Teenage boy leaves his parents on an island after missing their cruise departure

“I told my parents it was different and if we were going on a field trip we had to stick to the schedule no matter what,” the Reddit user said.

To avoid any problems, the teenager explicitly warned his parents about the strict schedules on cruise ships. Despite these warnings, disaster struck during a port call. The family devoted themselves to shopping and exploring local markets, oblivious to the approaching departure time. The teenager's repeated pleas to return to the ship were ignored, leaving them with a heartbreaking decision. Faced with the prospect of missing the cruise altogether, they boarded the ship without their parents.

“They missed the start. Greatly. Like 45 minutes. They contacted me via WhatsApp. They wanted to know why I hadn’t taken the boat to wait for them,” says the teenager.

“I wanted to scream that they weren’t going to inconvenience 3,998 people because two of them didn’t understand what a schedule was,” they continue. “They ended up having to fly to the next port, and that was expensive. They're mad at me for leaving them behind. »

The incident sparked heated debate online, with most sympathizing with the difficult decision and recognizing the importance of cruise times.

“The docks and the ship have a schedule to respect. They are adults and they must be responsible for coming back on time. This is something you figured out in less than six months as an adult. At least you won’t need to go on vacation with them after this,” proclaims one Reddit commenter.

“What exactly do they think you could have done?” Did you kidnap the captain? Did you stage your own drowning? said another.

No cruise line wants passengers to miss their departure time, and each line has different protocols when it comes to scheduling. That said, if you miss your cruise, you will need to purchase a plane ticket to the next port.

This is not the first report of passengers getting caught up on excursions and not arriving at the ship on time this year. Eight travelers on a cruise to Africa found themselves stranded on São Tomé and Príncipe, an island just east of Equatorial Guinea, in April. In this case, the group claimed to have asked the independent organized tour guide to call the ship in advance to explain its delay. Despite their efforts, they were not allowed to board the ship at anchor.