Family of nine left behind in remote Alaska, charged $9K by Norwegian Cruise Lines – IOTW Report

Family of nine left behind in remote Alaska, charged $9K by Norwegian Cruise Lines

NYP:
An Oklahoma family of nine was left stranded in remote Alaska after their Norwegian Cruise Lines ship left them behind — and then charged the desperate family $9,000 in customs fees.

The Gault family was traveling with six young kids and a 78-year-old grandmother on July 12 when they disembarked from the Norwegian Encore in Katchikan, a small town in a string of south Alaskan islands, so they could watch a lumberjack show together.

But on their way back the local tour operator transporting passengers to and from the vessel failed to properly check who had tickets and who didn’t — merely conducting a head count instead — and told the Gaults there was no room and to wait for another shuttle. MORE

14 Comments on Family of nine left behind in remote Alaska, charged $9K by Norwegian Cruise Lines

  1. F—k Norwegian. In 2002 my wife and I got dumped on the street outside the cruise terminal in Honolulu with our one year-old twins because the twins did not have passports. We booked the cruise through Costco, who had told us Birth Certificates were all that was necessary for the twins. Apparently, that had changed after 9/11, and neither Costco or we knew it. The purser was an officious bitch who couldn’t be bothered to bend an inch on their stupid rule.

    The m—rf—i g purser actually had armed security escort us off the property. Thankfully, Costco stepped up, found us a room for a week on Waikiki Beach, and reimbursed us for the whole cruise. Needless to say we never cruised with Norwegian, although we have been on many cruises since then. I badmouth that f—king cruise line every chance I get. Again, f—k Norwegian and their rust-bucket ships to the bottom of the sea.

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  2. We enjoyed a Viking ocean-going cruise to Alaska this spring … except for a stop where a Carnival ship-o-groids was also parked. Dindus like blocking fifteen foot wide sidewalks so crackers have to step into the street to go around.

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  3. Sounds like a good reason to NOT get off the ship to take the tours.
    And if you’re not going to take the off-ship local tours, then why go at all?

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  4. Ooooo. a 20% off coupon.
    Soooo generous.
    We went to AK on Princess and you had to have your cruise ID if you got off and on. They made us check off names too.
    Actually, it would be great Princes and hilarious if Princess offered them a free cruise since Norwegian is so tight.

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  5. Getting older has its plusses and minuses. One of the plusses, and a major one, is that I’ve been there and I’ve done that and am content to sit quietly with an adult beverage and simply reminisce.

    I’ve lived in or visited Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Portugal, and Spain. Not counting visits and drive-throughs, Connecticut, Maryland (birth state), Virginia, District of Columbia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and California.

    I’ve had a couple of cruises. All I can say is that the food was pretty good. The food is pretty good here at home. So.

    More travel? Fsck me, WHY!?

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  6. Geoff – are you certain that you can’t put a cruise on an EBT card? Many years ago, I worked on a Y2K project at the Dept of “Transitional Assistance” for Massachusetts- aka Welfare. Transitional – LOL – nobody transitions. They were moving to an electronic system – one benefit was supposed to be tracking. Well, a lot of charges ended up in casinos, Disneyworld, resort destinations. Why not cruises? Apparently the data collected was merely for interest or to pi$$ off the oppressed taxpayers but not to transition anybody off their freeloading habits.

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