Has the ship ever sailed without you?

[DrivesLikeMario]

Actually, on the Princess web site it says:

 

Why Choose Shore Excursions through Princess

“We are able to hold the ship in the event your tour is delayed”

 

This sure gives the impression that they will wait for you.

 

They will if they can. They waited for our Princess tour when we were late returning from our Panama Canal excursion. (We got stuck waiting for about 90 mins. in every lock for a massive cargo carrier. I've seen snails move faster than that humongous thing. This was our tour from hell - everyone has one.) Once the bus finally reached Colon, they rushed us off the bus, making us run for the small, temporary gangway. As the last of our group crossed it, they pulled it up and off we went. We were about 4 hrs. late from a 9 hr. tour.

[JF - retired RRT]

I saw a couple who not only almost missed the ship, but also almost got arrested!

They were one of the last to get to the security gate, unfortunately they were being followed by their taxi driver/tour guide (?). He was shouting and gesturing angrily. From body language it became obvious that he wanted more $$ and they didn't think they owed more. The police were called and tried to mediate, but the woman of the couple became more and more agitated. One of the police turned her around and started to cuff her! At that point, her spouse threw money at the driver, the woman was released and they stomped to the ship. Now they were yelling at each other instead of the driver.:D

 

It was very entertaining.

[pablo222]

In those days the cruise card was cardboard. Obviously someone should have checked the card carefully, but they did not. So she used her Pacific card to get on the island.

 

In the old days, you were welcome to do this.

 

I remember touring the old Royal in Cozemel, when

we were in port at the same time on the old Crown.

 

One of the cruise staff alerted us to the visitation privledges.

[satxdiver]

With regard to taking your passport with you, we were in St Maarten and advised that the nearest US Consulate was in Curacao. A bit inconvenient if you needed to visit them.

 

We have taken two ship sponsored trips from Cozumel to the Yucatan via a chartered ferry. The ferry picked us up near the ship almost immediately after arrival. Both times the ferry returned to the ship late. One time it was around 30 minutes and the other time almost 1 hour. The ship waited and we were the last ones to board the ship. They pulled the gangplanks immediately after we boarded. Something to think about when getting private tours vs ship tours.

[satxdiver]

Our favorite story was when we were in Curacao and getting ready to leave. The usual announcement will so and so call the service desk immediately. After time came and went to leave, the captain announced that we were waiting for a couple to return to the ship because he was "a good guy". They never made it and we left without them. We later leaned they returned 30 minutes after we left (total 1 hour late returning).

 

Our next port two days later was St Thomas. Time came to leave and again we seemed to be waiting. The captain again announced that we were missing a couple and that we would wait. Just as we were about to give up and leave a taxi came up quickly and both rear doors flew open. A couple rushed out of the cab and to the ship. We then left for our next port. Later I learned ...you guessed it...the SAME couple we left in Curacao. I imagine they had a personal meeting with the captain and it was not friendly.

[Silent Penguin]

This is a good story, and very humbly and honestly written, by someone who missed the ship in the Bahamas.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

 

Wow! Thanks for posting this.

[colonialinnkeeper]

We were returning from Coki Beach on St. Thomas in a van with several people including two college gals. As we approached Charlotte Amalie, the traffic became a standstill as it often does when there are several ships. The girls were becoming frantic saying they shouldn't have stayed on the beach so long. We were too far away for them to run to the ship. As we came into view at the pier, they dashed out of the van but the ship was leaving the dock. I don't think they made it and often wondered how they got to the next port.

[blueseas4me2]

We were once on an NCL ship (maybe 10 yrs ago) and docked on Roatan for the day. A couple was left behind after the shipped waited and paged them many times.

 

Important part of this story:

• Ship time was one hour sooner than local time.
  
• In the "Daily" they told us to STAY ON SHIP TIME.
  
• On the TV they announced STAY ON SHIP TIME
  
• They announced several times over the PA system STAY ON SHIP TIME
  
• There was a large sign on the gangway that had a picture of a clock and said STAY ON SHIP TIME
  

 

So, this couple missed the cruise. When we got home, I started to look around on the NCL board and wondered if we would ever find out what happened to the couple. As luck would have it, the female posted a thread here! She said that her and her husband had been sleeping on a beach. They woke up and asked someone what time it was and thought they had another hour so they went back to sleep. She forgot about the time change.

 

Here's the kicker-- she wanted to blame NCL and she wanted compensation. When they arrived back at the port, their ship was gone but another NCL ship was still there. They tried to board that ship but the crew refused to board them. She thought they should help since it was the same company. The crew didn't agree. (it was a similar itinerary.

 

They were stranded and had no ID. It took them a couple days to get to the US Embassy and get some help getting home. The whole ordeal cost them about $2500. She was outraged and wanted NCL to repay this to them.

 

I read her outraged post and then chimed in to tell everyone about the multiple ways they had been warned to stay on ship's time. She didn't appreciate that very much.

[FawnRiver]

On a Southern Caribbean cruise, we were counted onto the ship twice, both times we were in the last dozen to return. we weren't worried as both excursions were ship excursions. It is still a little unnerving though to be counted in. At one port, we hadn't even made it back to our room before the name announcements started.

Our last cruise, in the Med, our train from Rome was delayed, so we were about an hour late coming back. Again, it was a ship's tour, the ship was there waiting for us. We were out of port less than an hour after that - we weren't the only excursion running late. One other bus pulled in about a half hour after us and the passengers were rushed through the terminal to get to the last gangway they left out.

[paul929207]

Three years ago, a Princess tour to the Galapagos Islands was delayed returning to the ship by airplane problems. The passengers on the tour rejoined us two days later at the next port.

[dickinson]

Just returned from a cruise and met a couple at dinner who at one time DID miss the ship. They had asked another passenger what time all aboard was instead of reading it directly from the cruise line or seeing the stand with the time posted when you get off. Unfortunately the time they were told was an hour later than the real time. They were quite surprised that they were given their passports at the dock because the husband did not trust the safe and had hidden the passports in some hidden compartment in their suitcase! When they ultimately got back on board their cabin was a wreck because ship personnel went over backwards to find those passports!

[caribill]

On a Princess cruise that went to Alexandria, Egypt several years ago, one passenger had his passport stolen while on shore. (You must have your passport with you when you get off the ship there.)

 

He was not allowed to reboard the ship as the next country to be visited would not allow the ship to go there unless 100% of the passengers had their passports.

 

He had to get a new passport in Cairo and rejoin the ship several days later after flying to a port on the itinerary.

[RMMariner]

I have only cruised twice, but both times there were people returning to the ship quite late. I am talking a couple minutes before we were scheduled to leave. I just cannot do that. Both times we returned with over an hour to spare. Maybe I will become less concerned as I cruise more, but for now I am so paranoid about being late that I would not enjoy the extra time on shore anyway.