Struth! Epic Fail of Norwegian proportions - no room for you in Nassau

Port at Nassau

 IN his continuing search for the more weird, whacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says it's embarrassing enough for a hotel to have to tell you that, sorry, they've overbooked and don't have a room for you for the night.

But in the Bahamas, port authorities at Nassau have just gone one further – a couple of Fridays ago they had to tell the Captain of 156,000 tonne cruise ship Norwegian Epic, with 4,100 passengers aboard that, sorry, we've overbooked and we don't have a berth for you for today.

Norwegian Epic

To say that shipping company Norwegian Cruise Lines and those 4,100 passengers were "not happy, Jan" at being told to go away and find somewhere else, would be an understatement. And a resort next to where the vessel would have berthed was more than fuming at having lost an estimated US$100,000 from all those passengers it invites to use its restaurants, snack outlets, numerous bars, sporting facilities and water park.

What makes it all the more strange is that Nassau has only five berths, and Norwegian Epic visits there every Friday throughout winter.

While authorities are trying to explain how they got it so wrong, a local newspaper is suggesting that Nassau replace its current advertising slogan "Life Needs the Caribbean. You Need a Passport," with "Nassau: We'll see if we can squeeze you in."