Violeta and Doug Saunders left ‘traumatised’ after being left stranded on African island

A Bayside couple who were left stranded on a remote island in Africa after their cruise ship left without them say the ordeal has been “extremely traumatic”.

A Melbourne couple who were left stranded on a remote African island after their cruise ship left without them say the ordeal has been “extremely traumatic”.

Violeta and Doug Saunders were among eight tourists stopped from reboarding their luxury cruise liner after they returned late from a private day tour last week in São Tomé, off Africa’s west coast.

The passengers – six Americans, including a pregnant woman, and the Victorian couple – were dumped on the dock with only their credit cards and passports.

They were forced to fork out thousands of dollars to travel to Gambia to meet the Norwegian Cruise Line ship at its next port of call.

But the cruise was unable to dock at Gambia due to a low tide, with the group then travelling on to Dakar in Senegal where they have now rejoined the ship.

Violeta and Doug Saunders were among eight tourists stopped from reboarding their luxury cruise liner. Picture: Supplied

Ms Saunders, who uses a mobility scooter due to a serious medical condition, said she felt “completely powerless”.

“It was a mess, stressful and extremely traumatic,” she said.

“Doug has a heart condition and he didn’t have access to his medication. His hearing aids, contact lenses, everything was left on the ship. We had no underwear, no clothes, just our passports.

“We had no control over anything, they spoke Portuguese with very little English.”

The couple, from the Bayside area of Melbourne, said despite the efforts of the local coast guard, which rushed the group to the ship before it was due to set sail, the captain would not allow the late guests to board.

“We were about an hour late, but we made contact with the ship and they knew we were on our way,” Ms Saunders said.

“The ship or captain wouldn’t talk to us while we were standing on the port. They weren’t doing anything to help us.

“We think that duty of care was not followed through in any shape or form.”

Ms Saunders on a West African coast guard ship that tried to chase the Norwegian Dawn cruise liner that left her and seven other passengers stranded. Picture: Supplied

Ms Saunders said they have spent more than $7000 on flights, transport and hotels, in an attempt to reconnect with the ship.

“We spent one week on the cruise and then one week chasing the ship trying to get back on it,” she said.

“We only had our MasterCard as our cash was on the ship, and MasterCard doesn’t work in Africa, only Visa. If it wasn’t for the Americans on our ship, we would have had no money.”

The vessel, Norwegian Dawn, departed Cape Town for the three-week cruise to Barcelona on March 20.

A Norwegian Cruise Lines spokesperson said the company would reimburse the passengers for travel costs from Gambia to Dakar despite the “series of unfortunate events outside of (their) control”.

They confirmed eight guests had rejoined the ship as of Tuesday morning local time.

They previously said in a statement it was a “very unfortunate situation” and that it was the passenger’s responsibility to be back on board the ship at the “published time”.

“When the guests did not return to the vessel at the all aboard time, their passports were delivered to the local port agents to retrieve when they returned to the port, as per the regular protocol,” they said.

“Given that these guests were on a private tour and did not return to the ship at the communicated all aboard time, they are responsible for any necessary travel arrangements to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call, per our protocol.”