Passengers set to rejoin cruise after reportedly being left behind on African island

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) – A group of passengers who were reportedly left on an African island by their cruise liner is planning to return to the ship on Tuesday.
In a statement, Norwegian Cruise Line said the group is set to rejoin the cruise in Dakar, Senegal.
The passengers were originally supposed to reboard on Monday in Banjul, Gambia, but the ship could not dock safely due to the weather.
Norwegian Cruise Line said its protocol means guests are typically responsible for any travel costs to rejoin the ship at the next port of call, but Norwegian will reimburse the group because of the weather issues.
The guests, which include a Garden City couple Jill and Jay Campbell, haven’t been back on the ship since March 27, while the ship was in São Tomé and Príncipe.
Norwegian Cruise Line said the guests were on a private tour and did not make it back in time.
“We were waiting for the tender boats to come back and get us because our boat was anchored off the harbor, but they didn’t come back to get us,” Jay Campbell previously shared.
According to the cruise line, all guests were told about an all-aboard 3 p.m. call time that day, but the guests missed it by more than an hour. It added that their passports were left with the local port agents for retrieval.
Norwegian Cruise Line explained that it works closely with local tour operators to ensure excursions are planned to the cruise line’s schedule to guarantee timely arrivals back to port. However, since the group was on a private tour, it was not in communication with the tour operator.
The Campbells were eight days into the 21-day cruise, which started in South Africa.
Norwegian Cruise Line claimed that once the guests did not make it back to the ship, it worked with them and the local port agent to help with obtaining the necessary visas for them.
Over the weekend, the passengers shared that they tried reaching out to Norwegian Cruise Line but they did not hear back from the company promptly regarding reembarking the ship.
“We paid a lot for this trip to Africa, so we hope to make it through the rest of this trip and end in Spain,” Jay Campbell previously shared.
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