An adolescent who recently graduated from high school resorted to sharing on Reddit this week seeking advice from the online community regarding whether it was justified to part ways with their parents at a port of call during a Caribbean cruise.
The individual, whose identity remains undisclosed, clarified that the cruise had been a gift for their 18th birthday and was intended to be a family retreat.
Despite the parents being accustomed to all-encompassing resorts, the OP mentioned, “I have always desired to embark on a cruise.”
Per the account, the teen emphasized to the parents the distinct nature of cruise excursions in comparison to land-based vacations and stressed the importance of adhering to the timetable. In essence, “Make sure you adhere to the ship’s schedule.”
Unfortunately, the parents disregarded the counsel.
“It was a week-long cruise, and they refused to return to the ship despite my notifications. They were engrossed in shopping and haggling with the locals. Eventually, I informed them I was heading back to the ship. My mother gestured for me to leave,” the narrative disclosed.
The parents arrived late by roughly 45 minutes and tried reaching out to the teenager via WhatsApp, questioning why the vessel did not wait for them.
Exasperated by the parents’ lack of mindfulness, the individual expressed, “I wanted to shout that they should not cause inconvenience to 3,998 others just because two individuals failed to grasp the concept of sticking to a schedule.”
According to the teen, the parents incurred the expense of booking a pricey flight to catch up with the ship at the subsequent port and expressed discontent towards their child for departing without them.
“I’m clueless about what I should’ve done. They explicitly asserted their competence. I regret ever desiring this. Their blame is making me miserable for moving forward without them,” the Redditor lamented.
As the post was inundated with over 2,000 comments, most users showed solidarity with the teen.
Several commenters expressed disbelief at the parents’ reaction to the scenario, with one remarking, “Do they genuinely believe the ship would wait for 45 minutes? Absolutely not. Both the docks and the ship adhere to a specific schedule.”
Others pondered over the expectations the parents harbored towards the child. “What exactly do they anticipate you could have undertaken? Abducted the captain? Orchestrated a fake drowning? You did not abandon them; they left you behind. Do not allow them to skew the blame onto you in any manner, shape, or form,” another comment articulated.
On multiple occasions, Cruise Fever has reiterated this cautionary advice. Cruise ships will not delay departure due to tardiness resulting from booking excursions through third parties or extending shopping excursions at ports.
The financial burden of arranging transportation to the next port falls on the individuals not timely boarding the ship, and this can often incur substantial costs.
While occasionally a captain may delay departure for a few minutes or half an hour if they are aware of a late passenger endeavoring to return, the sentiments echoed in the comments of this post resonate.
The captain and crew cannot compromise the schedules of others for the sake of one tardy individual.
Moreover, if a ship departs from a port behind schedule, it will need to accelerate to reach the subsequent port punctually. This results in heightened fuel consumption and a bumpier voyage.
Read more: Guidance for navigating the aftermath of missing your ship
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