Have you ever been a pier runner...if so...why?

[OCruisers]

On Bernard's tour in St Maarten, made it with just under 10 minutes to spare. He had to order a separate taxi to get us back from Mero Beach, and traffic was awful. We watched the ship sail away with a family running after it. Not a fun experience. :(

 

No not a fun experience. I get no pleasure out of watching others miss the ship. :(

LuLu

Edited May 10, 2014 by OCruisers

[CruiserBruce]

This must be a mostly Caribbean Islands problem.

If you miss the boat it must be costly to get yourself to another island.

Not so much a problem with Mediterranean cruises. You could probably get to the next port on a bicycle for many of these short hops like Dubrovnik to Kotor and have ours to spare waiting for the ship to come in.

:-)

 

Not true at all. On our first Med cruise, a couple missed the ship sailing in Corfu (next stop Kusadasi) and later a couple missed the sailaway at Athens (next stop Messina Sicily).

 

It can happen anywhere.

[vacation luvver]

The three times it happened I was on a ship's shore excursion.

 

In Portland, Maine, I took a ship's shore excursion to Mt. Washington. The tour guide told us that he and the bus driver were deliberately taking us a roundabout way back to the ship, because the ship had to wait for us. We got back more than two hours after the ship was supposed to sail.

 

In Bar Harbor, Maine, I booked a ship's shore excursion. When I wanted to book my Celebrity Select dinner time, I was told that I couldn't book any earlier than 7:30 PM, because that was the time that they could guaranty that my tender would arrive at the ship. After the excursion was over, we got on line for the tender at 6:45 PM, but we couldn't get on a tender until 7:30 PM. Then the tender crashed into some rocks, and we were further delayed. We finally got back onto the ship a couple of hours after it was supposed to leave.

 

In St. Kitts, I booked the ship's excursion of the St. Kitts Scenic Railway excursion in the morning. I booked another ship's excursion in the afternoon. For the afternoon excursion, I noticed that it took 15 minutes of very brisk walking to get from the ship to where we had to board the bus. Since our excursion was due to end 15 minutes before we had to be on the ship, I knew that it would be a very close call if we got back one or two minutes late. However, our tour guide said that he called our ship to tell them that we would be 5 minutes late, and he said that he was told not to worry, that the Scenic Railway train broke down during its afternoon ride, and the ship would leave one hour late. So when we got back, I didn't have to hurry-hurry-hurry back to the ship.

[Wastegirl]

While not a pier runner, it is an experience being last on board. We were on a ships tour in Noumea, New Caledonia and we were due back 5 minutes before the ship sailed. we were obviously the very last as the crew were all waiting for us and literally pulled the gangplank up after us. A ship full of nearly 2,000 passengers all waiting for 12 of us to 'swan it' back on board :) I don't think we got back to our room before the ship was leaving the dock.

[CaliforniaLiving]

The three times it happened I was on a ship's shore excursion.

 

In Portland, Maine, ......more than two hours after the ship was supposed to sail.

 

In Bar Harbor, Maine, I booked a ship's shore excursion. ........ We finally got back onto the ship a couple of hours after it was supposed to leave.

 

In St. Kitts, I booked the ship's excursion ....... So when we got back, I didn't have to hurry-hurry-hurry back to the ship.

 

Wow! three times-- I only had one TRUE Pier Runner Experience -

 

In Boston, my sister and i decided to go on our own to Salem. We took the Train - 35 minute Ride. We Needed to be back on ship by 7:30 Pm-

 

We decided to catch the 5:30 train from Salem to Boston. With an under 10 minute Cab ride to the pier we would have plenty of time, right?? so you would think.

After spending a nice day in Salem, we get to Salem train station at 5:13 plenty of time (maybe even catch the 5:15. )

Come 5:20 and no train--- 5:40 no train- 6Pm no train--- what is going on? we find out there is a bridge that won't lower so the trains can't get to Salem. We Panic-- and start calling the Ship- our travel agent - anybody we can think of because we are not on a ship tour and don't think the ship will wait for us. We contemplate a Taxi or renting a car.

 

Well at 7:15 a train finally arrives - we get into Boston at 7:50 (our travel agent told us they would hold the ship until 8pm) We run for a taxi and told the dirver to Step on it. He put the NYC taxi drivers to shame and got to the ship in less than 5 minutes -(Can't let a few red lights slow him down) - we gave him a BIG tip and Ran up the Gangway) I think i kissed the ship when we were finally aboard.

 

In the elevator the people looked at us and said "Oh your the girls they kept calling over the Loundspeaker for the last 1/2 hour" -- Great now we infamous.

 

The whole time i kept thinking of the "I love Lucy" episode where they lowered her to the shp from a helicopter. Looking back now it was funny but i don't think the rest of the passengers enjoyed the Delay.

[artypharty]

Years ago we were in Cozumel. Grabbed a taxi with plenty of time to get to the ship. What we didn't know was that it was election time with rally's (huge crowds) everywhere and streets closed. Our driver tried to get around all the road blocks, but got caught up in traffic... Dead stop with nowhere to go. He said we were about a half mile from the ship, gave us directions and said... "jump out of the cab and run." :eek:

 

We made it with not much time to spare, and a grand story to tell! :D

[vacation luvver]

Wow! three times-- I only had one TRUE Pier Runner Experience

I'm not sure if the first time (when the tour guide told us that he and the driver were going to intentionally waste hours driving us around and around in circles, because the ship HAD to wait for us) counts as being the cruiseline's fault. The cruiseline claims that it uses only licensed tour companies, but the tour guide was a nutcase. We didn't know what to do. After we got back to the ship, I told the officers who were impatiently waiting for us what the tour guide and driver had done. I asked if there was a way I could call the ship if such a thing happened again. I was told that there was no way for me to call the ship. (Afterwards, I was told by a cruisecritic poster that I could have called the port agent.) And when we got back onto the ship, dinner-time was over.

 

The second time (when our tender smashed into a bunch of rocks, delaying us for hours), it was the cruiseline's fault, because the tender driver drove very recklessly. By the time we got back to the ship, dinner time was over, and it never occurred to them that maybe we were hungry. I went to the buffet, because the daily said that pizza would be available until 1:00 AM. It was 11:15 PM, and the pizza station was locked up tight.

 

The third time (when we did not have to run at top speed to get back onto the ship because another excursion wound up being delayed), I consider to be the cruiseline's fault for scheduling my shore excursion to end 15 minutes before I had to be back on the ship, when, as I said previously, it took 15 minutes of very brisk walking to get from the ship to the bus. There was no wiggle room. If the other excursion hadn't been delayed, our tour guide might have told the ship that the people on his tour were back, and we might have missed the ship if we hadn't been able to move very quickly at the end of a day.

[BeagleOne]

I've been a pier "fast walker" twice. First time was on my first cruise in decades and the first as an adult without my family. We were docked in St. Thomas and one other gal from our party and I went over to St. John on the ferry. We caught the ferry back in time, but the cab back to the ship was slow and I stupidly thought 5 p.m. departure meant 5 p.m. all aboard. We made it there about 4:50, got back to our cabin, and the phone was ringing. The voice on the other end asked for our names and birthdates and then asked for the birthdate of our cabin-mate, and we had trouble remembering the year she was born! But we got it right. We also weren't the last onboard.

 

We later found out that said cabin-mate heard our names being called over the PA system and went to the guest services desk to tell them where we were and which ferry we'd planned to take back, but I doubt they would have waited for us, and rightly so.

 

The second time about 20 of us from our roll call booked a private boat tour in St. Vincent. As we were leaving the guide said, "You have to be back AT 3:30, correct?" I said, "No, BY 3:30". But I guess that didn't register, because at 3:25 we were zipping across the harbor at about 60 mph. We docked right in front of the ship, so they knew we were coming, and departure was at 4, so we did have a bit of a cushion. I got off the boat first and was bummed I didn't have time to do justice to the little shops in the port area. Oh well.

 

In Dominica the announcement came over the PA that all were aboard and the ship was leaving a few minutes early...as the gangplank was being brought up a mother and teenaged daughter came sprinting down that long pier. IDK what happened with the ID scanners that their absence wasn't noted...but they barely made it.

[BridgeMates]

We did a fabulous private overnight tour in Cairo with a group of Australians which we arranged on CC. The drive from the ship into town was about 3 hours. The next day our group decided to have lunch on the Nile and we left in plenty of time to get back to the ship BUT there was a water main break under the highway and we were stuck in traffic for over an hour. Our driver got special permission from the company to drive as fast as he could to get us back by 5pm. What should have been a 3 hour drive was completed in only 2 hours. I was scared to death.....donkeys, camels and little markets on the highway with people wandering all around. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. The whole side of the ship was clapping as we rolled our little carry-ons aboard. I'll never forget that drive or the fun we had with that group. Tensions were a little high with the US and Egypt so the tour guide told us to say we were Australian if asked. Created a lot of laughs, believe me! :):):)

 

Another time we joined a group on a yacht in St. Lucia. We were late getting back to the dock but I could see the ship. While the Capt was manuevering the boat in, I started waving my blue & white striped Princess towel hoping they'd see us and wait. He misunderstood and thought we were supposed to be back by Sailing time.

 

We are very careful these days to be sure the tour guides know exactly when we have to be back and always allow for extra time in case we need it.

[Jimnbigd]

Another problem might be when the ship stays on the departure (home) port time, and the port-of-call is an hour or more behind -- like Florida to Cozumel. Departure times are ship's time, not necessarily port-of-call time. I always make sure what the ship time is when I leave at a port-of-call.