Norwegian Breakaway leaves parents in Bahamas

[Weedy]

This shows that cruise ships will leave you. . . . You don't have the right to make 2000+ peoplw wait for you.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...ed-away-children-board-arrived-late-port.html

 

[cruisehopeful]

My first inkling is to say it their fault for not being back in time, but perhaps there was a time change and the wife didn't have the correct time. At any rate, I've always been far too much a paranoid parent to leave my kids anywhere like that. If my husband was late getting back to the ship, I would never go look for him if I had kids on board. Either we'd all go and deal with the consequences together, or I'd stay with my kids and let my husband figure it out on his own.

 

[Jess_S]

I'm kind of shocked that the husband got off the ship to get the wife, leaving the kids on board. In the same situation, I either would have taken my son off the ship with me or stayed on the ship and left my husband to fend for himself. I can't imagine risking leaving young kids on board by themselves in this particular situation (i.e. when it's already all-aboard time and I know my spouse is late).

 

[hanscarlet]

ever since watching the Mighty Ships show in Nat Geo and seeing how the lateness of cruisers negatively impacting the entire cruise, I have little sympathy for people when they do this, my thoughts are with the children though, how scary for them

 

[Quellman]

My first inkling is to say it their fault for not being back in time, but perhaps there was a time change and the wife didn't have the correct time. At any rate, I've always been far too much a paranoid parent to leave my kids anywhere like that. If my husband was late getting back to the ship, I would never go look for him if I had kids on board. Either we'd all go and deal with the consequences together, or I'd stay with my kids and let my husband figure it out on his own.

It should have all been Eastern Time zone. So bummer. At least there were relatives there according to the report.

 

[aggiedog]

Oh no. No way would I leave the ship with the kids still on it. No way would I leave the ship period. I'd be sad, and angry, and what not. But getting the wife home by herself would be easier than either the whole family (if he'd been able to round up the kids to get them off the ship with him) or leaving the kids behind. Best of the bad choices there, letting the wife fend for herself.

But then, neither were probably thinking clearly at that point.

I wonder if she was on a private excursion that ran late? Or just loitered while shopping? Since it didn't sound like a whole group of people were late.

 

[kamik86]

Honestly have no sympathy. They tell you what time to be back.

At Grand Turk on Princess my DH and I watched all the people coming back late. It was amazing how many were late. Also how even with everything put away but the one gangway how they didn't even rush to get back just kept slowly walking. The last family on I know wasn't at an excursion as they had been in margaritaville when we left to reboard the ship and the ship had no later excursions.

Even if there was a time change personal responsibility, make sure you know the time.

Also agree the Father was an idiot for getting off to find his wife. Now I might do that since I have no kids and would prefer DH and I to be stuck together over one stuck alone. However if I had kids I would stay on with the kids and DH would figure it out himself.

My parents were late back once but that was because the excursion with the cruise line was back late. So they waited for all 45 people on that tour to return. (Actually multiple excursions were late due to the ship letting us off late, but my parents were on the last one to arrive)

 

[waggles02673]

I know the guy who filmed the video, crazy. His wife followed up with GS and they said the couple got a hotel room in Nassau and the they had family on board who watched the kids during the return to NYC.

 

[MUN]

Oh no. No way would I leave the ship with the kids still on it. No way would I leave the ship period.

You don't leave the ship at ports?

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Sadly this a perfect demonstration why we would never leave our kids onboard the vessel, just so we could go ashore. The line announces all aboard time repeated. It printed various places. In this case there is not any time change to worry about.

The people to be sorry for here is the poor kids, they had to be afraid.

AKK

 

[Ofinn]

There's nothing wrong with leaving your kids onboard. Just make it back to ship on time. It's not that hard.

 

[kamik86]

Was reading on another site and that one speculated that there were other family and friends on board and that is why the Father got off the ship.

In this case I could see that. If I had kids onboard but my parents were also on board it would make sense to grab DHs and my passport and leave to be stuck with DH instead of him being stuck without documents.

 

[nikkistevej]

DH and I were on Independence of the Seas last week(RCCL) and people got left on the pier in Cozumel. It was a man/woman, they obviously missed the ship- they ran up the pier, hand gestures, pointing, were talking to port people, but the ship had already pulled out. Ship left an hour later than it was supposed to, so they did stay a little while waiting for them more than likely, and they called names over the speakers also. We were at dinner and watched from the window, have never seen that in my 11 cruises. I am so paranoid about, I make sure I'm back, but most of the time I book excursions through the ship.

 

[My2litteprincesses]

DH and I were on Independence of the Seas last week(RCCL) and people got left on the pier in Cozumel. It was a man/woman, they obviously missed the ship- they ran up the pier, hand gestures, pointing, were talking to port people, but the ship had already pulled out. Ship left an hour later than it was supposed to, so they did stay a little while waiting for them more than likely, and they called names over the speakers also. We were at dinner and watched from the window, have never seen that in my 11 cruises. I am so paranoid about, I make sure I'm back, but most of the time I book excursions through the ship.

Agree! For our Cozumel stop aboard the Fantasy next month, I booked Xcaret excursion through Disney for this reason! I could have booked it through the place directly and saved $$, but since it's pretty far away from the port and you have to take another boat to get to it (on Playa del Carmen), I insisted we book thru Disney. Getting left behind would truly be horrible!

 

[Hundredacre]

Why was the wife on an excursion by herself? Sounds like there is more to the story.

 

[aggiedog]

You don't leave the ship at ports?

I definitely get off the ship. LOL. No way would I have left the ship trying to retrieve my spouse who was overdue. Sorry, dh, but you're on your own if it means leaving our kids alone on a ship that's about to set sail. He's a big boy. I'm pretty sure he'd find his way home. FWIW, dh would NEVER miss the ship. I had a hard time getting him to stay in port and not return to the ship 2 hours prior to departure. He's a "better safe than sorry" kind of guy.

I've never left my kids on the ship while I went into port, but if I did, I'd make darn sure I was back with lots of time to spare.

 

[AquaDame]

'Due to the circumstances, the ship went beyond normal protocol and waited alongside an additional half an hour for the guest. When she had still not returned and following consultation with the family, it was decided that the husband would disembark with their travel documents to wait for his wife while the children would stay with their uncle and his family on the ship for the remainder of the voyage.

'The company offered travel and lodging assistance to the couple and arrangements were made for them to reunite with the ship upon her return to New York on April 24.'

The article clarifies a lot - NCL is getting dinged for a cruddy title. I'm not certain what more they should have done...? The kids were not left alone and it sounds like the father had accepted that they would be left behind when he disembarked for her.

 

[Hundredacre]

On our last cruise with dcl I think they left one person in nassau. They kept calling the name over the speaker system even into the cabins asking the person to come forward. The ship definitely left a bit late and they were still calling the person's name as we were pulling away but they eventually stopped.

 

[hanna-nana]

'Due to the circumstances, the ship went beyond normal protocol and waited alongside an additional half an hour for the guest. When she had still not returned and following consultation with the family, it was decided that the husband would disembark with their travel documents to wait for his wife while the children would stay with their uncle and his family on the ship for the remainder of the voyage.

'The company offered travel and lodging assistance to the couple and arrangements were made for them to reunite with the ship upon her return to New York on April 24.'

The article clarifies a lot - NCL is getting dinged for a cruddy title. I'm not certain what more they should have done...? The kids were not left alone and it sounds like the father had accepted that they would be left behind when he disembarked for her.

I was just going to point this out. They covered returned travel and hotel for the couple. If I had family on board I'd have probably done the same thing, and probably would have hoped my husband would. It said after consultation with the family the dad got off with the travel documents. It would have been an entire different story if they just left the woman. She'd have had NOTHING, but her ID? Hopefully she had her passport. But still. They waited extra time, then sent the husband. I think they did what they could. Yes, it would have been nice if they could have put the breaks on and let them on. But they weren't stranded. And the cruiseline took care of them. While the kids were rightfully upset, they did have family on board and were not left alone.

 

[aggiedog]

Yes, if I'd've had family onboard, I would consider getting off for dh, making sure I had passports, etc.

Yes, the headline of the article, coupled with the pics of the wife on her knees on the pier is sensationalistic at best.

Even if the lady did not have her passport/documents with her, it is not the cruise line's fault that she missed embarkation and did not have her paperwork. She is an adult. The cruise line is not a babysitter. We make decisions all the time, and should live with the consequences.