The family-of-nine endured a journey from hell to get back home following the major mix-up

One family was left completely stranded and forced to pay thousands after a cruise ship left them behind for an extremely frustrating reason.

The Gault family, who hail from Oklahoma in the US, were excited to board the Norwegian Encore for a family reunion trip which ended up costing around a hefty $30,000 for the group of 16.

Nine of the family members on the cruise went to a LumberJack show in Ketchikan, Alaska, but were met with a pretty major mix-up when they tried to get back to the port via a bus pick-up.

Opening up about the ordeal, one of the passengers, Joshua Gault, told KJRH: “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’.”

Unfortunately, the bus never came back for the family – despite them all having tickets.

So, they rung up the port authority and a van came to pick them up, but it was sadly too late as the cruise ship had already set sail.

The family had no other option but to watch on as their passports, medicine, clothes and all the rest of their belongings left the port without them.

“You know, it was a nightmare. Six kids on board, minor children, and a 78-year-old mother-in-law, all on medication.” Gault explained.

“We all had to quit cold turkey medication these last few days because it was all on the cruise ship.”

As if it couldn’t get even worse, while some of the family’s passports were able to be transported off the ship – one stayed behind which meant that they couldn’t meet the ship at the next port in Canada.

What was originally planned as a lovely family reunion trip turned into a tiresome journey home spanning several days, cities, baggage pick-ups, overnight airport stays and cancelled flights.

Gault said that they paid for everything including ‘all the flights for nine people, all the food for nine people, all the hotel stays’.

Not only that, but Gault claimed the cruise line also issued a $971 fine per person for missing the ship, adding: “You know, Norwegian treating this like it was a customer service issue rather than it was an emergency is, I think, the worst part about it.”

“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’,” Cailyn Gault said.

The cruise line has since issued a statement on the matter earlier this week (16 July).

It begins: “On the afternoon of Friday, July 12, a family of nine guests 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 that 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.”

The statement went on to confirm that the cruise line will be reimbursing the family for ‘all of the out-of-pocket expenses they incurred’ over the two days as a result of missing the ship in Ketchikan, including meals and accommodations.

“Reimbursements will be processed once receipts for these expenses are provided to us,” they went on.

“Additionally, we have already initiated the process to refund the family for the fee imposed by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, as a result of the guests not visiting a foreign port prior to returning to the U.S., as required when an itinerary originates from the U.S. in accordance with the Passenger Vessel Services Act.

“In addition, these guests will be receiving 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 of their cruise fare that can be used towards their next voyage.”