Pier runners

Based on comments on here I decided to YouTube videos of pier runners.As I do not wish to be one of them nor see myself running for the ship on YouTube, how early do you recommend we be back at the ship prior to sailing time?On all our other cruises we have always aimed to be back 1.5 hours early. Only time late was on a royal organised tour.Any amusing comments on pier runners? Are you a pier runner?

My .02. Don't care to find out. Depends. If you're on your own, no less than an hour before "all aboard." If on a cruise tour not too worried.

You don't need to be back 1.5 hours early.

1/2 hour is all you need.

You can get on all the way until they leave.

They won't turn you away if the ship is still docked.

Most times they wait for stragglers, time permitted.

It will be posted as you leave the ship what time to be on board, usually half hour before sailing.

We always aim to be back about an hour before sail away, that way if something comes up, we have extra time. They may not turn you away at the last minute, but you really don't want keep thousands of passengers waiting for you to finally decide to get your butt back on the ship do you? Not to mention possibly messing up departure times for all of the ships at port that day!

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A lot depends on the port and where you plan to go. If I am on my own then an hour is good. Mainly because I don't like fighting the crowds to get back on the ship.

We were on a ship excursion to Rome and the bus was more than an hour late getting back due to traffic and the ship waited for us. The lines were all singled up and we boarded on a small narrow gangway. But they waited. In fact we weren't the last ones another van came about ten minutes later.

At Nassau it's a long walk from the security check in and the gangway. This last November we saw people running and we didn't wait.

You need to be back to the ship 30 mins. prior to posted sail away time. If everyone is onboard, they will go ahead and leave early.....if not, they will wait until the POSTED time...then they leave, whether you're there or not.

Not into watching "Pier Runners" who have had a problem of some sort getting back to the ship on time. It would make me feel sad and hate it for them.

LuLu

We were on a ship excursion to Rome and the bus was more than an hour late getting back due to traffic and the ship waited for us.

If you are on a ship excursion they will ALWAYS wait for you.

We were on a ship sponsored snorkel/party/ catamaran cruise and were an hour and a half late. We were having so much fun that the crew forgot that the time had recently changed. We were too buzzed to care, but the cat captain was on the phone a lot.

Actually there are reports of cruise line excursions getting back late and the ship not waiting. BUT, the cruise line is then responsible for getting you to the next port to reboard, along with lodging and meals on the way.

We shoot for being back 1 hour before all aboard. Never know if a cab gets a flat. I have time to have a beer near the ship while wife looks around at the shops.

If you are on a ship excursion they will ALWAYS wait for you.

They will not always wait for you, but they will always accommodate you.

I was on an Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean back in 2006 and some people were on a dog sledding excursion where they flew you into the glacier by helicopter. The weather turned and they couldn't get off the glacier; the ship left and the next day they flew them to the next port of call to meet up with the ship after spending the night on the glacier with the Eskimos.

Now that's what I call an excursion!

Actually there are reports of cruise line excursions getting back late and the ship not waiting. BUT, the cruise line is then responsible for getting you to the next port to reboard, along with lodging and meals on the way.

This what I understand also.

They will not always wait for you, but they will always accommodate you

Agree. Yours is Probably a better way to phrase it.

If a ship tour they would be more willing to wait for you since the excursion is their responsibility.

Yup. Been a runner ONCE. Never again. It happened many cruises ago. There used to be a time when ship time did not always match shore time. Let's just say I thought I had an hour to spare when actually I ended up running down the pier with scuba gear flailing and being cheered on as the last person up the gangway.

I learned a lot that day. I would have been stuck with essentially no money, no passport and no credit card.

There used to be a time when ship time did not always match shore time.

They still run ship's time on some destinations. Our Western Caribbean cruise on Liberty of the Seas this past April was a "ship's time" cruise.

They will not always wait for you, but they will always accommodate you.

 

I was on an Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean back in 2006 and some people were on a dog sledding excursion where they flew you into the glacier by helicopter. The weather turned and they couldn't get off the glacier; the ship left and the next day they flew them to the next port of call to meet up with the ship after spending the night on the glacier with the Eskimos.

 

Now that's what I call an excursion!

Wow! I sincerely hope they didn't file any complaints about that, what an amazing experience!

Wow! I sincerely hope they didn't file any complaints about that, what an amazing experience!

My first thought when I read your comment was "How could anyone complain, the weather was so bad that it wasn't safe to fly, what did they want them to do, chance it?" then I remembered the shaking heads and angry looks on peoples faces on airplanes when you have to divert or cancel due to bad weather and I was like, yep, they wanted them to chance it.

You always need to make sure your wrist watch is consistent with ship time and sometimes local time is at variance with the ship when trying to get back before the ship sails. Some smart phones automatically adjust to local which is tricky if the ship wants to not bother in changing where it's an hour different.

Regards John

You always need to make sure your wrist watch is consistent with ship time and sometimes local time is at variance with the ship when trying to get back before the ship sails. Some smart phones automatically adjust to local which is tricky if the ship wants to not bother in changing where it's an hour different.

 

Regards John

FYI, there is a setting you can change on your phone to turn off the "Automatic time zone" which is when your phone uses the network provided time zone.

Senor Frogs is not your friend...

Wow! I sincerely hope they didn't file any complaints about that, what an amazing experience!

My first thought when I read your comment was "How could anyone complain, the weather was so bad that it wasn't safe to fly, what did they want them to do, chance it?" then I remembered the shaking heads and angry looks on peoples faces on airplanes when you have to divert or cancel due to bad weather and I was like, yep, they wanted them to chance it.

They loved the experience and were bragging about it to others. Evidently, they only had 2 huts so the men slept in one with the Eskimos and the women slept in the other.

That sounds amazing. An experience of a lifetime tbh.

I like to give myself at least an hour. Sometimes 2. Since I prefer big ships and cruise just as much ( if not more) for the ship then I do the port, it isn't a hardship for me to be back on board a few hours in advance of the all aboard time. It is also kind of nice to have the ship seemingly to yourself.

Last year in Falmouth on the Allure we were on a RCI excursion. The excursion was to the Dunns River Falls and then to the Bamboo Beach club. Due to delays at the Falls, we were delayed starting and obviously our entire group was late getting back to the rendezvous point. We figured that we should skip our trip to the beach club and just head back to the ship.

Nope. The stop at Dunns River Falls was a ruse to get you to go spend money at their beach club. They said we'd be there half an hour. It was 90 minutes. All aboard was 6pm. We left at 430. It's an hour drive....

We got back with about 15 minutes to spare. Yes, I know it is a ship excursion so they likely would have waited for us- but I was a bad cominbation of pissed and anxious.