Parents Miss Cruise Ship, Teen Sails on Without Them

A mom and dad reportedly scolded their teenager for leaving them on the island and allowing the cruise ship to sail to another port without them.

Feeling upset, their child turned to the internet to ask if they were the bad guys for leaving their parents on an island in the Caribbean so they could return to their cruise on time.

In the subreddit “Am I the a**hole?” a post by a user with the handle ProfessionalTax7753 has gone viral, eliciting over 21,000 votes and more than 2,100 comments.

The controversial Reddit post

I graduated from high school back in December. As a gift my parents got me a cruise. It was also for my 18th birthday. It was also a family vacation. We usually stay at all inclusive resorts but I have always wanted to go on a cruise. I told my parents it was different and that if we went on excursions we had to follow the schedule no matter what. Well it was a week-long cruise and they would not head back to the ship when I said it was time to go. They were busy shopping and bargaining with the locals. I finally said that I was heading back to the ship. My mom waved me off. The missed the departure. By a lot. Like 45 minutes. They got ahold of me through WhatsApp. They wanted to know why I didn’t get the boat to wait for them. I wanted to scream that they were not going to inconvenience 3,998 people because two could not understand what a schedule was. They ended up having to fly to the next port from there and it was expensive. They are pissed at me for leaving them behind. I don’t know what I was supposed to do. They literally told me that they knew what they were doing. I wish I had never asked for this. They are making me miserable because I left without them.

The internet sides with teen

Most users assured the original poster (OP) that the blame belonged to the parents.

“This is the bit that baffles me—even if OP had tried/asked, I highly doubt the staff would have even considered delaying departure. Did OP’s parents expect him to kick down the door to the bridge and commandeer the ship until they finished shopping?” asked one reader.

Another pointed out, “And if OP gave up and stayed behind with them that would have been an extra plane ticket, so even more money down the drain. They should be relieved that their kid has a good head on their shoulders but no, they’d rather blame them.”

Far too often, passengers miss their cruises by not following the all-aboard schedules. Last March, eight passengers found themselves stranded in São Tomé and Principe. Meanwhile, an elderly couple got left behind in Spain in April.