Family of nine with six young children are stranded in remote Alaska after cruise ship left them behind - as they reveal the final insult
A family of nine were left stranded in a remote Alaskan city when their cruise ship left them behind late last week.
The Gaults, of Oklahoma, decided to join extended family members for a reunion onboard the Norwegian Encore - costing the group of 16 about $30,000.
But their trip ended abruptly after Joshua Gault's family of nine disembarked for a Norwegian Cruise Line excursion to a LumberJack show in Ketchikan, Alaska, he told KJRH.
As the event came to an end, he said he and his wife noticed a mad-dash to get back onto the bus that would bring them to the ship.
'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 recounted.
That next bus, though, never showed up.
A family of nine were left stranded in Ketchikan, Alaska after they were told the bus to get back to their cruise ship was full
The Gaults now claim the ticket attendant was not actually checking the stubs - enabling people from another ship to take their seats.
When they realized another bus was not coming to rescue them, Joshua said they called the port authority and a van came to pick up the family - but it was already too late.
They arrived at the port just in time to watch their clothes, medication, passports and the rest of their belongings sail away without them, as they were left stuck in Ketchikan - a city more than 1,500 miles from Anchorage and nearly 300 miles from Juneau.
'You know, it was a nightmare,' Joshua said, describing how he was left with six young children and his 78-year-old mother-in-law - all of whom were on daily medication.
'We all had to quit cold turkey medication these last few days, because it was all on the cruise ship.'
Ketchikan is a city more than 1,500 miles from Anchorage and nearly 300 miles from Juneau
And while most of their passports were transported off the ship, one stayed behind - meaning that the family could not meet the Norwegian Encore at its next destination in Canada.
As they were trying to figure out their options, Joshua said the cruise line issued a $971 fine per person for missing the ship.
He described how he discovered his credit cards were charged nearly $9,000 while he was purchasing flights and hotels to get home.
The Gault family ultimately spent several days traveling through numerous cities and dealing with canceled flights and overnight airport stays.
They were also forced to pay for every little expense, 'all the flights for nine people, all the food for nine people, all the hotel stays,' Joshua said.
The Gault family ultimately spent several days traveling through numerous cities and dealing with canceled flights and overnight airport stays
The Gaults have since arrived back in Oklahoma, with some family members testing positive for COVID.
'So yeah, we're beat down right now,' Joshua told KJRH. 'We're unhealthy and beaten down.'
Still, Joshua and his wife, Cailyn, have been pressing Norwegian Cruise Line for answers.
But when they would call, Cailyn said, the cruise officials would just tell them: 'We're still looking into it, we haven't forgotten about you.'
'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 said.
Norwegian Cruise Line officials said they asked a local port agent to assist the family with booking a hotel for the night
Norwegian Cruise Line officials have since acknowledged that the family of nine 'missed the ship's all-aboard time in Ketchikan, Alaska due to a misstep by a local tour operator.
'When the guests did not return to the ship at the published time, we attempted to contact them but were unable to reach them.
'As such, we alerted the local port agent in Ketchikan and requested they assist the family with booking a hotel for the night.
'As the guests would be unable to downline in the next port of call, Victoria, British Columbia, the port agent also helped the guests with securing flights to Seattle the following day, July 13.'
Cruise line officials added they would reimburse the family for the out-of-pocket expenses they incurred, the fee they incurred from US Customs and Border Patrol and a pro-rated refund for the two cruise days they missed.
'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 on their cruise fare that can be used towards their next voyage.'
The fiasco comes just months after a group of eight Norwegian Cruise Line passengers were left stranded on a remote African island
The fiasco comes just months after a group of eight Norwegian Cruise Line passengers were left stranded on a remote African island.
The passengers had 'missed the all aboard time of 3pm by more than an hour' after they returned from a private tour on March 27, a spokesperson for the cruise line told DailyMail.com
Their passports were then turned over to local port agents, and the group of six Americans and two Australians were left on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe.
They launched a desperate bid to rejoin the ship in the following days, flying through six countries to reach Banjul, the Gambia, where the vessel was set to dock on April 1. However, adverse weather conditions meant the ship never reached shore.
The group finally concluded their nearly 2,000-mile-long voyage to Dakar, Senegal, on April 2, where the cruise line confirmed they re-embarked.
