Family hit with over $12K in costs after cruise ship left them standing on the dock

Going on a cruise with your family is something that most people would think is the trip of a lifetime.

No matter where you’re cruising, it’s an opportunity to create lasting memories while going on a dream vacation.

But one family’s vacation turned into a nightmare when they were hit with over $12,000 in fees after their cruise ship left them standing on the dock as it pulled away.

Oklahoma family abandoned by Norwegian Cruise Line

An Oklahoma family says they were left stranded in Alaska during a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line.

Caitlyn Gault was on the trip with her husband Josh and 16 family members from three different states.

The family planned a reunion on a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship, but when they stopped in Ketchikan, things took a turn for the worse.

Nine of the 16 family members got off of the ship to take an excursion to a lumberjack show, but they weren’t allowed to get back on the bus that was supposed to take them to the port on time before the ship departed.

Buses were waiting to take passengers back to the ship, but Gault said her group was left behind when non-ticketed passengers from a different ship were given their seats.

“We reached out to the Port Authority to let them know we were left behind by the excursion operator, and they sent a van to retrieve all nine of us at the designated pickup location, where we had been waiting since the last full bus left,” she said.

Gault also noted that just a few minutes from the port, their driver “got a call that the ship refused to wait and pulled the gangway.”

As a result, Gault and her family watched as the Norwegian Encore sailed away while their passports, medication, and clothing were still aboard the vessel.

One of the children had special needs and needed their medication, according to Gault.

Gault said the cruise line issued a $971 fine per person for missing the boat, which amounted to around $9,000.

The outrageous fee comes from a federal law stating that the passengers must visit a foreign port before returning to the US. 

However, Gault said they couldn’t follow the law and catch up with the next boat at its port of call in Canada since their passports were on the ship.

The nightmare got worse

The stranded family had to get home to Tulsa from Alaska, which took days with several stops in different cities, all out of their own pockets.

In total, Gault says her family ended up with another $12,000 in expenses including the cost of flights and accommodations, which brought the total cost of being stranded to around $21,000.

That’s on top of the actual $30,000 they initially spent on the cruise.

NCL told FOX Business that the incident was due to a local tour operator’s mistake, and they planned to reimburse the family the $9,000 fee imposed by Border Patrol.

They also offered them a 20% discount on any future trips with the cruise line.

“We want to make sure policies are procedures are put in place by Norwegian and their sponsored excursion operators, so this never happens to another family,” said Gault.

Read All About It will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.