed to have enough buses to accommodate all the passengers for the trip back is not the families fault. The family relied on information that a bus would be back to pick them up so they trusted that information as they should and they waited. If you can't trust an excursion group then what's the point of even taking one? The liner is reimbursing them for all the out of pocket costs and rightly so.

Thank goodness they booked the excursion through the cruise line. If they booked it through a third party it could of ended very differently

That’s not right. The whole selling point of cruise line excursions is that the ship will wait. I’m not entirely surprised based on my experiences with NCL, however this is just terrible especially since there was a senior and multiple young kids.

It likely cost less for the cruise to compensate the family than it would have been for the ship to wait for them.

If booked through the cruise, it’s their fault

Cruising with 6 young children?!? 🤯 That would be overwhelming and exhausting enough… THEN left at port and stranded far from home without identification etc…EQUALS complete nightmare situation. 😩

Absolutely 100% the cruises fault. The excursion was not booked through a 3rd party... The entire reason, passengers pay triple the price for an excursion booked through the ship, is to guarantee your transportation back to the ship and require the cruise to wait for you, if you are running late. Norwegian, knows this is their fault, that is why they are agreeing to refund all expenses the family incurred as well as refund the cruise. But, they should also pay for any unnecessary pain and suffering. Especially for those members, who couldn't get their medication. Lastly, I thought the cruise line is supposed to pack up your belongings and leave them at the port. I know Carnival does that . I thought it was a standard practice for all Cruise lines.

TOUR OPERATOR owes them as well.

I wouldn’t have waited to contact the agent. As soon as the first bus refused them, they should have made the call.

This is completely the fault of the cruise line! What a nightmare. This will be a story that none of them will ever forget and I'm glad that they are smiling about it.

This is the strangest story I've heard. As someone that has gone on several Alaska cruises, the ships dock IN Ketchikan. The lumberjack show is a 10min walk from the ships. I don't know how it's even possible to have missed the ship unless you planned to be back to the ship at the very last minute. I'd also hardly call it "remote Alaska"... it has several hotels, a Walmart, and an airport. Luxuries compared to true remote villages in Alaska.

Glad they even had the means to get back home, and are home safe. A lot of us leave most our stuff on ship scared of pick pockets.

I have been on many cruises. The ships always make it clear what time the ship will leave and what time you must be back by before the gangplank is hauled away. It costs the ship owners way too much money to delay a departure because some passengers didn't return on time. On the cruises I was on everyone understood that and to my knowledge no one ignored the importance of schedule. That said, since this was a cruise line sanctioned tour booked through the cruise line, the line bears a lot of responsibility for what happens to people on the tour.

If I had that many kids with me, I would have been first in line for the bus. Boats wait for no one and watching people run on the docks is an undeniable past time.

I’m literally going on an Norwegian Encore cruise in two days to Alaska! Sure hope this doesn’t happen to me and my family of 30! 😬

Ketchikan isn't that remote at all. There are several ferries to Washington and BC from there. They sensationalized the story by saying it's in a "remote" location.

Best tip ever, “DON’T BE LATE” That Lumberjack excursion owes you 💰 💰