They Missed Their Boat. Then Things Got Nuts

Their cruise adventure—or misadventure—made headlines earlier this year: A group of passengers from Norwegian Cruise Lines ship Dawn got stranded on the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe. They had car trouble while on an island tour they booked themselves and failed to return to the ship on time. Barely failed to return, as Bridget Read points out in a bonkers deep dive into what happened for Curbed. The ship was still in the port, but the captain refused to bend the rules to let them back on. At that point, they learned the harsh reality of cruise life: They were on their own now, with the cruise line under no obligation to help them find lodging or travel, or otherwise help them get back to the ship or home. Then came another bizarre twist.

The eight passengers who got stranded were six Americans and two Australians, including a pregnant woman, a woman in need of a motorized scooter, and older people without their meds. They originally planned to go their separate ways, but then they learned there was a ninth passenger from the Dawn stranded on the island—an elderly woman from California who appeared to have had a stroke and was now struggling to understand where she was or what was happening. The eight decided to remain together to help her. The story details how they eventually made it back to ship—after being vilified as the "Late Eight" by other passengers—by traveling through several countries with one functioning credit card, and how they arranged with the elderly woman's family to get her on a plane home.

But another main focus of the story is on how cruise lines can get away with the lack of help in such situations:

• "The ocean itself functions as a kind of giant loophole in which no government authority is technically in charge," writes Read. "Cruisers love to say that ships are like small cities; they have jails, morgues, and medical centers. But they're more like lawless autonomous zones with go-cart tracks and Imax theaters. No one knows exactly how much crime, injury, and death occurs in the loophole."

And it's all spelled out in the fine print of the tickets. (Read the full story.)