The Gault Family’s Alaskan Nightmare on NCL, The Joy of Cruising Podcast, 12/16

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I present to you something quite different than what you are used to hearing from me. It’s a cruise news story—an absolutely amazing one. First, let me welcome to the show Cailyn. Joshua is an entrepreneur in Tulsa, Oklahoma who is a central figure in said cruise news story, and as a busy entrepreneur was not able to join us. I don’t normally cover cruise news. I leave that up to others who are renown and much better than I am about covering that sort of thing. However, Cailyn and her family’s story transcends cruise news. It was covered extensively worldwide by mainstream media. Besides, one topic I do like to bring to the cruising community are human interest stories—and the Gault's story is a human-interest tale on steroids. Let me summarize before I bring on Cailyn to give us the real deal:

In July 2024, Cailyn and her family of 9 embarked on Norwegian Encore for a family reunion cruise to Alaska. In total, 16 relatives were on the trip at a total cost of $30,000. Joshua and his immediate family, wife Cailyn, six children, and his 78-year-old mother-in-law, Sharron, went on an excursion which I’m sure many of you who have cruised to Alaska recall fondly—a Lumberjack show in Ketchikan. Cailyn and family did the right thing in that they chose an excursion offered by the cruise line. (I always recommend on various Facebook cruise groups that’s it’s best to choose an excursion offered by the cruise line versus an independent excursion because cruise line excursions come with a promise to never leave the port without you…) Upon the end of the Lumberjack show, Cailyn and family went to board the shuttle bus back to the port but it was full and they were told to wait for the next one—which never came. After a panicked phone call, a van was dispatched to pick them up but by the time it got them back to the port, Joshua and family watch the Encore sail off—with passports, clothes and prescription medications onboard. Over the ensuing several days, they had to piece together a series of flights, hotel stays (or overnight airport stays, and of course meals enroute to Tulsa.) Oh yeah, while their Alaska souvenirs were left on the ship, they did manage to bring something home with them—Covid for several family members! Wow, I hurt even reporting this; imagine the hurt felt by the family members left behind. But it gets worse. NCL fined those left behind nearly $1000 each due to some technicality regarding US Customs and Border Patrol fees—which was charged immediately to Joshua’s credit cards.
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Cailyn joins us to share the ordeal in their own words as well as talk about the aftermath.

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