A distraught couple looked on in tears as a cruise ship sailed away with their young children on board after they missed the departure time.

The woman had reportedly been late to arrive at the port in Nassau, Bahamas, and her husband disembarked the ship - leaving the children in the care of relatives - to look for her.

The cruise ship broke with protocol and waited an additional half an hour for the guests and left after consultation with the family.

Dramatic footage recorded by passengers on board the Norwegian Breakaway shows the parents, from the US, racing to catch the ship as it set off on its three-day journey back to its home port in New York.

Footage shows the woman waving her arms in the air and clasping her hands as the cruise ship sails away

In this image, the father (pictured in a black T-shirt) stands with a staff member as he waits for his wife

The father leaps from a buggy after picking up his wife and attempts to flag down the departing ship

The cruise ship was on a seven-night cruise from New York to Nassau, Bahamas, and back

DO YOU KNOW THE WOMAN? Do you know the woman in the video? Email chris.kitching@mailonline.co.uk. Advertisement

In one clip, the father jumps off a buggy and waves his arms, while his wife drops her bags, falls to her knees and clasps her hands in front of her chest as she begs the crew to stop, but by then it was too late.

Norwegian Cruise Line said that the mother had been late for the cruise ship's departure.

It said: 'The onboard team located her husband and children on board but the family was not able to reach her, nor did they know when she would be returning.

'Due to the circumstances, the ship went beyond normal protocol and waited an additional half an hour for the guest.

'When she had still not returned and following consultation with the family, it was decided that the husband would disembark with their travel documents to wait for his wife while the children would stay with their uncle and his family on the ship for the remainder of the voyage.

'The company offered travel and lodging assistance to the couple and arrangements were made for them to reunite with the ship upon her return to New York on April 24.'

Passenger Brady Forbes told MailOnline Travel that the parents had at least two children - a boy aged around nine and a girl aged around 12 - on board when the 4,000-passenger ship left Nassau without them on 21 April.

Forbes said the father and children were on the ship as it prepared to leave, but the mother had not returned from a land excursion.

He said: ‘After that, the husband went out to look for the wife and the ship gave them more time than normal.

After leaping from the buggy, the mother runs to the edge of the dock, as her husband (left) approaches her

The mother gestures towards the ship before dropping to her knees and pleading for the crew to stop

The mother was left on land when the Norwegian Breakaway set off from the Bahamas for New York

HOW OFTEN ARE CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS LEFT BEHIND? Raphael Giacardi, Travelzoo's cruise expert, said passengers almost missing their ships after a day at port are a more common sight than most people might think. He said they even have a name: pier runners. Giacardi told MailOnline Travel: 'These are generally a source of amusement for people already on board who cheer them on as they sweat their way back to the ship. 'For the few who do arrive too late, however, it’s hardly a laughing matter. All cruise lines apply the same rule: if you miss the ship, the joke’s on you. 'You will have to cover the cost to re-join the ship - or even return home if getting back on board isn’t an option.' He said cruise lines run on tight schedules and a ship might not always be able to make up lost time. He added: 'Any delay leaving one port might reduce the time you can spend at the next one, affecting the holidays of the thousands who made it back on board in good time. 'Allocated time slots in ports also dictate when a ship has to leave - because another one is coming. 'As a result, it’s very important you check carefully when’s the latest time to come back on board – this can change from day to day, so don’t assume it’s the same every time. Additionally, when you’re sailing across time zones, make sure your watch is on local time.' People who miss the boat should contact the port agent, who can contact the ship and cruise line. They can make necessary arrangements to get back on board, if possible, at the passenger's expense, said Giacardi. Failing that, people should contact the travel agent they booked with or, as a last port of call, their country's local embassy or consulate, he said. Advertisement

‘They found the wife but obviously not in time as the ship sailed away.

'Both husband and wife were not able to make the ship in time after they missed it. The kids stayed on the ship with supervision.'

Forbes said he doesn’t know the family, but he shared an elevator with two of the children after the incident and they told him what had happened.

He said: 'The children seemed really upset that their parents had missed the boat, but when we talked this was a few days after the incident.'

He said he didn't see the parents again until the ship docked in New York on April 24, but he doesn't know how they travelled back to the US.

A man who uploaded a video on YouTube said it was believed the children had other relatives on board.

It is not known why the mother arrived late, but viewers offered little sympathy.

One woman wrote on YouTube: 'You are told again and again what time to be back on the boat, generally an hour before the ship leaves port. You can't blame the ship's captain for keeping to a schedule.

'How they did not stick together as a family boggles my mind. What nitwits.'

YouTube viewers had little sympathy for the mother (left), who was comforted by her husband (right)

The Norwegian Breakaway was on a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas and Bermuda from New York (file photo)

In this video grab, the Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship departs New York for the Bahamas on 17 April

Another viewer added: ‘And that’s why you get back to the ship early and don’t leave your kids on board.’

A four-and-a-half minute YouTube clip uploaded by passenger Jaron Frieden shows the husband waiting for his wife with a staff member before picking her up in a buggy on the other side of the port and racing back towards Norwegian Breakaway.

A man tells the camera: ‘This gentleman appears to be distraught that his family is not around and it’s 10 minutes past departure.’

In the clip, the man says the couple has three children.

Frieden wrote on YouTube: 'We saw several people running late and started taping. This couple was the latest and we later found out that their kids were not with them on shore, but on the boat with relatives.

'We followed up with the crew and they said they were all safe. We really were hoping they made it or they turned around for them. Posting this so others can see how important is to be back to the ship on time. Just terrible.'

In a two-minute video posted online by passenger Scott Thomas, a man tells the camera: ‘You see that right there? That is someone that has missed the boat and apparently she has her kids on the boat and she’s not on there. ‘That right there is not cool. She was yelling, “My kids are on there”.’

A woman adds: ‘I didn’t think they would do that. I guess I was wrong.’

The man responds: ‘I told you they’d do that. When it’s 5:30 it’s 5:30, not 5:31.’

BRITISH WOMAN SWAM AFTER CRUISE SHIP WHICH LEFT WITHOUT HER Susan Brown was pictured at Easter Mass on the island of Madeira before she was rescued By Gerard Couzens and Euan McLelland In March, a British holidaymaker was rescued from the Atlantic after she apparently tried to swim to a cruise ship. Susan Brown, 65, was pulled from the frigid waters off the Portuguese island of Madeira, after swimming a third of a mile out to sea. She told rescuers she jumped into the water from beside the island’s airport believing her husband Michael had got back on board the Marco Polo cruise ship after both had disembarked earlier in the day following a blazing row. The pair cut short a 32-day tour with only four days left, booking easyJet flights to get them back to Bristol after arriving on Madeira from the West Indies. After losing sight of her husband some time before boarding the jet home, Mrs Brown is said to have become convinced he had returned to the vessel. When the ship then passed the airport's coastal runway, she is reported to have taken to the water to make chase. Gripping her handbag, Mrs Brown, from Shaftesbury, Dorset, made it more than 1,600ft before struggling. Her life was eventually saved by passing fishermen who heard her panicked screams for help shortly after midnight. She and her husband, Michael, 69, parted company after cutting their cruise short when Marco Polo docked in the island capital Funchal on its way back to Bristol. They took a taxi to the airport together before Mrs Brown jumped in the Atlantic in what she told police officers after her rescue was a desperate bid to swim to the ship because she mistakenly believed her husband had returned to the vessel. Brothers Leonardo and Carlos Correia and fellow fisherman Marildo Freitas claimed that they were the ones who had rescued Mrs Brown and said she was just half an hour from death when they pulled her from the chilly water. 'I just saw her pale white face bobbing in the water,' Marildo told MailOnline. 'She was barely conscious – she's lucky to be alive – I don't think she would have lasted another 30 minutes. 'At first we thought she had fallen from the cruise ship. 'She just said thank god, oh thank god when we found her – she was so cold she could hardly say anything, we just wrapped her up and phoned for help. 'It was very scary seeing this white face bobbing above the water – it reminded me of the film Titanic at the end where people were drowning.' The three men said her small handbag probably saved her life as it had filled with air and acted as a buoyancy aid. According to Marildo, she was lucky that the sea was calm and that she was able to be seen thanks to the full moon. Mrs Brown was rescued after she swam out to sea towards the Marco Polo cruise ship Advertisement

Some passengers are overheard saying the ship should return and pick up the couple so they can be reunited with her children.

One says: ‘Go back and get them. I would have run to the end and jumped in.’

The Norwegian Breakaway was on a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas after departing from New York with thousands of tourists, mostly from the US.

It sailed to Port Canaveral, Florida, and Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau in the Bahamas before heading up the Atlantic coast to New York.

Molly McIntyre, a cruise consultant with Cruise.co.uk, said: 'Some cruise lines do allow children to stay on board without their parents in the kids clubs if the parents want to go ashore without them.

'Personally as a mother of four I do use the kids club but would never leave them on board alone.