Jamie Cisco and her daughter, Grace, were at the beach in Catania, Sicily, when they saw their cruise ship moving away from the port without them.
They looked at each other with confusion. “Grace was like, ‘Why is our ship leaving?’” Cisco told USA TODAY. “I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ We were told we had till 5:30 to re-enter the ship to leave again.”
The Norwegian Epic ship separated from the pier on May 30 during high winds, causing a guest to fall from the gangway into the water and leaving others stuck on shore. “Our concern was always the person that fell in that they were OK … but the lack of communication was just completely unacceptable and uncalled for,” the Illinois resident said.
Cisco was among a number of guests temporarily left behind – and it’s not the only recent incident of its kind.
‘Just a free for all’
The pair took the 10-day Mediterranean cruise to celebrate Cisco’s 50th birthday. After leaving the beach, where the gusts were so strong they couldn’t lay their blankets flat on the ground, they returned to the port, only receiving updates of the situation on board from other guests in a Facebook group. Cisco said Norwegian did not immediately communicate updates directly to guests who were on shore for most of the day.
When they arrived, the cruise ship was gone. According to Cisco, a member of the Facebook group wrote that the port authority had ordered the vessel out of port, adding to their confusion.
They walked the 15 to 20 minutes to town and back again, seeing a cruise line employee for the first time around 5:30 p.m., who told them to return two hours later. “Some people opted just to stay there, but there was no water (and) there was very little shade,” she recalled.
Cisco and her daughter also only had what they needed for a beach day. At one point, after she pulled a muscle in her leg while walking around Catania, they had to go searching for pain medicine.
By around 7:15 p.m., the ship had made its way back to the port. “And when they got permission to open the gates, it was just a free-for-all,” Cisco said. “People were just pushing and shoving.”
Back on board, she said the ship’s crew warmly welcomed them back and the captain apologized over the speakers. The incident caused the ship to depart late from Catania, and Cisco said the captain announced the next morning that its planned stop in Naples had been canceled – between half an hour to an hour after they were scheduled to disembark.
Was your cruise itinerary changed?: Here’s what to do next
A May 31 letter to guests, reviewed by USA TODAY, said the ship’s mooring lines parted after three bollards on the pier broke amid “unexpectedly strong gale-force winds.”
“After this incident, the Harbor Master ordered us to leave the port to wait offshore until the wind had calmed down,” the note read.
Guests were given $100 in onboard credit per cabin, but Cisco said she and her daughter missed their $200 excursion in Naples booked outside the cruise line. She plans to submit a claim to her travel insurance provider.
“We get home late on Thursday, so I imagine on Friday I’ll be spending a lot of time on the phone trying to get this sorted.”
Norwegian also gave passengers a 10% future cruise credit, according to the letter Cisco received.
“During this interruption, our crew were actively attending to our guests until they were able to re-embark the ship,” a spokesperson for the cruise line told USA TODAY earlier this week. “As always the safety of our guests and crew is our top priority.” Norwegian did not immediately share a comment on Cisco’s experience.
Does travel insurance cover an incident like this?
While those incidents are relatively rare, it’s not the only one of its kind in recent years. Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Magic ship hit a pier in Jamaica during windy weather in February 2024, forcing it to move away and temporarily leave guests on shore. Winds have also caused MSC Cruises and Cunard Line ships to break from their moorings.
Meghan Walch, Director of Product at InsureMyTrip, said travelers should start by contacting their cruise line, which “will likely (and hopefully) cover expenses that the travelers were forced to pay due to the ship drifting off its moorings.”
In the event of a missed independent excursion like Cisco’s, travel insurance itinerary change benefits can come in handy. “Typically, the cruise line would have to make a change in the itinerary after departure, and there would need to be verification from the cruise line that there was a change in the itinerary,” Walch said in an email. “So, there could be coverage for the missed excursion if there is proof from the cruise line, and all other requirements are met.”
If the incident causes the ship to be late by the plan’s required number of hours, travel delay benefits may take effect – if the policyholder paid for food, transportation or lodging during the delay. Injuries sustained from those kinds of incidents may also fall under emergency medical coverage.
“Again, it’s important to not only know what the cruise line will cover – but travelers should also know what is covered under their specific travel insurance policy,” she added.
Cisco had hoped to visit Sorrento and missed a scheduled limoncello tasting, but she ultimately took the inconvenience in stride. “Thankfully, there’s lots of limoncello in Italy.”
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What happened to guests on land when a cruise ship broke from port
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