The tourists, comprising two Australians and six Americans, had to go through multiple nations on their own in an attempt to meet up with the ship.
The group was traveling up the African coast for 21 days on board the Norwegian Dawn, a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, which sailed from Cape Town, South Africa, on March 20.
The voyage was scheduled to terminate on April 10 in Barcelona, Spain.
However, they took a private excursion on March 27 and arrived back at the ship late.
They said that the local coastguard attempted to get them on board the ship but were denied access after their tour operator informed the cruise captain that they would be tardy in rejoining the ship.
