Beware!! Westerdam Capt. Waits for noboby

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie...Do you think he was on our cruise? Carolyn

 

At first Carolyn, I was going to say no, but.... It all seems to fit.. We did have an announcement made several times for one person, and I think it was a mans name. We left around 5:30 1/2 hour later than scheduled, and a plane did go right over our heads. I do remember 2 Ship officers standing at the gangway, but never saw anyone running up to the ship....

 

I think you just may be onto something here!!!

 

But, then again he might have been on the 21-28th??

 

Quess we won't know unless he comes back and tells us what REALLY happened.

 

The one thing going through my mind is maybe the wife liked not having him around for a couple days??:p

 

Hey Carolyn, when am I gonna get your photos???

 

Joanie

[Essiesmom]

I've been working on them today. Will see what I can do...

Remember, they changed days on us so we were in Aruba 8-5. Unless they did that again, port time would have been noon-midnight. The 7/21 cruise was Western Caribbean, next southern was 7/28. Carolyn

[luvs2travl]

Someone help me, please. What am I missing here? :confused:

I'll be on Amtrak next week. I'll ask the conductor to wait for me. ;)

 

 

The OP apparently, after taking his stated "10 previous cruises", has not yet grasped the difference in the meaning of: "All passengers are to be back on board by 4:30PM" and "Our sailing time this afternoon is 5:00PM." What does he think - that the crew just pushes a magic button and the gangway and all lines are instantaneously gone from the pier, the anchor is raised lickety-split, the engines are revved up and "..away we go!" ??? All in 5 minutes or so? (Just in case he's running late?) Really??? ;)

 

That's precisely why everyone is told to be back on board 30 minutes prior to sail time. It takes approximately 30 minutes, sometimes longer, to do all of that - duh!!! :rolleyes:

 

So, no - I don't think you are missing a thing. The OP, however - MAJOR brain disconnect there. His wife & kids seemed to have gotten the idea, tho'----hmmmm...

[harrodsfan]

Every time a missing the boat thread comes up I wonder if the sales pitch for the line excursions is true. "If your tour is late we will wait for you"

Has anyone been late or been delayed due to a cruise line tour being late?

 

Yes...we have had a ship wait for us...

On a Mediterranean cruise on the Grand Princess, we took a ship's tour to Corinth.

On the way back we got stuck in horrid traffic.

The ship did leave as it had a firm departure time in the small Athens Harbor.

However the ship waited outside the harbor and a special boat was arranged to get us to the ship.

[luvs2travl]

Yes...we have had a ship wait for us...

On a Mediterranean cruise on the Grand Princess, we took a ship's tour to Corinth.

On the way back we got stuck in horrid traffic.

The ship did leave as it had a firm departure time in the small Athens Harbor.

However the ship waited outside the harbor and a special boat was arranged to get us to the ship.

 

That's the best endorsement I can think of for taking a ship's-sponsored shore excursion. Had you gone off on your own, or been with a group of passengers on a non-ship's sponsored tour, the outcome would have, no doubt, been totally different. You just never know what can go wrong at anytime - or anywhere.

 

So glad you all were able to get back on board and continue on with your cruise! :)

[Storylady]

One other point .... you say you were on a "recent" Westerdam cruise. The current itinerary calls for the Westerdam to leave Aruba at 11:00 pm, not 5:00. Maybe your cruise wasn't all that recent or maybe you just want to dust things up a bit?

 

I also looked up the Westerdam's schedule. They visited Aruba on Oct 25, Nov 15, Dec 6, Jan 3, Jan 24, Feb 14 and they left each time at 11 PM. And their next port of call was Curacao the next day.

 

The ships that left Aruba at 5 PM and then went on to Ft Lauderdale are the Noordam, Maasdam and Statendam.

 

So his trip to Aruba couldn't have been very recent.

[Australian family]

It is your responsibility to know what time you have to be back on board. The cruise ship has a schedule and you need to follow that schedule. Same with an airline if you miss the check in time. Stiff cheddar!

 

It is your fault and prehaps you need to learn from the experience to make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to get back on board.

[harrodsfan]

[

 

M

 

Because our next port was Cannes, and because our Passports were in the cabin safe, we decided that we would always carry a color copy of the front pages of the Passport in our wallets for all future cruises just in case the ship leaves us behind and we need to get to the next port by passing through a border.

 

Taking a color copy is a good idea for getting a replacement copy but doubt a border would accept it. However the border between Italy and France is not one where you would need a passport as both are in the EU.

[ore-ee-gun]

Beware cruisers!!! I recently went on a cruise on the Westerdam and in the port of Aruba I was left behind with my wife and 2 kids begging the ship to wait a couple more minuites for me. When we booked this cruise the departure time in Aruba was 5pm but once we arrived it was announced the "All aboard time" was 4:30. The gangway was lifted at 4:41 as outlined in the ship log. What horrible service!! To sail early when a customer is missing from the ship?? I was 5 minutes too late. Granted I should have been more timely but mistakes, accidents do happen. My wife pleaded for them to wait, there was even communication from the port security that I was running to catch the ship and the Captain stated that he "waits for no one". I offered $1000.00 to lower the gangway back down ( the ship was still docked, just untied with gangway lifted) or even tender me out and again the Captain stated that he waits for no one. BEWARE!! Horrible service with no regard to passenger safety. Long story short my wife and 2 kids had 2 1/2 days at sea without me and I had to fly back to Ft. Lauderdale to meet them. Why would a ship sail early when passengers are missing?? This was my 10th cruise and I will never sail Holland America again. Even there corporate customer service was bad with a focus on covering there A$$ and backing the Capt. on his bad decision. Don't be late or this cruise line will leave you, no questions asked!!!

 

 

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: "What a maroon!" :cool:

[Storylady]

Yes. The claim is true. I have been on 3 cruiseline excursions that were late where the ship was held for us. One, on Grand Cayman, where as we left the dock on the final tender, a group of people (not on our excursion) ran up and tried to get us to come back - we left them behind.

 

I have been on two HAL excursions where the ship waited for us. One was in Messina, Italy. We were a half hour late in getting back. The ship was waiting for us. Thank goodness we were on a HAL excursion as the traffic back from Mt Edna was horrible.

 

And just recently the Statendam waited an hour for our tour back from Tikal. All aboard was 3:30 PM, we didn't get back until 4:30 Pm. We rushed to get aboard, but you wouldn't believe the number of passengers who were still stopping to shop at the port from another bus that came in late.

[Benita]

We were on the Oceania Nautica and just after leaving Kusadasi, the captain made an announcement for people to look over the starboard side. A small boat pulled up and a couple climbed up a ladder onto the ship. Everybody clapped and then the captain announced that $1000 charge was being put on the couples' shipboard account. His point was made and nobody who was there will ever forget it.

Another time, we were in Costa Rica and the potato farmers went on strike and barricaded the road after some of the tour buses left Limon (Princess Cruise). Everybody else was turned back, but the three buses that had passed continued on. Upon return, the road was still barricaded and the cruise line had to borrow small boats to float the passengers past the barricade on a river some distance away and then buses picked them up on the other side of the barricade. The ship was supposed to leave at 5pm and wound up waiting in port until 10pm. Something to be said for taking ship's excursions instead of venturing out on your own in certain ports.

We also carry a copy of our front passport pages and we actually scanned them into our computer and emailed them to ourselves and never deleted the email. I also have a copy of the scanned pages on my iphone. It won't suffice for a passport, but makes getting a replacement easier.

[MoneyGuy]

We were in Aruba about three years ago and the ship was delayed about 2-3 hours because a passenger (a young woman in her early 20s) had been on a ship-sponsored excursion and had taken a tumble off of a bike and had broken both arms. She had to be taken to hospital. She was the celebrity for the rest of the cruise. I heard that someone had to dress and undress her as she was incapacitated. It wasn't her fault and the excursion was through the ship so we waited.

 

To thie original poster, I feel really bad for you but TOUGH luck, buddy. I think he came here for some more sympathy than he got, which was none.

 

A couple of years ago we had our adult kids on a cruise with us. We paid for the trip, but I made it clear if they missed the ship that was totally on them. I always plan to be back well before sailing. If I ever missed a sailing, I'd b e kicking myself in the arse but I'd never blame someone else for my stupidity.

[jtl513]

I also looked up the Westerdam's schedule. They visited Aruba on Oct 25, Nov 15, Dec 6, Jan 3, Jan 24, Feb 14 and they left each time at 11 PM. And their next port of call was Curacao the next day.

Post #78 said:

Remember, they changed days on us so we were in Aruba 8-5. Unless they did that again, port time would have been noon-midnight.

The Aruba and Curacao days were swapped from what was scheduled.

[Destin Mom]

As others have stated, we don't know how the rest of the family managed to be on the ship while the OP was not. It is beyond ridiculous and irresponsible to be late to the ship while your family is on board. HAL is not responsible for your lack of time management skills. You should have made absolutely sure you were back in plenty of time, and if you chose to go back for a last minute purchase, well that clearly was not a smart move. Mistakes happen...that doesn't mean we can blame others for them.

 

Any chance you wore a bathrobe w/ a ballcap to the Lido for breakfast that morning? :p Could be the new fashion police conspiracy. If you don't dress correctly, we will leave your A$% behind. Joking!

[bulgargirl]

I'm kind of trending against the general train of thought here. I do believe if you miss your boat, you, well, miss your boat! BUT - I also think that if there was an easy way to let him on and the captain was just insisting on sticking with the time - that's a little harsh.

 

BUT, the bigger issue is the customer service. I'm going to take the OP at his word (though his word may very well be biased) because I have no other version of events. He complained that customer service was horrible and that HAL was covering its own butt.

 

People speculated on here that the captain HAD to go or that HAL might face serious fines for letting a person on after the gangplank had gone up. Then why not explain that? Why was the only explanation offered just "you're late" and "rules are rules". (Remember, I'm going off HIS version of events).

 

It's quite likely that nothing said would've calmed this guy down. And he certainly didn't deserve airfare or compensation or refunds or anything like that after missing the boat. But if there really were all these little explanations for being so strict on the leaving time as people are speculating here, then just explain that to the guy.

 

If it was simply to teach him a lesson or because the captain felt like it - then I do feel that's a little harsh.

[jtl513]

If it was simply to teach him a lesson or because the captain felt like it - then I do feel that's a little harsh.

If the Captain had relented and let the guy back on do you think he would have learned his lesson and vowed never to do it again? Or would he have pulled the same stunt at the next port or on the next cruise because he now "knows" they won't leave him? I think the latter.

 

For that matter, we don't know that he didn't cut it too close at a previous port, and the Captain let him get away with it the first time.

[innlady1]

Post #78 said:

The Aruba and Curacao days were swapped from what was scheduled.

 

That happened when we were in the ABC's 2/18 to 2/20. Captain Matebor swapped Aruba and Curacao because we had better dock space available in Curacao by doing that. The decision was "last minute" - at the end of our previous 10 day segment.

[bulgargirl]

If the Captain had relented and let the guy back on do you think he would have learned his lesson and vowed never to do it again? Or would he have pulled the same stunt at the next port or on the next cruise because he now "knows" they won't leave him? I think the latter.

 

For that matter, we don't know that he didn't cut it too close at a previous port, and the Captain let him get away with it the first time.

 

That's why I'm going with what he said here. There could be a million factors that we don't know about. But just the bare "facts" as the OP listed them were that he was a few minutes late, port staff was in contact with ship staff letting the ship know he was on the way, and that the Captain left because that was his schedule with no other explanation offered.

 

On those facts, and those facts alone - I feel the treatment was harsh. Don't think he deserves anything because of it, but harsh. I also think if there were reasons that the ship HAD to leave right that moment, customer service should tell someone.

 

BUT - he did sound unpleasant in his initial post. Maybe they WANTED him off the ship. :)

[galipemi]

I think one of the key lines in his initial post is that the ship was still alongside the pier but untied with the gangway raised. Once the ship is untied, she is officially underway. It's not a simple matter to just lower the gangway back down, it's just not safe.

 

As for pilot boats, well, I'm pretty sure it's up to the discretion of the pilot and the captain. It's another not so safe way to join the ship and may take an hour or more. I'm not really familiar with Aruba but I know most ports, the pilot boards the ship in port, takes her out to sea and the pilot boat just comes out for a pick up. It can be 30 minutes or several hours later. And if the pilot has to be "trained" to embark/disembark into the pilot boat, while wearing a special life vest, do you think the average passenger will manage it easily?

 

I hope the OP will continue to cruise since it seems that he and his family enjoy it but honestly, how hard is it to get to the ship on time. 3 out of 4 seem to have managed it:p

[IRL_Joanie]

I also looked up the Westerdam's schedule. They visited Aruba on Oct 25, Nov 15, Dec 6, Jan 3, Jan 24, Feb 14 and they left each time at 11 PM. And their next port of call was Curacao the next day.

 

The ships that left Aruba at 5 PM and then went on to Ft Lauderdale are the Noordam, Maasdam and Statendam.

 

So his trip to Aruba couldn't have been very recent.

 

 

Have to correct you here. On our B2B 7-21 Feb.

 

On Feb 14th we left out of Ft Lauderdale bound for Curacao, Aruba and Half Moon Cay. We were supposed to get to Aruba on 17 February, I do not remember the time but that changed on the night of 13 February when the Captain announced day change from Curacao on the 18th and Aruba on the 17th. He reversed our days at those 2 ports. We were in Aruba on 17 Feb and were SUPPOSED to leave at 5:00 p.m.

 

I just pulled out the Cruise log and it states we arrived at Aruba on 17 February at 6:36 a.m. and we undocked at 4:51 p.m. As we left the sandbar(s) on the starboard side were becoming quite noticeable and a plane went over our heads. Man that looked mighty low to us!!

 

SO, this may just have been our ship he (the OP) was supposed to be on.

 

This definitely shows us (read me) that while we did leave 9 minutes earlier than scheduled, the OP still was not back in time to make the All Aboard time nor was he only 5 minutes late as he states. Also, hubby states he remembers hearing the Horn sounding at least 2 times between 4:30 and time of sailing.

 

As I stated in an earlier post, I never saw anyone running or walking toward for the ship (and my verandah was dockside), nor did I hear yelling from the ship for us to wait. If this was the cruise OP was on, his time line/watch was definitely off.

 

The Captain has a job to do and he did it well in my opinion. While we may have left 9 minutes early, there had to ba a reason.

 

Joanie

[sprockie]

I feel very badly for the poster and his family. I can totally relate. The Westerdam once left us on the dock in St. Thomas as well about 10 years ago. It was a last minute change from docking to tendering so the all aboard was changed to an hour earlier. There were something like 11 cruise ships in that day - verified by a Charlotte Amalie newspaper. We were snorkelling at Coki beach, caught a cab back to the pier in what we thought was enough time. We ran into huge traffic problems and an accident on the way back and got there as the last tender was nearing the ship.

Yep, it was our fault, we should have been back before this and paid more attention to the change of all aboard time. It took years off our lives I am sure. I can't imagine the sick feeling of a father having his wife and kids on board as it sails away. I know how we felt and we were together and we had no kids back then.

This is where I am amazed that parents can feel comfortable leaving their kids in the kids club on board while they go ashore. Sometimes it doesn't matter how conscientious you are - you could have a serious medical emergency on shore and not make it back and your kids sail without you. Yikes, makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about it.

We were just in San Juan a few weeks ago and the ship waited for some stragglers for 15 minutes to get on board. Very very luck folks.

Anyhow, we all know that accidents can happen, to all of us. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's an expensive and terrifying mistake to make.

[IRL_Joanie]

That's why I'm going with what he said here. There could be a million factors that we don't know about. But just the bare "facts" as the OP listed them were that he was a few minutes late, port staff was in contact with ship staff letting the ship know he was on the way, and that the Captain left because that was his schedule with no other explanation offered.

 

On those facts, and those facts alone - I feel the treatment was harsh. Don't think he deserves anything because of it, but harsh. I also think if there were reasons that the ship HAD to leave right that moment, customer service should tell someone.

 

BUT - he did sound unpleasant in his initial post. Maybe they WANTED him off the ship. :)

 

I am not normally a harsh person so please understand my reasoning here for what I am about to say....

 

IF the OP was on the Westerdam 14 February 2010 sailing out of Ft Lauderdale and he states he was at the dock in Aruba as the ship left without him, he is out and out a LIAR!! There was NO ONE (NOT ANY PASSENGERS) at the dock other than tthe dock workers themselves!! I know, I was there on the 18th when the Westerdam left Aruba. I was on my verandah watching the entire procedings of undocking!

 

Joanie

[cccole]

I have been on a ship excursion that was at least 2 hours late and the ship waited. I have also been on Grand Turk, with the ship ready to sail and no sign of my 16 year old son. With 15 minutes to go the Neptune concierge was working on it, the girls had ordered a room service snack, and I was anxiously watching for him to come down the pier. I knew the ship would not wait for him but did not know whether we should all get off or what. He had been diving with others from the ship but through miscommunication had been sitting in the taxi area waiting for us. It was terrifying for me but I knew the ship would leave without him. He luckily noticed the time and came down the pier just in the nick of time.

 

I have also seen late passengers brought out to the ship after it leaves the dock. I am sure this is costly but at least they can continue the voyage.

 

There was a comment that 2000+ passengers should not be delayed because of passengers that arrive late to the pier. However, this happens often with excursions booked through the cruiseline.

 

I guess I am surprised that the discretion is left to the captain as to whether they wait 5 minutes or leave. No easy answer on this problem, just a reminder to get back to the pier before the ship leaves the dock because 99% of the time you will be left, and it is your own fault for not watching the time.

 

Cherie

[KAYEF]

Thousands and thousands of us have been irritated when a ship DID wait for people running down the dock..................who don't seem to care when all the "boos" reach their ears.:mad:

Thousands and thousands of us get tired of hearing the SAME NAMES announced at every port...because they're not yet on board.:mad:

We ALL hear the announcements; we all should read the set times. They are also posted where we disembark at each port.

Basic Psychology teaches those who are "always late" are using it as "POWER"..................they can control the situation.

It's irritating when they start meetings and weddings late to " wait for people who aren't here yet" when we've made the effort to be ON TIME.

He couldn't be in control, so it's the SHIP CAPTAIN'S fault?

I don't think so.

He didn't abide by the rule. HAL couldn't care less if he ever sails with them again........................I'm sure he feels everything ON the ship should be in his control as well. Wonder what the others on the ship (if this really happened) felt? Was he late at all the ports? :confused:

NOT really sorry...................it was COMPLETELY HIS PROBLEM; he chose to be LATE.

[serendipity1499]

Yes...we have had a ship wait for us...

On a Mediterranean cruise on the Grand Princess, we took a ship's tour to Corinth.

On the way back we got stuck in horrid traffic.

The ship did leave as it had a firm departure time in the small Athens Harbor.

However the ship waited outside the harbor and a special boat was arranged to get us to the ship.

 

Harrodsfan...Would you be so kind as to tell us when the special boat got you all to the ship, were you boarded through the hatch which which is used for tendering, or did you have to climb a ladder? An Inquisitive mind would like to know? Thanks..

 

I also looked up the Westerdam's schedule. They visited Aruba on Oct 25, Nov 15, Dec 6, Jan 3, Jan 24, Feb 14 and they left each time at 11 PM. And their next port of call was Curacao the next day.

 

The ships that left Aruba at 5 PM and then went on to Ft Lauderdale are the Noordam, Maasdam and Statendam.

 

So his trip to Aruba couldn't have been very recent.

 

Didn't Joanie & someone esle on this thread say that Aruba & Curaco were reversed? Also there was another poster who thought he was on the same ship with the OP..

 

Cheers...:)Betty