18-Year-Old Goes Viral for Abandoning Parents in the Caribbean to Board a Cruise Ship on Time

A Reddit user is going viral for leaving their parents in the Caribbean to board their cruise ship on time, and the story may leave you in a divided internet camp.

Picture this: your parents generously gift you a lovely family vacation as a combined gift for your recent high school graduation and 18th birthday celebration. It’s your first cruise, which is something you’ve always wanted to experience. You’re enjoying your time with your parents on one of the Caribbean islands the ship is stopping at, but when it’s time to board to leave for the next port, your parents won’t accompany you, so you head back on to the ship without them.

This is the story of a Reddit user who posted last week to ask an online community of 17 million people whether they were in the wrong for abandoning their parents. The person explained their side of the story, and even said they tried to warn their parents that cruise ships follow strict schedules and would not wait for them between ports.

“Well it was a week-long cruise and they would not head back to the ship when I said it was time to go,” the teen  wrote. “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. [They] missed the departure. By a lot. Like 45 minutes. They got [a hold] 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.”

The teen said their parents ended up having to take an expensive flight to the next port, and are still mad that they were left behind.

“I wish I had never asked for this,” the poster concluded. “They are making me miserable because I left without them.”

The internet weighs in on the viral Reddit thread about the cruise parents

Most if not all of the more than 2,000  responses to the original post stated that the original poster was not to blame, and that their parents brought the unfortunate situation upon themselves. Multiple people even recommended that the original poster take their parents to ask a cruise employee if they would have delayed the ship’s departure to wait for disembarked passengers. Many others even suggested the parents should be grateful that they only had to pay for two plane tickets as opposed to three.

“Used to work on a cruise ship, they incur serious and potentially multiple fees if they're delayed leaving port,” one user responded. “They wouldn't wait unless a significant portion of the crew/passengers were for some reason delayed getting back on board. If you had tried to stop them leaving they may have tried to get a hold of your parents as a gesture of goodwill/safeguarding but even if they had got hold of them and they would be too delayed, the same thing would have happened. If you tried to stop it again, they would have literally removed you from the ship or made you come back on board without them regardless.”

The person went on to explain that cruise ship staff and excursion teams always make clear to passengers when it is time to return as well as the fact that the ship will not wait for more than a certain amount of time. “You're not the one at fault here,” another member reassured. “You clearly told your parents about the schedule, and they chose to ignore it. Cruises run on tight schedules and can't wait for a few people, so you did the right thing by making sure you got back on time. It's unfortunate that your parents missed the boat, but that's on them for not listening and respecting the cruise timetable. They should understand the importance of following the rules, especially when it affects so many other people. You handled the situation responsibly.”

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