NORWEGIAN DAWN

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Passengers could not disembark in Antsiranana due to pontoon failure

The city of Antsiranana was unable to accommodate the "Norwegian Dawn" as a tourist stopover. The new pontoon was poorly made and does not meet the required standards. It was the first cruise ship of the 2023-2024 season in Antsiranana. The organizers have long planned this return of the cruise season, but it has turned out to be a failure. They have drawn up programs, spent money, but everything has fallen into disrepair. After carrying out the preliminary inspection on site, the captain of the ship refused to dock at the port and disembark its passengers, estimated at 2800. He found that the pontoon wasunreliable, that was inclined and unstable, and that there was a risk of danger for the passengers of the ship, which remained in the port since 6 a.m., but changed the course towards Reunion Island, around 10 a.m., after the administrative formalities. The incident coincided with the visit of the Minister of Fisheries and Blue Economy, Paubert Mahatante Tsimanaoraty. As a member of the government, he decided to go there with the local authorities to see the situation first hand. The entire delegation felt that the pontoon did not meet the standards required to accommodate such a large ship as the "Norwegian Dawn". This continued during a meeting with all the officials involved in tourism, the authorities and the APMF, looking for an urgent solution because the ship plans to return for the second time, on Dec 11.

Group of eight re-embarked in Dakar

The group of eight passengers which had missed the 'Norwegian Dawn' for more than one hour on March 27, finally re-embarked in Dakar on Apri 2. The first attempt to get the guests back on the ship occurred on April 1, when they hoped to re-embark at a port in Banjul, Gambia, some 1,800 miles from São Tomé and Príncipe. However, adverse weather conditions, as well as tidal restrictions meant that the ship could not dock safely. As a result, the guests had to chase the ship to Dakar, a distance of some 100 miles further. The Norwegian Cruise Line helped the passengers by facilitating their visas, and would pay them back for the trip from Gambia to Senegal. The passengers had traveled through seven countries in 48 hours to catch up with the ship.

Group of eight left behind in São Tomé and Príncipe

Eight holidaymakers who did not make it back to the 'Norwegian Dawn' in time have traveled for 15 hours through six different countries to catch up with the ship, so far without success. The passengers showed up too late when the ship wanted to sail from São Tomé and Príncipe on March 27, 2024. The eight guests, who were on the island on a private tour, missed the final call to the ship and therefore did not make the departure time of 3:00 PM LT. The tour operator contacted the captain to report that the passengers were on their way, but would be late. The Harbour Master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call. They sent emails to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), the NCL customer service emergency number, and they said that the only way for them to get in touch with the ship was to send them e-mails, but they were not responding to the emails. Eventually the Sao Tome Coastguard loaded the eight passengers on a boat and took them to the anchored ship, but the captain told the Coastguard to take the passengers back to the island The group was left without their medication and incurred many additional costs, including not having credit cards to use in São Tomé and Príncipe. The passports of the stranded passengers were handed over to local port agents. The Norwegian Cruise Line was working with local authorities and was in contact with the stranded passengers. The group consisted of seven Americans and two Australians, four of which were elderly. One passenger had a heart condition, and another is a paraplegic. There was also a married couple from Delaware, and the wife was pregnant. The group of eight passengers traveled for hours through several countries to reach their ship in Gambia. However, the ship could not dock due to low tide. The group was trying to reach Daakar now, where the ship docked on April 2. Yet another passenger has been without heart medication for days and was very ill. Another passenger, who had been on a different tour, required acute care and was admitted to the São Tomé hospital, leaving her also stranded. The passenger's daughter in California was contacted to coordinate her return to North America. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13260825/Australians-left-stranded-Africa-cruise-ship.html