More than 40 Aussies stranded in LA after cruise confusion

More than 40 Australians are stuck in Los Angeles after being left behind by a cruise ship.

They were due to set sail on Princess Cruises’ Sapphire Princess to travel from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires.

But they never boarded due to visa confusion.

Press PLAY below to hear why 42 Australians were blocked from boarding the cruise

“We’d all been stopped because we did not have this visa for Chile,” cruise-goer Kay Jones told Tony Jones, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

The passengers have tried to have the stuff up corrected, but they’ve had no luck.

“The implication was that it’s our fault, we should have known, and of course we didn’t know because we hadn’t been told by Princess Cruises that we needed to do this,” Ms Jones said.

“They gave the quote that ‘You should have been told by your travel agent’ but those of us amongst us who have used a travel agent were told that they knew nothing about it either.”

With the possibility of a five-week wait for a Chile visa, some of the passengers, including Ms Jones, have had to book flights home from LA at their own cost.

“We’ve spent probably $5000 to get back home,” Ms Jones said.

In a statement, Princess Cruises says it’s continuing to “work closely with affected guests to offer alternate bookings on a case-by-case basis”.

Image: James D. Morgan / Getty