A month after eight Norwegian Cruise Line passengers were stranded in Africa when their ship sailed without them because they were late returning from an excursion, an American couple – aged 84 and 81 – have now also been left behind by the same cruise company, this time in Spain.
Richard and Claudene Gordon of Salt Lake City, Utah, were traveling on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Norwegian Viva, along with family and friends, looking forward to celebrating Richard’s 85th birthday later this week.
On Monday, while the ship was docked in Motril, Spain, the couple decided to take an independent excursion to the historic city of Granada, not organized by the cruise company. On the way back, the bus was delayed for an hour due to a storm, Richard Gordon told CNN in a telephone conversation.
Richard Gordon considers himself “a very experienced traveler”, pointing out that throughout his life he has taken dozens of cruise trips. “We never arrived at the port without time to board. Therefore, we are not someone who abuses the system”, he emphasizes.
The couple ended up missing the ship’s boarding time, at 5:30 pm (local time) to depart at approximately 6:00 pm. Richard Gordon recalls that, at around 5:45 pm, he spoke to a family member who was on board the ship, warning them that they were late but close to reaching port. Despite the warning, Norwegian Cruise Line indicated that it could do nothing as it had to meet the schedule.
According to the couple, they both arrived at the pier by taxi at 6:10 pm, the time when the ship had already left. The couple was left without the medication they had on board, as well as extra hearing aid batteries and cell phone chargers, risking becoming uncontactable.
“Our cruise departed in Lisbon about an hour and a half after the scheduled departure time, at 16:00”, says Richard Gordon, arguing, therefore, that “it was clear that they do not always depart at the exact time that is scheduled “.
Marilee Barker, the couple’s daughter, who also lives in Utah, tells CNN about her parents’ moments of distress at that time. “They looked around and no one was there. They took a taxi to a police station, where the police helped them contact the pier, where they told them ‘there’s nothing we can do'”, she reports.
The couple says they did not receive any type of help from Norwegian Cruise Line at that time, either on the ship or on land.
No medicines, no batteries for hearing aids
“Fortunately my father has experience in traveling, but he is already 85 years old”, recalls Marilee Barker. Now, as the cruise would only dock again on Tuesday on the island of Ibiza, the couple “took a bus to Granada and found a cheap stay” in that city, adds the Gordons’ daughter.
At that time Marilee Barker and her husband managed to book a flight to Palma de Mallorca, where the ship was scheduled to stop at 8:00 this Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Claudene Gordon sent a message to her daughter late Tuesday afternoon to inform her that Norwegian Cruise Line had contacted them for the first time since the incident, offering them a taxi ride from the hotel where they were staying. Palma de Mallorca heading to the pier, to return to the ship.
“They picked us up at the hotel in a black BMW limousine to take us back to the ship. There, we were met by the head of cruise services, who accompanied us to the ship’s general manager, with whom we had breakfast and then They accompanied us to our cabin”, says Richard Gordon, already on the cruise, two days after disembarking in Montril.
“We said we were simply abandoned on the dock, with no one to welcome us or tell us where to go, and they said they have already complained to the harbor master, who they say is responsible for this. But of course the ship didn’t contact us for two days, which doesn’t sit well with them,” he adds.
On the Norwegian Cruise Line side, a company spokesperson clarifies that the couple disembarked “independently” and arrived at the pier “approximately an hour late”
“A cruise ship follows a set itinerary with designated arrival and departure times. Itineraries are carefully coordinated and planned well in advance to ensure that all our guests can have the experience they want”, highlights the spokesperson.
“After several attempts to contact guests using the telephone numbers provided to the company, both personal and emergency, we were unable to speak to them directly. However, we always worked closely with local port agents to ensure that passengers returned to the ship”, adds the Norwegian Cruise Line statement.
Last month, the same cruise company was involved in a similar situation, when eight passengers were late returning to the Norwegian Cruise Line ship on the African island of São Tomé, on March 27th.
In this case, the company argued that the passengers who missed the cruise had gone on a private excursion that was not organized by the company.
