Stranded Garden City couple's frantic bid to reunite with cruise ship in Africa continues

(WPDE) — The Garden City couple who was stranded on the African island of Sao Tome on Friday still have not been able to get back to their ship.

They were left behind after they didn’t make it back in time before their Norwegian Cruise ship left port.

Jill and Jay Campbell tell ABC 15 News their party of eight people spent 15 hours traveling through six countries to reach a port in Gambia Sunday to meet up with their cruise ship.

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However, when they arrived, they found out that the ship was unable to dock due to low tides.

It instead spent another day at sea.

Now the Campbell’s and their party are scrambling to find a way to get to Senegal, which is where the ship should be in port on Tuesday.

They said the journey there will be no easy task.

“What we looked at was some type of van transportation for eight people, the quadriplegic woman included, driving from here. We have to cross the ferry to get into Senegal. We just learned from the gentleman that the ferry hadn’t been working, but he said no problem, if the ferry is not working we will get another little boat and then pick up a car on the other side. And then once we get on the other side of Senegal, it’s another four-hour drive,” said Jay Campbell.

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They added that one of their group has been without his heart medication for five days and got very sick Sunday.

Jill and Jay also told ABC 15 News about another passenger from the cruise ship who had been on a different tour, and while on it, had some type of medical emergency causing her to experience memory and vision loss.

She was hospitalized and also stranded in Sao Tome.

The Campbells were able to reach her daughter back in San Fransisco. Together they helped coordinate getting her on a flight from Sao Tome to Lisbon.

Now she’s hopefully on a flight back to North America. However, they said she’s not being escorted, and they haven’t been able to reach her daughter to find out if she made it.

“We put an air tag on her mother so that her daughter could keep track of where she is. Well, the air tag is saying she’s still in Lisbon right now. However, she should be on a flight right now from Toronto to San Francisco,” said Jill Campbell.

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Jill and Jay said they still have not been contacted by anyone from Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We reached out to Norwegian Cruise Lines to see if their ship was unable to port and to see if they had been in contact with the passengers but did not hear back in time for the publication of this article.

ABC 15 News will continue to update you on their journey to get back home as we learn more.