CRAZY question about missing the boat...

When is your cruise? I'd love to hear the outcome of this story.

It's hard to accept someone who is always late especially if you are the punctual one.

That's just egoistic.

You are enabling her to do this. Stop adjusting your time schedule to accomodate her, after she misses a few things she'll get the idea or spend a lot of time by herself.

Best answer yet!

Like others have said here. Don't let fretting over her being late ruin your cruise before you start.

 

Just make sure that if she's not there with you when you check in you can still check in and don't get hit with higher cabin rates as a single, if she never shows. Then call her up a couple of night before leaving, reconfirm your arrangements and ask if she has everything including the 800 number to call if she's delayed. So "see you on board" and then go on your merry way. Regardless of whether she doesn't shows up or can catch the ship later or meets you as you board with "where have you been? I'm on my 3rd DoD already!", have a great and hopefully restful cruise.:)

There won't be a single supplement as the bed is paid for.

I don't think I could vacation with someone like that. It would drive me crazy.

 

My parents almost missed their ship 2 weekends ago due to the snow storm up north. My mom talked to the cruise line (in their case it was NCL). She was told that they could fly to join the ship, but they wouldn't be able to get onboard in the first two ports, Honduras or Belize. So they would miss half of their cruise. I didn't hear the whole story about why they couldn't board in Honduras or Belize. Maybe some ports do not allow it. Fortunately, my parents were able to get to their ship in time.

 

glad to hear your parents were able to board on time. EVERY TIME i think about cutting costs and skipping the night before (and i always do), i get the heebie jeebies. stories like this (things totally beyond our control) remind me that peace of mind is worth the $200 hotel fee.

Plan on being a single cruiser, if she shows up, surprise! If not, think how much more roomy your cabin will be!

Do not try to put a leash on her, she already has one on you.

Some people need to learn things the hard way to get the message. Let her be.

You are enabling her to do this. Stop adjusting your time schedule to accomodate her, after she misses a few things she'll get the idea or spend a lot of time by herself.

Good point

glad to hear your parents were able to board on time. EVERY TIME i think about cutting costs and skipping the night before (and i always do), i get the heebie jeebies. stories like this (things totally beyond our control) remind me that peace of mind is worth the $200 hotel fee.

The year we took the Christmas cruise there was a huge snow storm up north 2 nights before sailing. Over 400 people missed the cruise. Of 7 days the first day was a sea day, the 2nd was Half Moon Cay so it wasn't until day 3 anyone could have even thought of catching up by plane.

glad to hear your parents were able to board on time. EVERY TIME i think about cutting costs and skipping the night before (and i always do), i get the heebie jeebies. stories like this (things totally beyond our control) remind me that peace of mind is worth the $200 hotel fee.

Their cruise was on Sunday and they had a direct flight on Saturday. But all the flights out of Raleigh on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were cancelled. So having a flight the day before the cruise didn't help in their case. They would have had to fly in THREE days before, on Thursday to miss the storm. My sister had to make a lot of special arrangements to get them on the ship.

They weren't just being cheap on hotel costs. Hotel wasn't even an issue since they were planning on staying at my house the night before the cruise. But even good plans don't always work out. I'm very glad they made the ship too.

Tell her ahead of time, I am boarding the ship at ....... time and do so, tell her you will enjoy the cruise alone, lots of cabin space! There is always a library get a book and carry it around, looks like you want to be alone, but often do not even get to open it - you will be surprised at how many people include you in their conversations very easily.

Do not look up any info on what she could do it she misses the ship - you are only enabling her. let her figure it out if she does. Be firm. Time she grows up. If you get a frantic email/text at the last minute because she is running late tell her oh, that is too bad, bye bye!! and mean it! Do not go out of your way for her or she will never stop - maybe good lesson if she did miss and nobody had "new "plans for her = teach her a lesson.

You do not need her melodrama.

Someone who is habitually late is just selfish. You said you had known her for 20 years and she has never changed so she's not a kid. Trying to trick her won't work. I would say she is not mature enough to live on her own, and definitely should not be on a cruise to foreign countries.

My hubby ended up not being able to make a cruise one time with us (HAL not Carnival).

I explained at check in that he wouldn't be joining us (a work issue had come up). I also had to explain to our room steward that he wasn't with us. (poor guy had memorized our names and had to unmemorize a name!)

At Muster, they did roll call and we just made our cabin of 3 look like a cabin of 4. (they still had him on the list ... I wasn't about to explain in front of a group of strangers that my hubby didn't join us).

The GOOD news is ... they didn't charge us tip on him! bonus! I fully expected that we would see his $12/day tip charged to our account. But, they didn't! sweet!

(my hubby told me to hit the spa a few times to make up for his bailing on us! Being as I was with our two teenage daughters, I definitely took him up on that!)

(as far as your friend goes, I USED to be 10, 15, 20 minutes late to EVERYTHING. I figured out what the problem was ... I was forgetting to factor in travel time to anything. If a party started at 7:30, I was ready to go at 7:30. Duh, I still had to drive there! I made a mental decision to add the travel time to the start time. Party starts at 7:30, NO it doesn't it starts at 7:10. This may seem like a normal thing to do for some people, but I had to really think about it. NOW, I'm rarely if ever late. I hate being late)

You are getting on a SHIP. You get on a boat, when the ship is sinking.

And no need to have a sinking feeling. throw your buddy a life preserver and tell her she is on her own.

I've noticed that I am usually late for most things. My DH is always early so we kind of balance each other out. However, when I am doing or going somewhere I really enjoy I tend to be a little early. I'm usually in the first group of passengers to embark since I'm so early. I sure don't want to miss out of anything. You might explain to your friend that you will be there waiting for her & remind her of what she will miss if she is late. Then the ball is in her court.

Donna

I don't think that is true anymore. I saw some threads on here a while back that they aren't allowing passengers to do that anymore due either to a law or problems with Customs/Immigration.

Yes, time was where you could just hop on a plane and "catch up" with the ship in the next port. Of course, you must have a passport to do this, in most cases, and the first port might be a foreign port.

But, the Immigration procedures that a ship undergoes for a closed loop cruise is different than the procedures that the ship must go through for a "foreign itinerary" cruise.

Basically, there's more paperwork/time involved in the foreign itinerary cruise. Now most cruise lines will not allow passengers to catch up with the ship if they miss the embarkation port. Because, if even only one passenger changes the cruise from a closed loop to a foreign itinerary cruise, the whole ship must be processed as a foreign itinerary cruise.

Also the PVSA may come into play. If the first port is still a US port, the passenger cannot board there and debark at the original embarkation/debarkation port (a different US port) because a foreign-flagged ship cannot transport passengers from one US port to a different US port without a stop in a DISTANT foreign port. Often, on a closed loop cruise, there are no distant foreign ports.

I know she's a friend but I think I would worry about myself and let her worry about herself. Sounds like too much stress for you before a vacation. Enjoy

I was thinking the exact same thing. You do everything you can but at the end of the day theres nothing you can do. I would definitely be more worried about the ports because if they say they are leaving at 4 then that's when they are leaving and like one of the other ppl said if she doesn't have her passport shes gonna be in trouble.

When is your cruise? I'd love to hear the outcome of this story.

 

It's hard to accept someone who is always late especially if you are the punctual one.

I'm wondering if post 1 was just a "what if" question. Too many details left out as when, how they were getting there, etc.

I'm wondering if post 1 was just a "what if" question. Too many details left out as when, how they were getting there, etc.

Many people don't like to share that sort of information on the interweb, but even if it is just a "what if" question, so what?

Yes, time was where you could just hop on a plane and "catch up" with the ship in the next port. Of course, you must have a passport to do this, in most cases, and the first port might be a foreign port.

 

But, the Immigration procedures that a ship undergoes for a closed loop cruise is different than the procedures that the ship must go through for a "foreign itinerary" cruise.

 

Basically, there's more paperwork/time involved in the foreign itinerary cruise. Now most cruise lines will not allow passengers to catch up with the ship if they miss the embarkation port. Because, if even only one passenger changes the cruise from a closed loop to a foreign itinerary cruise, the whole ship must be processed as a foreign itinerary cruise.

 

Also the PVSA may come into play. If the first port is still a US port, the passenger cannot board there and debark at the original embarkation/debarkation port (a different US port) because a foreign-flagged ship cannot transport passengers from one US port to a different US port without a stop in a DISTANT foreign port. Often, on a closed loop cruise, there are no distant foreign ports.

But what if you have purchased air fare through Carnival's Fly2Fun program? According to their website if you miss embarkation due to flight delays "We will make the necessary flight, hotel and ground transportation to get you to the next port of call on time at no expense to you."

I agree with previous posts that advise for you to not be stressed by her habitual tardiness. I think that is extremely inconsiderate and disrespectful.

As for missing embarkation, that happened to us in May. We were required to have documentation from the airline. And that letter needed specific wording according to CCL. Even with the documentation, they needed to verify we notified CCL at the first moment we anticipated there would be a delay. Then we needed permission from the ship itself. This was a stressful and long process, it took hours. We were allowed on at the first port and did not have to pay penalties but I would never want to be in that predicament again.

I would be more worried about her lateness causing problems while on board. Her being late for dinner could cause waitstaff and tablemates problems, or make you miss shows if you wait for her.

But what if you have purchased air fare through Carnival's Fly2Fun program? According to their website if you miss embarkation due to flight delays "We will make the necessary flight, hotel and ground transportation to get you to the next port of call on time at no expense to you."

I believe that was written during the time that it was "no problem" catching up with the ship. And, as long as the passenger has a passport, flying to a foreign port to catch the ship was easy to do.

I don't know how that policy works now that many cruise lines are opting not to allow passengers to board at a later port.

Maybe Carnival doesn't mind the extra paperwork involved.

Many people don't like to share that sort of information on the interweb, but even if it is just a "what if" question, so what?

You don't need to be snide about it:eek: I was just bringing up a point.;)

Traveling solo actually is not a bad thing. Hopefully it does not get to that point for you but there are a lot of positives to travelling solo. You can be an early bird or a night owl and not be tied to some else's routine. You will have the cabin to yourself, you can do what you want when you want it, I recommend getting "Your Time Dining" so on a daily basis you can choose to dine alone or at a table with others. If you have assigned dining, you can ask the Maitre D to join a table with other singles and have an opportunity to meet others and perhaps join in their group/activities. It is easy to find single lounge chairs on Lido or on the Serenity Deck.

Hopefully your friend makes the cruise and either way have a great time.:cool: