A family ended up having a hellish vacation after their cruise ship left them stranded.
The Gault family embarked on a trip on the Norwegian Encore cruise ship, with their party-of-16 forking out an eye-watering $30,000 between them.
During their travels, nine of the 16 members of the group went on a Norwegian Cruise Line excursion to a LumberJack show in Ketchikan, Alaska - but disaster struck when they tried to get back to the port.
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 âThe bus is full, and you know you got to wait for the next bus.'"
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The next bus never came, however.
According to the family, the ticket attendant wasn't properly checking people's documents, meaning that people from another ship were able to take the Gault family's seats.
When they realized another bus wasn't going to come for them, Joshua contacted the port authority who sent a van to come collect the group-of-nine; but by the time they got to the port, the cruise ship had already left.
Making matters worse, the family were then unable to meet the ship at the next port in Canada as one of the passports needed was left onboard.
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"It was a nightmare," Joshua said of the ordeal.
"Six kids on board, minor children, and a 78-year-old mother-in-law, all on medication.
"We all had to quit cold turkey medication these last few days because it was all on the cruise ship."
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Adding insult to injury, for each passenger who missed the ship, Joshua says he was hit with a gut-wrenching $971 fine.
He only learnt of the fee while using his credit card to try and book flights home and saw that he'd been charged almost $9,000.
As a result of this, it took the Gaults days to get back home and they were forced to foot the bill for any accommodation, travel and food.
Since returning home, the family have been in touch with the cruise ship line to file a complaint.
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A statement has since been issued by Norwegian Cruise.
It reads: "On the afternoon of Friday, July 12, a family of nine guests missed the shipâs all aboard time in Ketchikan, Alaska due to a misstep by a local tour operator.
"Then the guests did not return to the ship at the published time, we attempted to contact them but were unable to reach them.
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"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."
It added that it will be reimbursing the family for 'all of the out-of-pocket expenses they incurred'.
The fines they were hit with will also be refunded and they'll get a pro-rated refund for the two cruise days they missed, the statement continued to say.
UNILAD has contacted Norwegian Cruise Line for comment.
Niamh Shackleton