An Oklahoma family of nine found themselves stranded in remote Alaska after their Norwegian Cruise Lines ship left without them, subsequently charging the family $9,000 in customs fees.PauseMute
The Gault family, including six young children and a 78-year-old grandmother, disembarked from the Norwegian Encore in Ketchikan on July 12 to watch a lumberjack show.
However, when they attempted to return to the ship, the local tour operator responsible for transporting passengers failed to verify tickets and instead conducted only a head count. This led to the Gaults being told there was no room and they would need to wait for another shuttle.
“We see the chaos getting onto the buses. We go to get on the bus and one of the attendees is like, ‘The bus is full, and you know you got to wait for the next bus,’” Joshua Gault told 2 News.
Unfortunately, the next bus never arrived. After numerous frantic calls to the port authority, they finally reached the docks only to see the Norwegian Encore sailing away, along with their passports, medication, and clothing.
“Six kids on board, minor children, and a 78-year-old mother-in-law, all on medication. We all had to quit cold turkey medication these last few days because it was all on the cruise ship,” Joshua said.
Their situation worsened as the family, who had already spent about $30,000 on the trip, was hit with nearly $9,000 in charges from the cruise line — $971 per passenger — for missing the boat.
This fee was due to the US Customs and Border Protection’s Passenger Vessel Services Act, which they violated by not visiting a foreign port as planned.
Without their passports, they couldn’t catch up with the ship at its next port in Canada. Forced to find their way home, they quickly had to arrange new accommodations, book flights, and provide food for the entire family, incurring significant expenses.
“All the flights for nine people, all the food for nine people, all the hotel stays,” Gault told 2 News, listing the unexpected costs they had to cover.
After several days of travel through various cities, canceled flights, and multiple overnight stays at airports, the family finally returned home to Tulsa, exhausted and having contracted COVID along the way.
“So yeah, we’re beat down right now. We’re unhealthy and beaten down,” Joshua said.
The family is currently working with Norwegian to resolve the issue. They feel the cruise line needs to make significant amends.
“‘We’re still looking into it, we haven’t forgotten about you,’” Cailyn Gault said Norwegian kept telling them. “And I was like, ‘No, we feel like you pretty much forgot about us when you left us in port and told us to go figure it out,’” she added.
Norwegian Cruise Lines informed The Post that they have started the process of refunding the nearly $9,000 in fees and will reimburse the family for their travel expenses upon receipt of the receipts.
The cruise line also claimed it tried to contact the Gaults after they missed their bus due to “a misstep by a local tour operator.” When they couldn’t reach them, Norwegian worked with the local port authority to help arrange lodging for the night before the family could fly to Seattle the following day.
“In addition, these guests will be receiving a pro-rated refund for the two cruise days they missed,” a Norwegian Cruise Line representative said.
“As a gesture of goodwill, the company will also be providing each of the nine guests with a Future Cruise Credit in the form of a 20 percent discount off their cruise fare for their next voyage,” Norwegian added.
This incident is one of several that have put Norwegian Cruise Lines in the spotlight for leaving passengers behind. In April, eight passengers were left in Africa after an independent tour returned late, forcing them to catch up with the ship on their own.
It is a common policy on most cruise lines that passengers who do not return by the specified time will be left behind to maintain the ship’s schedule, although exceptions are typically made when delays are due to the cruise line or its recommended operators.
In the April incident, although the passengers were on an independent tour, their ages and disabilities raised concerns about the cruise line’s rigid policy. Norwegian eventually agreed to partially refund those passengers for the expenses incurred while catching up with the ship
