All aboard 1 hr prior to leaving ports. Truth or Fiction?

[Karysa]

They were cheering hoping for an encore !!! Not to worry, though !! All ship captains will wait for Double D's !!:D

 

OMG, do not say that!!! Have you seen some of those dock runners! Even some of the men would be running to the ship topless if this little tidbit of information gets out.:eek:

[swedish weave]

OMG, do not say that!!! Have you seen some of those dock runners! Even some of the men would be running to the ship topless if this little tidbit of information gets out.:eek:

 

 

See how far off base we have gotten with the anti-discrimination rules !!!!:D

[Karysa]

See how far off base we have gotten with the anti-discrimination rules !!!!:D

 

Oh no not me. I meant that I wouldn't want to see a man get a black eye either. ;)

[Pamster]

Guests have to be onboard 1 hour to departure at the embarkation port only. All other ports it's 30 minutes-unless it's a tender port. Crew only, have to be back on board 1 hour prior to departure. 30 minutes before departure at the ports of call, gives them time to pull up the gangway, untie the ropes etc. ready to depart on time.

 

My experience has been 2 hours before departure at the embarkation port - that's what my tickets say.

[swedish weave]

My experience has been 2 hours before departure at the embarkation port - that's what my tickets say.

 

I copied the following from NCL FAQ -- In practice, the boarding time at ports is usually 30 minutes, but it will be posted in the freestyle daily and at the gangway.

 

What time do I board the ship on embarkation day and in ports of call?

Arrival at the Cruise Terminal:

For your comfort and convenience, we recommend that guests who have not completed their Online Check-In arrive at the cruise terminal no later than two (2) hours prior to the scheduled embarkation time printed on your cruise documents. Guests who have completed their Online Check-In should arrive at the terminal no later than one (1) hour prior to the scheduled embarkation time printed on your cruise documents. We STRONGLY recommend guests complete their Online Check-In at least four (4) days prior to sailing.

Final Boarding Time:

In order to facilitate the embarkation process and the processing of your eDocs, and to comply with new government regulations governing departure manifest, all guests are required to complete Online Check-In at least one day prior to sailing and must complete check-in at the cruise terminal and be onboard the ship no later than one hour prior to the departure time noted on their cruise documents or they will not be permitted to sail. Please note guests who have not filled out their Online Check-In must arrive at port two (2) hours prior to sailing. Any late arriving guest may join the ship at an approved port of call in the scheduled itinerary. Such guest will be responsible for all applicable fees and travel expenses to that subsequent port of call.

Boarding Time in Ports of Call:

In all ports of call, it is also the guest's responsibility to be back onboard the ship no later than one (1) hour prior to the ship's scheduled departure time. Please be aware that shipboard time may differ from the port of call and it is the guest's responsibility to follow the shipboard time. In the event a guest misses the ship, it will be the guest's responsibility to pay all expenses incurred to rejoin the ship.

[mbisson]

SW-haven't we learned from this thread though, that they don't really mean it? ;)

[swedish weave]

SW-haven't we learned from this thread though, that they don't really mean it? ;)

 

Right again !! Unless you are a Double D !!:D:D

[macruise]

And you can't always go by the clocks on the ship. On one cruise, some of the clocks had NOT been reset and that made it very confusing. We had changed our watches, but then thought we had made a mistake. We stopped at guest services to verify the correct time.

Actually we never found this to be an issue on either of our cruises. We changed our watches on our western cruise out of LA three times on the planes going there :eek:. Got on the ship, set our watches to ship time, so we were on ship time already anyway, so when our daily and many notices were put in our cabin to remind us to stay on ship time, it was no issue as we didn't have to change our watches, thank goodness. The correct time is always on a channel on your TV. You are on the ship first thing in the morning anyway just make sure your watch or whatever method you use to tell time is synced with the TV.

[che5904]

And you can't always go by the clocks on the ship. On one cruise, some of the clocks had NOT been reset and that made it very confusing. We had changed our watches, but then thought we had made a mistake. We stopped at guest services to verify the correct time.

 

I didn't say the clocks on the ship, as a matter of fact I only seen one clock all the while I was on our cruise and that was out by the pool and I have no idea whether it was right or wrong, since I wasn't watching the clock but basking in the sun.

 

What I said was "The correct time is always on a channel on your TV." I can't remember what the channel was. There is a channel on NCL that has a log from the bridge and it does say "ship time".

[Karysa]

I copied the following from NCL FAQ -- In practice, the boarding time at ports is usually 30 minutes, but it will be posted in the freestyle daily and at the gangway.

 

What time do I board the ship on embarkation day and in ports of call?

Arrival at the Cruise Terminal:

For your comfort and convenience, we recommend that guests who have not completed their Online Check-In arrive at the cruise terminal no later than two (2) hours prior to the scheduled embarkation time printed on your cruise documents. Guests who have completed their Online Check-In should arrive at the terminal no later than one (1) hour prior to the scheduled embarkation time printed on your cruise documents. We STRONGLY recommend guests complete their Online Check-In at least four (4) days prior to sailing.

Final Boarding Time:

In order to facilitate the embarkation process and the processing of your eDocs, and to comply with new government regulations governing departure manifest, all guests are required to complete Online Check-In at least one day prior to sailing and must complete check-in at the cruise terminal and be onboard the ship no later than one hour prior to the departure time noted on their cruise documents or they will not be permitted to sail. Please note guests who have not filled out their Online Check-In must arrive at port two (2) hours prior to sailing. Any late arriving guest may join the ship at an approved port of call in the scheduled itinerary. Such guest will be responsible for all applicable fees and travel expenses to that subsequent port of call.

Boarding Time in Ports of Call:

In all ports of call, it is also the guest's responsibility to be back onboard the ship no later than one (1) hour prior to the ship's scheduled departure time. Please be aware that shipboard time may differ from the port of call and it is the guest's responsibility to follow the shipboard time. In the event a guest misses the ship, it will be the guest's responsibility to pay all expenses incurred to rejoin the ship.

 

CAUTION: If you read this very carefully you WILL be very confused:eek:

[mbisson]

Right again !! Unless you are a Double D !!:D:D

 

Woo Hoo! Finally my being fat is gonna pay off!

[javinn]

We were on the Pearl to Alaska this July and two passengers were left behind in Ketchikan because they did not make it back to the ship on time. The captain was not too worried about how they were going to get to Victoria. He was a great captain who ran his ship according to the stated rules and he allowed no exceptions. Crew members who do not make it back at their appointed time are fired immediately. The captain explained that they have schedules to meet and cannot wait for passengers who cannot follow the ship's schedule, Extra time on the beach would not be worth the possible consequences in my opinion

[Karysa]

We were on the Pearl to Alaska this July and two passengers were left behind in Ketchikan because they did not make it back to the ship on time. The captain was not too worried about how they were going to get to Victoria. He was a great captain who ran his ship according to the stated rules and he allowed no exceptions. Crew members who do not make it back at their appointed time are fired immediately. The captain explained that they have schedules to meet and cannot wait for passengers who cannot follow the ship's schedule, Extra time on the beach would not be worth the possible consequences in my opinion

 

After nearly 2 years this is your first post. I'm honored.:D

[mitsugirly]

Cruised Carnival and RCL in the past 6 months and we had to be back on board 30 minutes prior to port departures. I just read that on NCL you must be back on board 1 hour prior to departure from ports. Is this something that is enforced on the ships or is this more of a suggestion? With 3 port departures at 5 pm that extra 30 minutes could be better spent on the beach.:D

 

I did not read everyone's comments, just giving you our experience from last weeks NCL cruise.

 

We were told to be on board 30 minutes prior to departure at every port. Not a problem...at least for us and a majority of others.

 

However, we were in Roatan and we heard them announce the names of 3 passengers that had not boarded the ship by the time it was time to pull away. They waited around for a little bit and then finally left. We did not see anyone come running so I have no idea if these 3 people were left behind or not.

 

In Cozumel, we seen 3 elderly ladies coming strolling up 10 minutes prior to the time we were suppose to leave...NOT the all aboard time. We thought, wow, they are cutting it close. Then about 2 minutes later, here comes another couple in the back of a 3 wheeled bike with a poor Mexican guy (this was a taxi type pedal bike) pedaling as fast and as hard as he could. I hope they gave him a good tip!

 

At the time that we were suppose to leave, they came on and made an announcement that 3 people were missing again. We sat in port for 20 minutes, with the gangway down, waiting on these people. They never showed. We pulled out of port 20 minutes late.

 

Now I'm not saying NCL will always wait on you and I've heard the horror stories, but I do believe they make every effort to make sure everyone is safely on board and not left behind. People really shouldn't make it a habit of arriving after the time that they are told to be there. I would never risk that. :)

[Karysa]

I did not read everyone's comments, just giving you our experience from last weeks NCL cruise.

 

We were told to be on board 30 minutes prior to departure at every port. Not a problem...at least for us and a majority of others.

 

However, we were in Roatan and we heard them announce the names of 3 passengers that had not boarded the ship by the time it was time to pull away. They waited around for a little bit and then finally left. We did not see anyone come running so I have no idea if these 3 people were left behind or not.

 

In Cozumel, we seen 3 elderly ladies coming strolling up 10 minutes prior to the time we were suppose to leave...NOT the all aboard time. We thought, wow, they are cutting it close. Then about 2 minutes later, here comes another couple in the back of a 3 wheeled bike with a poor Mexican guy (this was a taxi type pedal bike) pedaling as fast and as hard as he could. I hope they gave him a good tip!

 

At the time that we were suppose to leave, they came on and made an announcement that 3 people were missing again. We sat in port for 20 minutes, with the gangway down, waiting on these people. They never showed. We pulled out of port 20 minutes late.

 

Now I'm not saying NCL will always wait on you and I've heard the horror stories, but I do believe they make every effort to make sure everyone is safely on board and not left behind. People really shouldn't make it a habit of arriving after the time that they are told to be there. I would never risk that. :)

 

From time to time people post questions about leaving the cruise at a port of call. I think that sometimes the missing people are not really missing but actually they choose to stay on the island. Some cruises are actually cheaper than a flight or at least they get 5 days of cruising and arrive to where they want to be for the cost of a flight.

[mitsugirly]

From time to time people post questions about leaving the cruise at a port of call. I think that sometimes the missing people are not really missing but actually they choose to stay on the island. Some cruises are actually cheaper than a flight or at least they get 5 days of cruising and arrive to where they want to be for the cost of a flight.

 

Would they not tell the cruise staff though? I've never thought of this. Someone on our roll call did see a family (but I don't believe it was just 3 people) pull their luggage off the ship at one of the ports. I've never thought of that. Maybe that is a better way to go on a trip and stay instead of flying. Hmmm, I'll have to check into this. :D So I wonder if they catch a cruise ship back. :confused:

[Karysa]

Would they not tell the cruise staff though? I've never thought of this. Someone on our roll call did see a family (but I don't believe it was just 3 people) pull their luggage off the ship at one of the ports. I've never thought of that. Maybe that is a better way to go on a trip and stay instead of flying. Hmmm, I'll have to check into this. :D So I wonder if they catch a cruise ship back. :confused:

 

The advice that I have always seen on here is that the cruiser should notify the cruiseline if they are planning to do this. I am not even sure if it is allowed but I have seen it asked on the boards here from time to time. I think that some people may actually be returning home not just for a vacation. Let's say they fly to New York for a vacation and return via ship. It is possible. I read of someone who wanted to cruise to Costa Rica and then disembark and backpack until they got to Mexico. I wouldn't count on catching the cruiseship back but it's worth checking, "No cruise for you" is the worst thing that they can say.