Even rival cruise lines can step up to help each other out when it comes to the safety and well-being of cruise passengers. After all, not everything goes according to plan, especially with the many variables involved in shore excursions.
A recent shore excursion to Germany highlighted just that when an elderly couple was left behind, simply because they didn’t hear the time change for the bus returning to port.
A Rough Start to the Day
For passengers on Norwegian Dawn, which is currently on an 11-day sailing from Stockholm to Copenhagen, things got a bit bumpy at the start of a shore excursion in Port Warnemunde-Rostock.
A Reddit user, who shared the whole story in a post titled “Shout out to MSC for helping NCL passengers”, stated,
“The weather was hot, our tour bus arrived late because they didn’t have one available so the tour company swapped out a city bus without AC or windows that open.”
According to the post, it was a 90-minute ride and people quickly ran out of water.
“We drank up what water we brought with us. People were yelling to get another bus for the trip back and that we needed water,” the Reddit user recounted.
It’s worth noting that while cruise lines try to offer a great experience on shore excursions, they don’t typically own the tour buses used. They partner with local operators. And sometimes a bus is simply not available or has to be switched out at the last minute.
In this situation, the tour guide decided to move up the departure time for the way back but didn’t quite get the message to everyone. That’s where the problem began for two cruise passengers.
An elderly couple, enjoying their time in the castle gardens, completely missed the memo about the schedule change. They showed up at the bus stop before the originally scheduled time. But the bus had already left.
The original poster said the couple tried to call the cruise line for help but were not able to get anywhere.
MSC Lends a Hand
But MSC Cruises also had a ship in port that day and was more than willing to help the couple out.
According to the post, when they saw the NCL couple stranded, they didn’t hesitate. MSC staff generously offered them a ride back to the ship and, just as importantly, gave them all the bottled water they needed.
“MSC was also in port, they had tours going and they took the couple back. Gave them as much bottled water as they needed too,” the Reddit user shared. “I have to thank MSC for taking care of NCL passengers when NCL wouldn’t.”
Community Comments
The whole story led to hundreds of upvotes and dozens of comments. Many praised the Reddit user for sticking up for the couple.
Others chimed in with their own frustrations about customer service when on recent cruises.
But ultimately, the story highlighted how important it is for people to help each other out, especially when traveling. As another Reddit user shared from a different experience, “I would love to think that if I were in a situation like that someone would help out.”