Passengers laugh as 'arrogant' tourists demand cruise turns around after showing up late

Imagine going through all the faff of booking a holiday, forking out a small fortune for it and rocking up to the departure point only to realise you've missed your chance by mere moments.

Well, this was exactly the case for one pair of 'arrogant' tourists who showed up to a cruise ship setting sail from an Adriatic port in southern Italy and demanded the colossal turn back around for them earlier this week (15 August).

CEN

Passengers who did in fact make it on board in time captured the entire ordeal on camera and can be heard laughing at the fellow cruise-lovers' mishap.

In the video, the latecomers can be seen waving their arms and calling out to the captain of the cruise ship to let them come on board.

The not-so-dynamic duo pace nervously up and down the fenced platform at the port of Bari which is in Italy's Puglia Region.

They can be heard repeatedly shouting in Italian: "Sir Captain, please!"

I mean, I'd be screaming too if I just found out I was going to miss a nine-day tour of the beautiful Mediterranean.

However, it seemed no amount of arm waving and begging could do the trick as the gangway had already been hauled in.

Local media reports that they were eventually denied access to the ship.

The ship in question was an MSC Splendida - a USD 550 million (GBP 430 million) 3,900-passenger luxury cruise ship operated by MSC Cruises.

MSC Cruises has not yet released a statement on the ordeal.

President of the Southern Adriatic Port System Authority, Ugo Patroni Griffi, offered an apology to the holidaymakers saying: "I am very sorry about this episode."

"They tried to ask the ship to turn back or at least stop operations," the official added. "Obviously, it is impossible for cruise ships. They have precise schedules and are very expensive operations."

CEN

One of the 4,000 guests on board, a Brit who who said her family had spent £8,000 for the cruise, slammed the ship's crew for abandoning the couple at the port.

"I was on that cruise with my family when it happened," she told MailOnline. "We were at lunch when they made only one announcement for two Italian-sounding names and then nothing further.

"The cruise didn't leave even a minute over time. We felt there was little to no effort to find those people whether they were there or not."

It's clear the internet couldn't wait to share their opinions on the matter, with one social media user supporting the captain's decision writing: "If you're late, the ships leave, the planes leave, the trains leave. Do we really always want to wait for someone who is late?"

"How can it be assumed that a ship with thousands of passengers and a need to respect maritime traffic schedules has to adapt to the rudeness of some latecomers?" hit out another.

A final social media user joked: "They could have picked them up with a lifeboat."

What do you make of it?