You are warned about this very prominently when you leave the ship. With the exception of the medical emergency, it's the passengers' fault. I'm disabled too, I had a tour go overtime, we made them cut it short because we didn't wasn't to be in the exact situation described in the article we were amply warned about.

What's actually newsworthy here is the cruise line actually covered the travel costs of the passengers to reunite with the ship. It's more a point in the company's favor than anything else.

This is very common and not newsworthy. Feels like it was paid for by a competitor.

Cruise ships have thousands of passengers. If the ship waited for latecomers, no cruise ship would ever be able to stick to its schedule.

A couple of years ago, I traveled to a tiny town in southern Greenland to visit a friend. After having been there for a week, a cruise ship suddenly appeared on the ocean and a shit ton of tourists invaded the town for just a single day. They left trash everywhere and had the locals do random plays and entertainment stunts for them, and then left before sundown. I didn't see a single person buy something at the local bar or café (shits expensive in Greenland, so they probably waited to buy it cheaper back on the ship).

None of the locals enjoyed it, but had to endure it regularly to get a few critical dimes out of the tourists. It felt so fucking wrong and dirty. Fuck cruise ships and everyone supporting that industry.

So?

Cruise ships are abominations. Burning huge amounts of bunker fuel so people can take their hotel room with them as they travel. It truly disgusts me and I judge the shit out of people who go on them.