Don't Let This Happen To You!

[OCruisers]

Sometimes "OnYourOwn" Excusions are good things to do when you are familiar with the port and KNOW you can get back to the ship ON TIME.

 

Sometimes it does NOT work out so well .... :(

 

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!!

 

Stranded in Roatan: Bad Experience (click here)

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[mikvie]

Pretty stupid on their part. I was on that cruise and there were several annoucements, in addition to printed warnings in the dailys that all time is based ship time. A lesson for all of us, if you don't know, ask!

[Zeno]

A little sympathy from me but not much - sorry but these people were the authors of their own misfortune. It is THEIR RESPONSIBITY to get back to the ship on time. NCL owes them nothing. (Note: when I took the Sun to Roatan - the Freestyle dailies printed out ALL time zone changes in big bold hard to miss letters.) You keep your watch on ship's time AND you CHECK IT AND you allow at least 1 hour to get back to the boat on time.

[arby70]

:( I could see this as being something to scare people away from cruises. I have only been on one other cruise (Celebrity Infinity; Alaska Inside Passage - 8/2003) and will be going on NCL in October. We will also be docking in Roatan and am really looking forward to it. I knew from the get go that if you miss the ship, you are on your own. I was always very careful to get back with plenty of time to spare (1 to 1.5 hours before their suggested time) in order to avoid your experience. I have read numerous reviews and suggestions of different shore excursions for all the ports I will be visiting. Some are through the cruiseline itself, and some are booked privately. I have decided to book all the longer shore excursions through NCL as I do not want to get caught in your situation. There is one shore exursion that I will probably book on my own as it is only 2 hours long with plenty of time to spare. Also it is only 7 minutes away from the cruise dock by cab. I had decided to do this well before I read your experience, and do not feel the extra money I spend on the shore excursions through NCL is worth chancing a missed ship. This will really roll into big bucks - much more than the $10 to $20 additional per person for the shore excursions I'm looking at. Being that I have never been to that part of the world and am totally unfamiliar with the entire region, I just feel the extra money is worth not having the anxiety of anything going wrong. If it's a cruiseline arranged tour, they will not leave you stranded. Don't get me wrong, I'm no moneybags, but it will cost me about $100 more for the ship tours vs. private tours, and one could spend that easily in a single shopping spree. To me it's just another form of insurance that my vacation will not end up in the dumpster like yours unfortunately did. Do not hold Norwegian responsible for your mishap; just look on it as a expensive learning experience. I don't believe any cruiseline would have done anything much differently. Celebrity was very up front about getting back to the ship, and they had all kinds of postings (the daily newsletter, their info tv channel, etc.) as to the correct time of the region. My suggestion to you is to either book your shore excursions through the cruiseline or make sure any excursions you book on your own are not too far from the dock and you can get a cab or some type of public transportation back to the ship. Being that most cruises are to foreign countries and that one may not be familiar with the area, a person is always taking a bit of a chance when booking their own. Just as long as you are aware of this, there should be no problem when making arrangements for your own excursions. I also understand that there are some excursions that people can book privately who carry some type of insurance to cover the problems of missing a ship. I would at least make sure that the outfit I booked through carries this insurance, so that the expenses you incurr from trying to catch up to your ship or your accommodations and flight back home are covered. Good luck on your next cruise!

[vivian02]

I agree, missing the ship is the last thing I would want to happen on my cruise. I have done three cruises (Alaska, Hawaii, and the Meditterean) and in my planning always try to have a back up plan. Probably the biggest risk I took was on our first Cruise when we rented a rental car in Skagway Alaska. What happens if I have car troubles at Emerald Lake in the Yukon Territory? I left early and came back early. I heard of another such incident last year when someone booked a private tour in Naples Itally and got stuck in a bad traffic jam. Those people had the time but made a bad decision to stay with the private tour. I would have had the drive take me to the closest train station. (Trains in Europe will get through and on time.) I do feel sorry for these people who got themselfs into a unpleasant situation. Take it as a lesson learned and be better prepared next time. Tim