CNN
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Eight cruise passengers stranded on the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe have been struggling for days to catch up with a Norwegian Cruise Line ship heading north up Africa's west coast.
Norwegian Cruise Line said passengers were delayed returning to the ship on March 27.
“Eight guests who came to the island on their own or were on a private tour missed the last bid back to the ship and therefore missed the full boarding time of 3pm local time,” the statement said. said.
“While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring that they return to the ship at the published time, which will be widely communicated via the ship's intercom and posted in daily communications and immediately prior to disembarkation. .”
Norwegian Cruise Line said the passenger's passport was handed over to local port officials for collection by the passenger. The cruise line said guests will be responsible for transportation to the next available port of call to reboard the ship. The cruise line said it was working with local authorities and contacting stranded passengers.
A group of eight stranded passengers will travel to six countries to join the ship in Gambia on Sunday, according to South Carolina couple Jill and Jay Campbell, who contacted CNN affiliate WPDE about the situation. The trip took 15 hours.
However, the ship was unable to dock due to low tide and spent another day at sea. The Campbells told WPDE that the group will next aim to reach Senegal, where the ship is expected to make a port call on Tuesday.
The Campbells told WPDE that several members of the group are elderly, one is paralyzed and one is pregnant. They said one member of the group had not taken his heart medication for five days and was feeling unwell.
CNN reached out to Norwegian Cruise Line for more information, but did not immediately receive a response.
After an extended tour in Sao Tome and Principe on March 27, the group's onslaught began.
Jay Campbell said of the tour organizers, “We said, 'We're really running low on time,' and they said, 'No problem, we can get you back in an hour.'” Campbell told WPDE that the flight attendant contacted the captain and told him the passengers were leaving but were likely to be delayed. When they returned, the ship was still in port, but Campbell said the captain would not take them on board.
“The harbor master tried to call the ship, but the captain refused to call,” Campbell told WPDE late last week. “We emailed NCL, which is the NCL customer service emergency number, and they said, 'The only way to contact the ship is to send an email. You’re not responding.’”
The Campbells told WPDE that the group was left without medication and that most of the passengers did not have credit cards accepted in Sao Tome and Principe, so they had to pay thousands of dollars on their Visa cards for the group's lodging and essential supplies. He said he spent it.
The Campbells said a passenger on another tour suffered an emergency and was hospitalized on Sao Tome, leaving her stranded as well. The Campbells were able to contact the passenger's daughter in California and coordinate her return to North America, she said.
The couple boarded the ship on March 20th. The cruise ship Norwegian Dawn arrived at the port of Dakar, Senegal, early Tuesday morning, according to the website CruiseMapper.com.
CNN's Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.