“Now You Know to Be 25 Minutes Early” — Late Cruise Passenger Denied Boarding Access

A cruise passenger late to her ship's boarding time uploaded a video showing the aftermath of what it's like being left behind from a cruise company, and she wasn't getting much sympathy from folks online.

Alexis (@alexisb639) posted a TikTok showing the frustration and sadness passengers were experiencing in the parking lot once it sunk in that they weren't going to be let back on board.

"We didn't make it," Alexis says before pouting into the camera. Off camera, you can hear another person speaking into a phone who says, "I was not able to get into the ship. Someone else can be heard crying out of frame as well.

Alexis then narrates, showing off luggage in the parking lot. "They won't let us in cause we were 25 minutes late," she says, showing a closed gate with a security guard standing at a booth. "Well not even, we were here before 3, they won't let us through the gate."

The despondent tardy cruise passenger can still be heard weeping loudly off-camera. "Got people crying cause a lot of us couldn't get in. Bye Princess," the woman states, recording the ship in the distance, a sense of longing in her voice.

There are plenty of examples on social media of cruise customers being barred from entering ships, even mid voyage. A Norwegian Cruise made headlines in April of 2024 after passengers took too long to return to the boat after it stopped off in Sao Tome and Principe.

The voyagers disembarked from the ship during a scheduled port stop in order to take a local tour. However, it appears the group either dilly-dallied too long or were misinformed as to the boat's departure time because when they arrived, they weren't allowed back on board.

According to Guardian, the passengers' activities on land ended up taking more time than they thought and they enlisted help of the local coast guard. Authorities were able to get the passengers "motored to the ship before it set sail" but management said the guests weren't allowed to return.

Attempts at getting back on the ship were costly, according to cruise customers Jill and Jay Campbell. a Garden City, South Carolina couple. Since they were the only passengers with a Visa card, they ended up spending $5,000 to try and make it back aboard.

Other folks in the party that was left behind, two Australian travelers, said personal effects and medication were left aboard. Ultimately, they were able to get back on the ship, but only after they secured their own means of travel to a port in Gambia, the next scheduled stop as part of the Norwegian liner's journey.

However, that stop was ultimately canceled, which meant the travelers had to then go to Senegal, which was "the final West African port call of its journey."

Fear, stress, and discomfort were high in the six-country land trek for passengers to reunite with their cruise ship. One of the guests was quadriplegic and another woman in the group was pregnant.

A representative from Norwegian did say that the incident was "unfortunate" but it was ultimately the guests' responsibility to ensure they made it back to the boat on time. One travel lawyer from Sydney, Australia spoke to the situation and echoed Norwegian's stance.

"Terms and conditions would make returning to the ship on time essential," they remarked, before adding that although passengers left behind on land may feel slighted and abandoned, cruise lines have to make decisions for the majority of those on board.

"From a consumer’s perspective, it’s harsh but from a ship’s perspective, are you going to hold up the cruise for an hour or two because they were slow to get on board? Are you going to inconvenience 1,000 passengers for the sake of four?"

There was this recent Cruise Blog post where someone penned a minute-by-minute recap of how some of their fellow passengers missed departure time. In the piece, they discussed "pier runners" which makes missing boats at port seem like a common phenomena among cruise passengers.

Like this example below:

In the same article, the author mentioned that "shore excursions" are backed by the cruise, which means that if for any reason an experience on land is delayed or runs over the ship's departure time, all costs associated with said excursion are covered by the cruise company.

Numerous TikTokers who responded to Alexis' post didn't seem all too sympathetic with her plight. A bunch commented that they were taught to never be late. Someone else quipped that they were so afraid of being left behind they never disembarked from the ship once it reached port.