Anyone Ever Miss the Ship?

Has anyone ever missed the ship? If so, what happened? I am talking about in the ports not the first initial sail obviously.

Only in my nightmares!:eek:

1st, try not to do that! If you do, then it's up to you to get to the next port. How? I don't know--I think there is an RCI rep somewhere that can point you in the right direction.

Better to just not miss the ship! Keep your watch set to "ship's time"--no matter WHAT time it is on any given island!!!!

We always try to allow plenty of extra time so that doesn't happen...

The extra expense of getting to the next port on your own, not to mention the aggravation would really put a damper on your cruise!!

Yeah well we would never plan on missing the ship. In fact, we will be there earlier since we have first seating. I was just curious as to some of the experiences, if any, of someone that this has happened too.

We won't make fun, more like a lesson learned type of thing.

Gary

Just back from a Princess Cruise to East. Carib and a couple was left behind in St Thomas. Not a good idea.

We spent some time before our Brit Isles cruise in Iceland, and decided to fly from Iceland to London on departure day, knowing we were taking a chance. Well, two hours out over the ocean, our plane developed engine trouble and turned back to Iceland! After a looooong wait, we arrived at Heathrow just about the time our ship sailed from Southhampton.

We had called Princess from Iceland, and a rep was waiting for us. He bundled us into a taxi off to Paddington station and we were pretty much on our own. Fortunately the taxi driver was a doll, took us into the station, showed us where to get our tix, and even the right platform. So we took the overnight train to Falmouth. It was scheduled to arrive at 8:02, and I want to tell you it did not get there at 8:01 nor at 8:03!! Right on time we were on the platform, found a taxi to the pier (we could see the ship from the train station!), and were met at the bottom of the gangplank by an Assistant Purser with a clipboard listing the two dozen or so people who missed the sailing. So all we lost was one night on board.

We took the chance this time, because we knew the next port was close and there was excellent infrastructure. Most of the time, we fly in the day before!

:D

Never had it happen, but I ate lunch on a sea day with the Manager of Customer Relations.....(does this sound like an "I stayed at a Holiday Inn" commercial?:D

Anyway, he told us a horror story about a woman we had left behind in Tenerife. We were sailing allllllllllll the way across the Atlantic Ocean and she was left behind. Seven sea days.

What the procedure is, according to the CR Mgr:

They have a port agent at the dock. He is there to assist you in finding transportation to the next port. If you are in a foreign port that requires a passport to exit the country, they will try to find someone in your party to give them your passport and leave it with the agent. That's why it's a good idea to always have your ID and credit card with you when you leave the ship.

If you want a real eyeopener, do a search on "Costa Rica", and see if you can find the post from 2005 about the poor people that trekked across Mexico and Costa Rica trying to get to the next port. It was like the movie Romancing the Stone, complete with local official bribes.

I've also heard of people who hired the local helicopter tour guide and took the helicopter out to the ship. BIG BUCKS there!

When we were on our Alaska trip, we were leaving Ketchikan. As we pulled out I noticed a tug coming up behind and trailing us. It then picked up speed and came up on our port side. I went over to see what was going on just in time to see two women with shopping bags climbing a rope ladder to get from the tug to the ship.

I never did find out what that tug boat ride cost them. :eek:

I was going to say there was a recent thread on this topic but searches for it timed out so I paged back a couple weeks and still didn't find it. So I guess it's not as recent as I thought. Perhaps if someone has it subscribed, they could give the location but I couldn't turn it up.

Back in 2003, we left a man in Cozumel. His adult son made it back onboard, but he did not. (Lost track of time at Carlos and Charlies.)

We had met his tablemates. According to them, this was his ordeal: Our next port was Grand Cayman, but he could not fly there because he didn't have a passport. He would meet us in Costa Maya the day after. He spent that night with the Cozumel port agent and took the ferry to the mainland the next morning. He got a taxi for a 10-hour ride to Costa Maya. Once he arrived at Costa Maya, the port agent met him with the news that we would not be able to dock in Costa Maya due to weather, and would go back to Cozumel instead. When we got back to Cozumel, he was boarding the ship while I was disembarking. Everyone was welcoming him back onboard, but I don't think he was enjoying his newfound celebrity status. :)

On our Voyager TA last year, we were sailing out of Lisbon when the Pilot boat made a beeline from the shore to us, and came alongside, matching our speed. They lowered a ladder from our ship and at least 3 people climbed aboard. It just so happens I was on the promenade deck right above, so I took pictures. :)

I don't think I would want to be climbing a rope ladder on to a big ship. My cruise in Feb is 1 day in Cozumel and the next day in Costa Maya. We have no passports so we will be on the ship by 5.

When we were on our Alaska trip, we were leaving Ketchikan. As we pulled out I noticed a tug coming up behind and trailing us. It then picked up speed and came up on our port side. I went over to see what was going on just in time to see two women with shopping bags climbing a rope ladder to get from the tug to the ship.

 

I never did find out what that tug boat ride cost them. :eek:

LOL, If it were me I would have had the shopping bag over my head, I would not my fellow passengers to be looking at me and snickering the rest of the trip!

Keep in mind that this cruise made us Diamond so we know the rules. Ok, here goes.....we rented a car and drove to Maho beach. It took about 1/2 hr or so. We were told to be back by 4:30 cuz we were sailing at 5pm. At 3 pm we started heading back. Well, there was some kid of problem becuase the traffic was backed up for MILES !!! We checked the map and we could go another way, but that lead us back to same road we were on. Apparently there was one road from Maho to Phillipsburg. So we moved a bit then sat...etc. The clock was ticking away. Basically we knew we were not going to make the ship. We didnt have our cruise compass with us to call the Rep so we called Hertz and they told us to take the car to the airport instead of the sea port. While driving to Hertz, we saw the ship pulling away and my wife started to cry. At the Hertz counter, they let us use thier internet and we called RCI to tell them what happened and to let them know we were safe. So, we then went to the airport and booked an airline ticket to St Thomas at 8 am the next day. ( keep in mind we have a swimming suit, credit card and drivers license ). Ok, we book a hotel and stay in Maho for the night. Since everything was closed, we had a can of Pringels chips and soda for dinner. The ship had Lobster that night too....!@#&*(%$ There was a small market open where I got the chips and soda and now we needed a toothbrush and paste and some sort of deodorant. All they had was a barbie toothbrush for kids and an Arid roll on from the 80's I think. At least we had fresh breath and smelled like a christmas tree. The next day we go to the airport and they will not let us on the plane without our passports. (which were in our safe on the ship ) My DW forgot them. We usually always take them or at least a copy. Of all times we forget.!! So, now the airline is calling RCI to ensure we are the missing passengers and they agree. Now the problem is customs in St Thomas. W/O Passports we cant prove we are American citizens. This goes on for awhile. Its now ten of eight and the flight is ready to leave. The next flight is tomorrow and we would have to go to San Juan cuz our ship will no longer be in St Thomas. At the last second, they let us go and we make the flight and get to St Thomas at 8:45 and to the ship by 9 am . RCI welcomed us back and all was well. The IRONIC thing was...We had dinner with the Captain the night before and this other guy and I were kidding the Captain that we were staying in St Maarten cuz we liked it so much. ( been there before ) When we returned to the ship, we spoke to the Captain to ensure him that this was an accident and not a ploy to stay there. He said he knew we were kidding and he was happy to know we were ok. We can laugh about it now, but it felt like we were on the Amazing Race there for awhile. The missed ship cost us about $450 bux for air and hotel and cab an dthe chips and toothbrush...etc. Later we found out that there was some sort of traffic problem and that this area is typically a problem anyway. So, if you go to Maho, head back at 2 and not 3. What a way to celebrate making Diamond huh...... :)

Golfer- I coud so see that happening in St Maartin. We have sat in that traffic trying to get back to the ship. Luckily for us we were heading back a little early and not by planning it that way either. Thirty more minutes in Grand Case and we would have been in the same position as you and we had our 3 kids with us on that trip. Whew...

My experience with leaving passengers behind was @ Martinique on Carnival Spirit. Two teenagers had went on a private fishing charter and the charter boat broke down.The parents had made it back on time as they were not on this charter. We could see the teenagers waving at us while we were sailing away.

All of a sudden the ship stops and a small boat is heading towards us, everybody on deck is cheering. The Captain is going to stop and let the teenagers on board. Nope- They are sending the father back to the teenagers. Now everybody on deck is booing.

lucky for us we had a credit card....

My brother and his wife NEARLY missed the boat. They had gone back to a shop to return an item after my sister-in-law decided she didn't want it. The shop had signs all over - NO REFUNDS. ALL SALES FINAL. They don't know my sister-in-law. When she came out with her refund, they had to really boogie to get to the ship.

They literally "walked the plank", the last access to the ship for the crew members who are last to get onboard.

We too were caught in traffic on St. Marten - while searching on a one-way street for a special shop that sells Star Wars posters. Lucky for the eight of us in the rented van, we were heading back early, so the traffic delays of about an hour did not cause us to miss the ship. We were, however, rather nervous. Those single lane streets leave no room for passing.