Missing the boat!!!

[JustMarriedBuckeyes]

Aah... It's nice reminiscing about my cruise travels via this message board! One of my favorite things to do on my last cruise was to sit on deck 4 after a day at a port and watch all of the late people run to the ship. I can't believe how many people waited until right before we all had to be back on the ship to saunter up!

I'd be curious to hear stories from the people who actually got left behind... what happened, what did you do, etc?

Happy travels!

Erica

Navigator of the Seas Sep 2005 Eastern Caribbean

Mariner of the Seas Aug 2004 Western Caribbean

[Slam308]

Never missed it myself, but my second cruise with my best friend, Cozumel was our last stop and we sat on deck watching as 4 young ladies ran screaming for the ship as she pulled out! Coincidentally they were carrying those big yard glasses from Carlos & Charlies!!

We also heard that another couple got on and tried to get in their cabin only to find out they'd gotten on the wrong RC ship! This was pre-9/11 and I guess the security personnel just looked at their cards and said hop on board. We'd already left before they found out.

[cruz1234]

AHHH yes I must admit..we sat and chuckled as the Disney Magic pulled away from St. Thomas as a family of 4 came running up to the ship( with arm loads of shopping bags)..too late we were on the move! I cannot imagine cutting it that close to get back on board..but I do know the traffic in St. Thomas can be horrible and can take longer than expected.. I know it's not funny but there will always be those who come running!

[BallFour4]

We live about 30 minutes from Galveston and enjoy a drive down to watch the Rhapsody and now the Conquest sail on Sundays. We carry a marine band radio with us and are amazed at just how many people arrive in time to see their vacation sail away without them.

 

The ship is in the command of a pilot, and when he/she says go, the lines are dropped and the vacation (for those aboard) begins. The radio frequently crackles with a cruise embarkation staff member asking to hold for a passenger, only to be told sorry...

 

Also, while on the Rhapsody in June we were amazed at the people that ingnored the "back on the ship" time and cut it way too close for departure. Almost all had the Fat Tuesday's drink cups, and we joined a cast of several cabins on deck 8 that heckled them all the way down the dock.

 

One woman who was very drunk yelled "we got diamonds!" and I in my maturity yelled back; "take them back and get a watch!" We had a blast, and my teenager was embarrased. Mission acomplished!

[bobbie0253]

We were in port once and had seats in Johnny Rockets by the side of the ship. We were about to leave and heard the normal announcements "Will so and so please call***". Three times. We joked around saying....guess they are going to miss the ship. We pulled away from the pier and were about 500 (or more) feet out. There were a group of teens (or very young adults) running for the pier. They were wearing bathing suits and RCCL towels. They got on their hands and knees and started begging for the ship to return. We had a Holland ship next to us who all got a ring side seat for this one.

 

The Captain must have felt sorry for them knowing they were young and there was probably no way they could have flown to the next port. He went back for them! Our JR waiter could not believe he went back. I guess there are so pretty stiff fines for redocking once you leave, or if you are there past a certain time.

 

Our ship and the Holland ship started cheering. No one wanted those poor kids to be stranded. The Captain then got on the PA and made an announcment to the effect of "This is NOT a normal event and will not happen again. You must be on the ship 30 minutes before it is set to sail."

 

What a nice guy :)

 

Bobbie

[pjbrock]

In Aruba it is fun to watch the people weave back to the ship from Carlos & Charlie' s. I always wonder how many never make it. I have seen people running for the ship as we pull away a couple of times. I always plan to be back on board at least an hour before departure. That would really ruin a trip -missing th eboat!

[bplazo]

The captain on the Voyager went back to Jamaica for a couple who missed the ship. I believe that he said that they did not have passports or their money with them. It took an hour to get back to the port and a small boat brought them to the ship. The couple put a towel over the head because I guess they were embarrassed because the whole ship was clapping and yelling.

 

The captain did make an announcement that he would not to it again. I wonder if some of the confusion could be ship time vs island time. I always get confursed so I make sure I am back in plenty of time.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We love watching people run for the ship.....best entertainment anywhere!:D

One of the reasons we love to get a balcony!?! :D

 

 

***

[TXSailor]

On The Rhapsody, I've seen my share of adults and young teens running to the ship at the very last minute. We usually see this happening in Cozumel, but have seen this in Key West as well. Almost on every cruise I've taken, there was someone or some people who didn't make the ship in time, but I have never witnessed anyone running after we have already pulled away.

 

How many of you have seen people so drunk, that they are carried back to the ship by their friends or family? I once saw this guy that was so drunk, they had to get a wheel chair for him and wheel him all the way back to the ship.

 

Fausto

[eweig2]

The Jolly Roder pirate ship it good for some laughs. Ive seen people so drunk thay fall in the water.:D

[Lokalona]

In September we were on the Voyager and had to leave Bermuda early. The captain told us many times we would leave at 5:30, then the crew reminded everyone when they got off the ship. There was a hurricane heading towards Bermuda and with high winds and seas the Voyager it too large to be allowed in port. There are reefs all around the island as well.

 

We left and were told we were going to have to float out in the ocean until a pilot boat brought out 6 people who missed the ship. We sat out there w/o the use of the stablizers because it was to shallow for the ship to use them and bobbed around on the ever increasing waves waiting. We had aft balcony 1394 and after dinner sat out there having a drink watching the pilot boat bring the people out to the ship. It was so rough for that boat I almost felt sorry for those onboard. We never did find out why they missed the ship, and the captain probably felt since there was severe weather heading into the island he needed to wait for them.

[wrp96]

On my Voyager western cruise, I was on a very late ship excursion and they held the ship and one tender for us. As our tender was pulling away, and understand that this is well after we were supposed to set sail, we saw several people running up to the tender dock and trying to get us to come back and pick them up. I don't know what happened to them as the ship set sail right after all of us got off the tender.

[El Tipo Calvo]

LOL

 

Apparently, the people who miss the ship are either too embarassed to post their stories here, or the people who post here are too smart of travelers to let that happen to them.

 

I've been very anxious to hear a full "I missed the boat and had to fly/boat to the next port," or something along those lines.

 

I'm curious about passports. I've read the ship will go through your room and safe and leave your passport at the dock. Is this true? I'd like to have a "worst case scenario" contingency, but I don't want to carry my passport with me everywhere I go.

[Cruisechick82]

I know there is someone on here who posted a story once about how they missed the boat. It wasn't there fault as the ship left port earlier due to an approaching hurricane. I think what they said happened was that they and 10 or so other people got off the ship right after it docked. 15 min. later or so the captain closed off people getting off the ship and announced they would be leaving port as soon as possible. They paged everyone that had left the ship and went lookign for them at the port. they found everyone except for one couple you had taken a ferry or something to another island or something like that. They crew couldn't find them so they cleaned out their room and safe and had everything packed up and left at the port. After returning to the dock and finding their ship gone, the couple went to the visitor's center and found out that their ship left without them. RCCL paid to fly them home and I think gave them some other refunds.

[wrp96]

I know there is someone on here who posted a story once about how they missed the boat. It wasn't there fault as the ship left port earlier due to an approaching hurricane. I think what they said happened was that they and 10 or so other people got off the ship right after it docked. 15 min. later or so the captain closed off people getting off the ship and announced they would be leaving port as soon as possible. They paged everyone that had left the ship and went lookign for them at the port. they found everyone except for one couple you had taken a ferry or something to another island or something like that. They crew couldn't find them so they cleaned out their room and safe and had everything packed up and left at the port. After returning to the dock and finding their ship gone, the couple went to the visitor's center and found out that their ship left without them. RCCL paid to fly them home and I think gave them some other refunds.

 

I think they were on the Granduer. The couple amazingly took in stride.

 

I keep wondering if the people that got left behind last week in Cozumel will post and let us know what happened to them. Apparently several people were still off ship when one of the ships left early due to Wilma's approach.

[smrtypnts]

Given all the right credits and payments, I MIGHT take it in stride too. At the very moment it's happening though, I doubt I'd have taken it in stride.:eek:

[MJN]

We were on the Legend of the Seas sailing the Panama Canal almost 2 years ago and as the boat left the dock we saw people running towards the ship. I think it was in Costa Rica but could be mistaken about the port. The had golf carts giving (probably for a fee) people rides up the long pier to the ship. It was obvious these were people who had missed it. Not sure what happened to them either.

Once in Nassau we were on a snorkeling trip and a young girl on our excursion was from a Carnival ship (we were with RCI) and they had to hold the sailing of that ship because it was a ship sponsered excursion and the girl was a teen sailing with her grandparents. Imagine leaving a young girl like that???, thankfully they didn't.

[Happy ks]

There was a thread a while back written by a woman and her boyfriend who had not gotten back to the ship in time. She was absolutely furious and it cost them a lot of $$ to get home.

 

I felt bad for her, but she certainly wasn't paying attention, the time was, I think, an hour earlier at port. I've been on enough cruises to know that it is announced, published in the daily newsletter and told to you again when getting off the ship in port for the day. The funny thing was, from what she wrote, they would have missed the ship even if they had changed their watches, they didnt get back to the port until the sailing time, not a half hour before sailing!

 

We always plan to be back onboard at least an hour before sailaway. Not just so we know we are back in time, but the lines can be very long that last half hour. It's nice to return early, have a bite to eat, lay by the pool (or in our case, the deck above the pool!), sometimes even take a nap.

 

I don't especially take pleasure in other peoples grief, but gosh and golly gee, don't these people pay any attention at all :confused: :eek: :confused: .

[firstcruise05]

I remember the thread about the woman and her boyfriend. Something about their watch broke and they asked the taxi to come back for them at a specific time. He came back for them but they weren't at the pickup location so he drove away without them...not to mention he was on local time which was an hour later than ship time. I remembered that post so well that I hounded DH every time we got to a port to make sure that ship time and local time were the same...I double and triple checked the times before we set off.

 

In ST. Maarten, on the Mariner, last week we were strolling down the pier with our little coconut drinks in our hand when we saw a woman pleading with a man in a golf cart. We couldn't hear what she was saying but then another man in a different golf cart received a radio transmission and said "****, HEY they are going to take you to the ship...COME ON, COME ON" and he swung the cart around to pick her up...narrowly missing us. They brought her over to a dock where a coast guard boat picked her up and sped over to the waiting Carnival ship that had left her behind. I think it was the Valor but I'm not too certain...in any case, it just continued pulling out of port and then paused to wait for her. We were on our balcony trying to watch her get on but couldn't get a good view. I said to DH "wow is she lucky!...probably left her kids on board so they had no choice:cool: "

 

It was a little entertaining. We on the other hand were so paranoid about missing the ship that we were always there at least 1/2 hour before "all aboard" and 1 hour before sail away.

[Slam308]

One of the nice things about doing a cruise sponsored excursion, they will wait for you. They know their passengers are out there and will not leave until you are back on board. The story about Cozumel that I posted earlier was a perfect example. There were about 40-50 people on the "party boat" excursion that was late. They waited for them to return. It was after that...much later than the normal departure time that the gals from Carlos & Charlies came running up the dock screaming.

[jckvpa0]

Never missed it myself, but my second cruise with my best friend, Cozumel was our last stop and we sat on deck watching as 4 young ladies ran screaming for the ship as she pulled out! Coincidentally they were carrying those big yard glasses from Carlos & Charlies!!

We also heard that another couple got on and tried to get in their cabin only to find out they'd gotten on the wrong RC ship! This was pre-9/11 and I guess the security personnel just looked at their cards and said hop on board. We'd already left before they found out.

 

That is to funny!

[smeyer418]

We were eating lunch in the dining room at the back of the ship as we had just left the dock at about 1 pm(it was Nassau). Suddenly we saw the dock getting bigger. We went back and picked up 4 people who had been late coming back to the ship. They were jumping up and down it cost us about 10 minutes. It was nice of the Captain to come back. he made up the time. Its one of the few times someone should have tipped the captain....

[yellowbird23]

On my last cruise as we were leaving Miami and enjoying the sights, all of a sudden our ship stopped in its wake. Having owned boats, I was thinking we may have been stuck on a sandbar (is that possible?). Then pilot boats started turning the ship slowly around. We were going back to port!!! As it turns out, they announced that it was a medical emergency and we didn't leave again until 7:00, a two hour delay. I still am flustered over someone being that sick and still getting onboard. I went to port side to see what it was all about and the lights on the ambulance were not going and they did not seem to be in emergency mode. I can only imagine that the person was too desperate to go on a vacation. Like some other posters on here, I like to be on ship at least a half hour before stated time.

[Oma24boys]

...but, I did not miss the ship, actually ended up getting back on 1 hour early! A friend and I decided to do some additonal shopping in Costa Maya and sent our hubbies back to the ship. The shops were closing and people were scarce but we didn't think anything about it. Well, the not so smart thing we did was not to wear watches and asked for the time...we were supposed to leave at 5:00PM ship's time...we asked a vendor the time and he said it was five to 5:00:eek: We took off running through the market and jumped onto an empty tram to the ship, thinking we will never make it and the ship is going to leave us! Well, we did get onboard and found out it was five to 5:00 Costa Maya time! Will I ever go to shore without a watch set to ship's time:p ...I'll let you answer that one!

[ryansmemom]

On my last cruise as we were leaving Miami and enjoying the sights, all of a sudden our ship stopped in its wake. Having owned boats, I was thinking we may have been stuck on a sandbar (is that possible?). Then pilot boats started turning the ship slowly around. We were going back to port!!! As it turns out, they announced that it was a medical emergency and we didn't leave again until 7:00, a two hour delay. I still am flustered over someone being that sick and still getting onboard. I went to port side to see what it was all about and the lights on the ambulance were not going and they did not seem to be in emergency mode. I can only imagine that the person was too desperate to go on a vacation. Like some other posters on here, I like to be on ship at least a half hour before stated time.

 

Several years ago my DH and I were on a Caribbean Cruise. On our second night out, around midnight we woke up because the ship was moving very slowly. We went out on our verandah and saw a lot of lights and an island. We were supposed to be at sea. I said I thought we were sailing close to Cuba. The next day we found out a woman had checked herself out of the hospital against medical advice after suffering a major heart attack because she did not want to miss her cruise. Yes, the second night out she had another heart attack and was too unstable for an airlift. The ship diverted 90 miles to Guantanamo Bay to get her treatment. We missed our next port of call.

 

Don't get me wrong, missing a port of call is not all that big a deal to me. But, this woman put her life at risk because she did not want to miss her cruise. I don't know the cost of this medical evacuation or who ended up paying the bill. I do know her entire family left the ship with her.:rolleyes:

 

Also, FYI, a cruise ship can get hung up on a sand bar. Read the early history of Carnival Cruise Line. That is what happened the first time they sailed out of Miami.;)

 

Linda