The Ship Left Me!!!!

[Sabalon]

After watching the harbor pilot transfer to the pilot boat, I can't believe they would take the risk of transferring a passenger in...but then again, out of our little litigious world :)

 

Would love to see the running of the drunks!

[polarman]

Several years ago we witnessed a young couple left at the pier in Key West. I guess if you gotta miss the ship that would be one of the better ports for it to happen in !!!!

[mzloolue]

I used to think that pier runners were amusing.

 

Then Glory left our then 20 year old beautiful daughter in Nassau.

 

Just don't miss the boat.

And make sure your kids are back on board.

Oh yeah, do not trust the cab drivers in the Bahamas.

I did not understand the cab driver thing until they tried to pull it on my sister and I.

[cruzn buckeye]

I find it interesting to see how many people have seen this occur, because in all my cruises, I never have. I've seen lots of pier runners, but never known of anyone to actually miss the ship. One time, I saw them pull the gangway, but have to put it back out for a runner before the ship was untied.

 

On one such occasion, while watching runners, we got to talking to a Carnival employee on an open deck. He had been working for Carnival for 10+ years (I forget the amount). He told me that he had never seen or heard of any guests getting left behind on all the ships he was on. He told me that they mainly just say they won't wait in order to scare people to be on time. Of course, I know that is not true because I've heard of many people missing the ship.

 

Say, for example, the gangway is pulled and the ship is untied and beginning to pull away but still just a few feet from the pier when a runner come up. Would they pull back and let a runner on then?

I saw them do this in Jamaica once. That was one lucky couple. To see them running toward the ship.. and watch the ship pulling away... they seeing them slow down to a stop... well you can imagine what they felt. But then the ship backed back up to get them.

[ibcnusoon]

We were an hour late returning from a Carnival ruins tour excursion in Belize. The entire ship was hooting and hollering at about 50 of us in a tender. Our bus broke down, I would NEVER book a private tour in Belize after this!

[Raring to go]

I am obsessive about getting back to the ship on time, because on the very first cruise I ever took, the ship sailed off leaving a 20 something year old girl in Kusadasi, Turkey. They blew the horn several times, and then left. We had already cleared the harbor, when a harbor patrol boat came speeding up. Watching her climb a rope ladder to reach a door to get on the ship convinced me that it was something I never wanted to do!

[Kip89]

I saw a few people with luggage walking to the ship the morning of our first port out of Barcelona.

 

No sympathy, sorry. There's a reason you either pay the extra money for airfare through the cruise line or fly in a day or two ahead of embarkation, and make sure you're onboard at least 30 minutes prior to the ship leaving.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gtalum]

It's incredible to me how normal friendly people can turn nasty and unsympathetic on the issue of others missing the ship. I've never done it or even come close except on two Carnival-sponsored excursions, ironically, but I can see how it could happen. Any plan can fall apart.

 

This is why you should always carry your passport off the ship as well as some cash and at least one credit card. Trip insurance also helps to defray the cost of onward transportation.

Edited June 10, 2014 by gtalum

[IPlayWithString]

I used to think that pier runners were amusing.

 

Then Glory left our then 20 year old beautiful daughter in Nassau.

 

Just don't miss the boat.

And make sure your kids are back on board.

Oh yeah, do not trust the cab drivers in the Bahamas.

I did not understand the cab driver thing until they tried to pull it on my sister and I.

 

When we were in Nassau last summer, DH was down at guest services and happened to be in line behind a mom who was flipping out because the ship was about to leave port and her 13 yr old and 16 yr old (who I assume were together) weren't back on board yet. I really hope they made it back on board before the ship left.

[cruisnpat]

We usually do tours on our own and this one time we decided to do the ship tour as it was a 2 hr. drive 1 way. When we got back to the ship we were about 10 min. late but the ship was waiting for us. We had a big bus full of cruisers.

[LynnTH]

Happened last week on the Conquest in Cozumel. Many Pier Runners (or walkers - lot of them didn't seem to care). Ship left probably 1/2 hour late because of all the late people coming in. We had a balcony overlooking the pier. You could tell there were still some people missing. They were on their radio's and shortly after they came down with an envelope. Seems they went to the missing peoples room and brought stuff down as we could see their passports. They gave this stuff to the Port Agent so when they finally figured out they missed the boat at least they would have their passports.

 

After pulling away from the dock we noticed them using the Pilot Boat and dropping off a guy at the Pier. We assume he was with the people that were missing and he figured that out so he got off also with money and whatever.

 

This was the 1st stop so not sure if they ever caught up with the ship in any of the other ports.

 

Another thing is - you really need to pay attention to Ships Time vs Island Time. Always stay on Ships Time. Nice to have a watch that won't change times like a phone will...

[ilovetexas]

When we were in Nassau last summer, DH was down at guest services and happened to be in line behind a mom who was flipping out because the ship was about to leave port and her 13 yr old and 16 yr old (who I assume were together) weren't back on board yet. I really hope they made it back on board before the ship left.

 

WTH were 13 and 16 year old girls doing in Nassau by themselves? They should have tossed mom off the ship to go find her children, that way they'd have a parent with them when stranded in the foreign country.

[skittl1321]

Happened last week on the Conquest in Cozumel. Many Pier Runners (or walkers - lot of them didn't seem to care). Ship left probably 1/2 hour late because of all the late people coming in. We had a balcony overlooking the pier. You could tell there were still some people missing. They were on their radio's and shortly after they came down with an envelope. Seems they went to the missing peoples room and brought stuff down as we could see their passports. They gave this stuff to the Port Agent so when they finally figured out they missed the boat at least they would have their passports.

 

After pulling away from the dock we noticed them using the Pilot Boat and dropping off a guy at the Pier. We assume he was with the people that were missing and he figured that out so he got off also with money and whatever.

 

This was the 1st stop so not sure if they ever caught up with the ship in any of the other ports.

 

Another thing is - you really need to pay attention to Ships Time vs Island Time. Always stay on Ships Time. Nice to have a watch that won't change times like a phone will...

 

When we were in Cozumel there was a HUGE line up of people, all the way to the shop at the sail away (not all on board) time. 30 minutes after sail-away there was still enough of a line, that we gave up watching for runners, and decided to just go play trivia. We left SO late.

 

My experience in the Bahamas watching runners though is that the people who got left might be so drunk they forgot they were even on a ship. Because those last minute people could barely move on their own. I felt really bad for them.

[IPlayWithString]

WTH were 13 and 16 year old girls doing in Nassau by themselves? They should have tossed mom off the ship to go find her children, that way they'd have a parent with them when stranded in the foreign country.

 

I know I personally wouldn't have felt comfortable letting my teenagers wander around Nassau by themselves, but that's just me. Even I didn't feel 100% comfortable..but that was probably because it was my first trip to a destination outside the US so I was a bit apprehensive.

[frayedend]

I see how it can happen so easily, because it almost happened to me and my husband! We took a Carnival excursion in Cozumel... it was the cooking class Playa Mia. It was a drink-fest lol. They kept the drinks flowing! We were dropped back at the pier at 4:30 (sail away was at 5pm) and my uh, "tipsy" husband spotted a sculpture of The Predator, like from the movie, that was made of shark cartilage. Like, "authentic shark cartilage", man (I laugh because you could see the seam from the mold that the resin had been poured into to make this sculpture) But yeah, anywhoo, while he bought that, I wandered to the next kiosk and we somehow lost each other and were running in circles. The ship was blowing its horn and I decided to run down the pier and that's when I spotted him and his predator... and we made just in the nick of time. Like, they met us at the gang plank asking if we were Mike and Emily (and predator) because they'd been waiting on us. Thank God it was a Carnival excursion... that's probably why they waited.

 

 

ROFL I have the Alien and Predator statues. Love them. Got a great deal even if they are plastic. I'd never seen one like it at home. I really wanted the giant Alien statue I saw in a few stores but I knew I'd not get it home safe. The price for it ranged from $300 to $65 I think depending on the store.