Has anyone ever actually missed the boat in port?

[foilman2002]

I would guess that they do everything that they can because if they didn't excursion sales would plummet. And they probably wait for late returning excursions because it is less expensive to pay the extra port fees than it would be to get that many people to the next port (and I have actually read about few excursions running so late that the ship had to leave).

 

Still as a selling point goes it is interesting that what is written is at such odds with actual practice.

 

I was just looking at the FAQ in the excursion section for my next cruise and came across this:

 

Q. Will I miss the ship if I go on shore excursions?

 

A. One of the major advantages of participating in shore excursions sold through Carnival is that we closely monitor the excursion departures and returns. Therefore, we can assure you that even if there are unexpected delays on an excursion, your ship will be there when you return. Please be aware that if you make your own arrangements, or leave an organized excursion, you will be on your own and it will be up to you to make sure you return to your ship on time.

 

The bold and red is my doing. This is apparently a definitive statement.

[sparks1093]

I was just looking at the FAQ in the excursion section for my next cruise and came across this:

 

Q. Will I miss the ship if I go on shore excursions?

 

A. One of the major advantages of participating in shore excursions sold through Carnival is that we closely monitor the excursion departures and returns. Therefore, we can assure you that even if there are unexpected delays on an excursion, your ship will be there when you return. Please be aware that if you make your own arrangements, or leave an organized excursion, you will be on your own and it will be up to you to make sure you return to your ship on time.

 

The bold and red is my doing. This is apparently a definitive statement.

 

Yes it is a definitive statement, thanks for pointing it out. (I know that they closely monitor the excursions because they were on the radio to our buss when it was cutting it close in Freeport.)

[abqaiq]

Deleted

Edited April 1, 2013 by abqaiq

[abqaiq]

All that sounds good, but I'm not sure in reality if it accomplishes anything. No country is going to allow you in on a photocopy of a passport, so you would still have to go to the US Consulate and they can pull your passport up in their computer.

 

Really? What port did you present a color copy or black and white for that matter, and it actually made it so much easier?

 

From experience -- copies are so easily forged they are useless in getting documentation to travel home or across a border. The authorities will simply trash the copy or give it back to you and then start the questions that will lead to your ability to obtain the documentation needed to get you where you want to go.

 

The copy may be helpful when purchasing something in a port but that is about it.

 

It is amazing how many people that have never been in this situation post this myth as if it is the gospel.

 

You are absolutely correct...you can't present a photocopy and expect to go through airport or maritime port security.

However, I have lived or worked in a number of countries that have extremely strict security protocols. There are random checkpoints on most highways at any time day or night. If you lost your passport, but have a photocopy, at least you won't be headed directly to jail. Depending on the country, and the major cruise lines do stop at some of them, not having a passport or copy on hand can lead to problems that will definitely ruin your vacation.

 

If you're just bopping around the Carib or Western Europe, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Although, if your name is John Smith, and you're from NYC or LA or some other large city, it may take more time than you want for State to run down your info.

 

If you're cruising in the Middle East, or North Africa, or some ports of call in SE Asia, I wouldn't be caught without both my original passport, and a high quality copy.

 

Unlike in the movies, in many countries you can't just run past the USMC guard to get sanctuary in a consular office if you lost your passport. Depending on your location, the embassy or consular guards are TCN's (third country nationals) hired by the State Dept. If you just walk up to them and say "Hi! I'm Bubba,and I need a new passport", you're likely to get turned back around and sent packing. In one country I lived in, the host country had set up a very broad killing field in front of the consulate. You had to drive up to the security gate. No walk-ups allowed. There was a host country soldier, with a very large full-auto Russian-made machine gun pointed in your general direction 24/7. And this was in a "friendly" country. You had better have made prior arrangements and set up an appointment with the correct consular agent. If you were able to drive up in a taxi, show the guards your passport copy, they would most likely be willing to contact the appropriate department inside the consulate.

 

Anyway, the passport photocopy idea was both suggested and strongly recommended by the consulate we routinely dealt with.

 

If your cruise stops in Morocco, and you rent a car instead of taking the ship's excursion, don't lose your passport. Even our ship's excursion bus (Princess) was stopped and questioned by the military on the way back from Marrakesh. Your choice, but we always carry a high-resolution passport photocopy. Better to have it and not need it..

[dotcomgirl]

The passport issue is the reason that my husband and I always carry our passport cards on us while in port. Actual passports stay in the safe, but at least we have the passport card on us. We realize that it's not as good as an actual passport, but we could possibly take a boat to another island and catch the cruise ship there if we get left behind. (This just applies to our Caribbean sailings... We've never done anything else. I'm guessing it wouldn't help as much in Europe.)

[CheckersMidwest]

We have used taxis in Nassau multiple times. Sometimes as a family and sometimes just my daughter & myself. We have never used tickets, always cash and we've never had any problems.

 

In Freeport, we used a taxi once. You can just decide one day you want to be a taxi driver & go. No regulations. Nassau is regulated. The other days in Freeport, we used the bus system.

[wander2beaches]

Fast forward to around the 8 1/2 minute mark for the real shocker.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2013 by wander2beaches

[Andromeda93]

Just wondering if trip insurance would cover the cost of catching up with the ship, hotel, meds/food, etc if an accident or mechanical breakdown on an excursion caused one to be too late even for pier running?

 

I've never read the fine details of the trip insurance I've purchased for this specific coverage, but I will now. A 'Senor Frogs' miss wouldn't be covered, I'm sure, but if someone breaks a leg or the excursion vehicle breaks down, it seems like the cost associated w/ resuming the cruise should be covered...but may not be, depending on the policy.

 

To the poster who commented about rail service disruptions; how right you are. We were on a river cruise trip and during an overland segment from Regensburg, Germany to Prague, our "nonstop" train suddenly stopped in a small town in the Czech Republic, and an announcement was made (in Czech) that the train simply wasn't going any farther and we'd all have to get off and wait for a different train later that day. We were confused when everyone started gathering their stuff and getting off the train. Luckily a bilingual Czech took pity on us and explained what was happening. A train eventually arrived, but it was a local run w/ lots of stops and we were hours late arriving in Prague. The good part was it was AFTER our cruise and a couple of days before our flights home, so the expense of the delay was minimal.

[Ima Cruiser]

Did the pier running thing many moons ago on a now retired Celebrity ship - and we were on a ship excursion.

 

Our tour guide was a complete ass and wasted 30 minutes of the entire buses time escorting a woman who wanted to buy a cuckoo clock in Venezula. We ran into traffic on the way back and needed to literally run to make the ship.

[topguy]

I would hazard to guess that 99% of the people who missed the ship were out on their own and not on any private or ship excursion. Private tour companies that you can research and book online know that if they cause you to miss the boat, it will probably be the end of their business. They know that people will post their experience on the internet and it would break their business. They will get you back in time. The cruise lines like to use the scare tactics to make you book their overpriced excursions.

 

Plus, always take the front of the Fun Times with you for that port.

At the bottom is an emergency number to call if you are running a little late. Communication is the key. If they don't know where you are and when you will be back, they may leave, but if they KNOW that you will be 15 minutes late, they will probably wait for you.

[billie5]

I was just looking at the FAQ in the excursion section for my next cruise and came across this:

 

Q. Will I miss the ship if I go on shore excursions?

 

A. One of the major advantages of participating in shore excursions sold through Carnival is that we closely monitor the excursion departures and returns. Therefore, we can assure you that even if there are unexpected delays on an excursion, your ship will be there when you return. Please be aware that if you make your own arrangements, or leave an organized excursion, you will be on your own and it will be up to you to make sure you return to your ship on time.

 

The bold and red is my doing. This is apparently a definitive statement.

 

You need to read through the thread. This quote was one of the starting points of the thread (or this discussion point within the thread). And, as any of us knows who has been a CCer for some time, it is INCORRECT. I won't say "all the time", but "from time to time" we get to read about ship excursions which were unable to make it back to the ship before its departure. Common sense alone would tell you it can not be true -- there are numerous reasons a ship must leave within a certain time interval.

 

Anyway, one can read about this earlier in the thread if one wishes.

[ontheweb]

On our second cruise ever, we went on an RCCL excursion in Cozumel to Mayan ruins followed by swimming. We were running very late, and I was worried about missing the ship. There was an assistant cruise director along on the excursion. He assured everyone that the ship would wait for us. It did.

 

A few cruises later, we were on the Star Princess on a Baltic cruise. We heard rumors of a couple missing the ship in Talinn, Estonia, and then being "rescued" by the ship lowering a life boat to bring them on board. Later at dinner, we were told it was true by a couple who witnessed them being brought aboard. It seems they were on a ship's excursion, but stayed on shore (probably to either take pictures or shop) and missed the ship.

 

That would have been a particularly bad port to miss the ship. The next port was St. Petersburg, Russia, where we were spending two days. Even if they had their passports with them, I don't think they could have got into Russia without a visa. The law in Russia is you have to have a visa unless you are only in St. Petersburg for 72 hours or less and use either a ship's tour or a tour with a licensed Russian tour guide. (I'm sure the St. Petersburg section of cruisecritic must still have many posts about the various tour guides available.)

 

BTW, if you go on a Baltic cruise, do not let the cruise line scare you off taking a private excursion. They will try to tell you that you can only go on cruise line excursions unless you obtain a visa; but that is not true.

[gold1953]

We were on the Solstice in April with a stop in Malaga Spain. 15 mins. before departure a name was announced so I headed to 5 to watch the expected pier runner. No where to be seen. A ship's officer stepped off the ship and handed a passport to the port police. Then we left. Moments later I see a guy sauntering down the pier looking at his watch. We were sailing away. He had a discussion with the port police and then a police boat arrives and in he gets . By now we were quite a way out. Our ship stops and they drop a rope ladder. I video taped the event. Not a ladder I woud want to be climbing, but lucky guy not to be left behind... and yes there was a lot of cheering of sorts from fellow passengers!. It started as negative when he was walking on the pier and the cheering as he was coming aboard

[tinlizzie123]

Just got back from a HAL cruise and 2 people definitely missed the ship in Costa Maya and 4 people may have missed the boat in San Juan. Guess people should check their watches. Our ship left right on the dot both times.

[ratso999]

A couple of years ago, we were docking in Grand Turk around noon, and there was a Carnival already docked. It was supposed to leave at 1pm

 

But...Margaritaville was loaded with Spring Breakers...more drunks staggering back towards the docks than in a bottle of Carler's Little Liver Pills (I know, that dates me). The ship had to send crew out to round them up....the ship finally pulled away around 4 pm.

[jsfromsc]

A couple of years ago, we were docking in Grand Turk around noon, and there was a Carnival already docked. It was supposed to leave at 1pm

 

But...Margaritaville was loaded with Spring Breakers...more drunks staggering back towards the docks than in a bottle of Carler's Little Liver Pills (I know, that dates me). The ship had to send crew out to round them up....the ship finally pulled away around 4 pm.

 

 

I'll never understand these people. You can drink on the ship. Hanging out in a bar is no excuse to not be aware of your surroundings and the time, as well as the time you're expected back on the ship.

 

And I know about Carter's pills. Never used them or have even seen them, but I know about them. My dad used to use that simile all the time. :)

[pharmlivin]

looked like 3 people to me. We had view of the pier-young lady looking up as ship pushed off-just waving and looking a bit shocked. I was sure they would pull back over and let them on but, no they didn't. Then the pilot boat was going out to get the harbor pilot-I thought they would get a ride with him but no. I guess too much liability for all concerned making that transfer.

We also wondered who packs up their stuff and how they retrieve it following cruise. Flight from San Juan to Miami should have been easy enough. I would just completely panic if I had left kids at Kids Camp on the ship though.

[jmcathome]

Couple missed the ship on the Freedom at Grand Cayman this week. Cant fly to next port guess where their passport is. In their safe.

[febtober]

Nothing is ever 100%.

 

I met a couple of my last cruise who had been on an excursion booked through the ship a few years ago. During the excursion, the vehicle they were in was in a head on collision with another car. They were in a hospital for a couple of days. I'm not sure exactly how it was all settled, but needless to day, the ship didn't just sit in port for 2 days waiting on them.

[poptart]

Our 1st trip to Belize my husband, sister, her husband and a friend went on a carnival excursion. (so glad my friend and I didn't go) it was an all day trip, bus and boat to a ranch, and horse back riding. A young women on the excursion was thrown from her horse and was sent to the hospital Via ambulance, her husband went with her. Everyone else returned to the ship at the last minute. The ship left port but we were moving slow and a motor boat came along side and the couple was transferred to the ship. We talked to them the next day and they were treated well and she was okay but was told to go to doctor a soon a she got home due to the concussion she had

Another time in St. Martin we did a drive your own jeep tour. It was awesome we see the while island and spent a couple of hours at orient beach. In the way back after we left the jeeps we were transferred to a bus for the trip back to the ship and got stuck in grid lock traffic. The lady in charge was in constant contact with the ship and it did wait. We were about15 minutes late and they were pulling up the gang plank as we ran across it :eek: yes the hecklers were out. There were about, 20 of us.

 

So that is my 2 personal experiences. We do shopping and beaches on our own, but anything that is far from the port and takes all day we book with the ship.

[poptart]

Yes I can spell and such but I am using Swype on a 7" tablet.... sometimes it had a mind of it's own. :eek:

[readytotravel44]

They want you to wait until they fill their van.

 

In Cozumel you get a cab and you go, but in the Bahamas they want you to get in a van and they want to get as many other people in the van as they can.

 

When my daughter was left on the dock she and her friend experienced the same thing.

The cab would not leave until they got a van full.

 

The taxis do a weird thing with tickets too.

 

Just be careful in Freeport or Nassau.

 

I was on a cruise last April with my sister some odd things happened with the taxis in Freeport.

We went to the taxi stand and a taxi driver woman took us to her van.

There were a bunch of other people in there and they said that they had waited for a while as the woman filled up her van.

We went to Junkanoo Beach(which is lovely, by the way).

 

When my sister and I wanted to leave and go back to the ship we went out to the taxi stand at Junkanoo.

The woman at the taxi stand said that we needed tickets.

We did not have tickets or know anything about tickets.

 

A woman at the taxi stand took our money and said that she would help us.:confused:

As we waited we talked to some taxi drivers who asked if we had tickets.

So we said that we did not, but the lady at the taxi stand had our money.

 

They asked us who had our money and then some drivers started yelling at the woman to give us our money back.

She gave us our money back.

 

Then a guy let us into his taxi/van although he told us that he was not supposed to take us without a ticket.

 

The whole thing was really weird.

We were very uncomfortable with it.

But at least I gained some understanding about what happened to my daughter that caused her to miss the boat.

 

Oh, when my daughter missed the boat it left exactly on time.

They did not wait one minute.

Dh and I were on deck watching for pier runners and we heard them call her name over the speakers.

By the time we got downstairs the boat was moving.

DH and I would have got off the boat if we could have, but there was not enough time.

 

Our daughter was 20 at the time and she is beautiful.

We were really scared.

 

We ran to her cabin and found security searching it.

We had to go to the security office and fill out missing person paper work while the security people talked over us to each other in their language.

It was obvious that they were talking about us.

 

Then they said that the purser had her on the phone and we felt were so relieved.

You know, we did not know if she had been in a accident or a victim of crime or God only knows what, so safe on the dock was wonderful.

The purser said that their agent on the dock had them and that he would help them make reservations to meet the ship in St Thomas.

 

All this had happened and we were still pretty close to the dock.

 

So, after a day at sea we get to St Thomas.

 

We waited until an hour before people needed to be back on board and no daughter.

We went to the purser's desk and talked to the lady.

We were very worried.

 

The Purser desk lady called Carnival's agent in Nassau and he said that he did not know where our daughter and her friend went.

He said that he just took them to a hotel and he did not know where she was.

We called the hotel and she had checked out the next morning.

Which was two days earlier...

 

Our twenty year old daughter was lost somewhere and we did not even know what country she was in.

Totally terrifying.

 

While I went to call home to see if anyone had heard from her (she had not called anyone at home), my dh got a list of airlines that fly from Nassau from the purser.

They let him use their phone.

Fortunately a lady at the airline was able to tell him that she had flown from Nassau to Miami, from Miami to San Juan, and from San Juan to St Martin.

The Caribbean is one of those can't get there from here places.

 

So another sea day and then St Martin and there she was.

When she came on board the purser's desk lady told her that she had better find us right away as we were very worried.

She did not have her cell with her,(security found it in her safe), and she thought that the agent on the dock in Nassau had notified us where she was going.

Dd said that Carnival's Nassau agent helped them make the plane reservations and that he definitely knew where they were going.

 

If you are curious about the monetary cost of missing the ship in Nassau it was $1600 dollars per person in air fare.

A night in a hotel in Nassau.

Three nights in a hotel in St Martin.

(one night they spent on planes and in air ports)

Plus food and taxis.

They had to wear the same clothes the whole time.

 

. . .

 

Anyway, back in St Thomas when I was calling home to see if dd had checked in with anyone I found out that my mother had become very ill and was in the hospital and was going to have surgery on debarkation day.

I was able to talk to Mom on the phone and since it was St Martin it was not roaming...

 

The next day, on the last sea day, my son decided to slide down the bannister and broke his tail bone.:rolleyes:

 

Anyone who says that a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work has no idea what they are talking about.

 

In between the episodes of blinding fear and worry we did have some fun...

Wow!

We had something similar in Freeport. My husband was tired of shopping and left our group to head back to the ship. He was quoted a price and got in the van? taxi? I can't remember. Anyway when they got to this ship the driver INSISTED on much more $ than the quote. My husband argued with him, then tossed the agreed upon $ to him and literally ran to the ship. The guy chased, but turned around once my husband hit security.

[javaCruiser14]

Well I missed the boat once...

 

Posted story: It hurts to much to tell it again

Get to the Cruise the day before - Part 1 - in NCL cruise reviews

[billie5]

Yes I can spell and such ......... a mind of it's own.

 

Cute. I wonder how many people have gotten your sense of humor. :p

[kcwingwalker]

Happens more than you might think................most don't like to post about it.