missing the ship!!!!!

[cruise7]

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?

[jennew]

Last January I was on NCL Spirit and a young couple missed the ship. They were left in Roatan. The girl posted on these board about it. They were stuck in Roatan for 5 days (no passports) and they were mad that NCL did not do more for them.

 

She tried to say that the ship never informed them of the time difference. BUSTED- I was there. They announced it over the PA 500 times, mentioned it in the dailies, announced it on the TV and had a large sign on the dock.

[Splinter]

We were on the Island Princess in November 2004. Most ports the ship left at 6PM, but at the last port (Nawiliwili) the time was 5PM. This was clearly posted and announced multiple times.

 

While standing on the rail to watch our departure, when we were about 200 yards off the pier, we saw a couple show up on the pier, gesturing wildly and talking to staff on the pier. It was clear that they had missed the ship.

 

This would have resulted not only in them missing the remaining 5 days of the cruise, but having to pay their own airfare back to the mainland, and paying the $1500/person fine under the Jones Act for disembarkation in Hawaii.

 

Fortunately for this couple, the pilot agreed to ferry them over to the ship, and they stepped off the pilot boat onto the ship while many other passengers standing on the rails give them catcalls and whistles. I never saw them again on the cruise, but I am sure they must have had a lot of comments from those who recognized them on the way home. They were lucky.

[Cruisin' Chick]

"Last January I was on NCL Spirit and a young couple missed the ship. They were left in Roatan. The girl posted on these board about it. They were stuck in Roatan for 5 days (no passports) and they were mad that NCL did not do more for them.

 

She tried to say that the ship never informed them of the time difference. BUSTED- I was there. They announced it over the PA 500 times, mentioned it in the dailies, announced it on the TV and had a large sign on the dock."

 

I remember seeing that. That's why you always double check the ship's newsletter for that info.

[Guest AdiosReality]

Okay, just my personal opinion, but what idiots! When we sailed Carnival Elation in 2000 out of LA, we were ready to leave Puerto Villarta, They kept calling these 2 guys on the intercom, their wives were sitting next to us out on deck, talking about how they better not miss the ship, and they just HAD to go get those last beers. To say the least, we started pulling away, when one woman says "ugh! Hey! Our husbands aren't back yet! Stop the ship" so she talks to a waiter and says "I demand you talk to the captain and stop the ship, my husband isnt on the ship yet." The other woman exclaims, quite possibly they are in their cabins when there is a bit of comotion at the port side of the ship, their husbands had hired a tender and the tender is driving up to the ship, the guys are yelling things out, when suddenly they start throwing beer bottles at the ship, beer bottles are smashing up against where the bottom door is on the ship, that you leave to port from, I don't know what was said, but they left these men at port, and with good reason too I'm sure! :eek:

[numbersix]

March 2005...Mazatlan....Diamond Princess.....Lost track of time while at the pier shops, last minute, checking out the "genuine" fake watches....anyway....they were literally PULLING UP the gangplank when we arrived and hopped off the little shuttle that runs between the shops and the ship !!! The security guys were not impressed....DW even less so...she's the type that would be on the ship with 4 hours to spare if it was up to her! I'm the type that wants to wring every last minute out of a great experience. That was a little TOO close, though....however, there was no one there to confiscate my liquor LOL!!!!! All's well that ends well!!!:p

[Iamthesea]

Just saw it happen...almost...on the Coral Princess. We were in Aruba and I had a sneaking suspicion that someone would be drinking and not keeping track of time. I was correct, along with several other passengers. Thirty minutes before embarking, Passenger Services started calling "Mr. and Mrs. Glover please report to the purser." This announcement was made two other times and by the time we were suppose to leave, the entire dock side of the ship had passengers watching for the Glover's. :D

 

Princess was very nice and waited another 20 minutes. I don't know where the Glover's were or if Princess had been in contact with them. I don't think they were drinking, because they didn't look the type and had shopping bags. Everyone was cheering and yelling when the Glover's showed up running down the pier. Mr. Glover left Mrs. Glover on his heels as he leaped unto the ship. She arrived about 30 seconds later. The gangway went up and off we sailed. It was fun and I have pictures to post when I have time.

[cruise7]

anymore stories these are funny

[holidayathesea]

I never saw them again on the cruise, but I am sure they must have had a lot of comments from those who recognized them on the way home. They were lucky.

 

I bet they went to the Spa right away and got their hair done and of course changed outfits. Lol.

[howard6933]

Sorry Cruise7 but I don't agree with you that these stories are funny. I think it shows the disrespect that those "jerks' that miss the ship or come close to missing it have for their fellow passengers. To assume that the ship will wait for you is irresponsible. If you are a frequent cruiser, you know that if you are on a ship sponsered shore excursion, that is basically the only time that the ship will wait. And as far as I am concerned, that's the way it should be. If you miss the ship's departure, that is TS, if you know what that means. They post so many signs and make so many announcements, no one should be late, period!!!! ;)

[Coral]

Sort of an unusual situation.....

 

I booked a ship's tour in Ketchikan. It is not a well attended excursion - it was the "Misty Fiords/flight with cruise". We had 3 people from our ship (one quite elderly) and two people from another Princess ship on this excursion. The first portion was the flight (5 of us plus a pilot) and then we met a boat to take us back and there were a lot of people already on the boat. They were on the Crystal ship and did RT on the boat. There were also 2 people from our ship on the boat doing RT - they met the vendor at the pier and asked to get on the boat - they knew Princess had people on the ship and that Princess would wait for the excursion.

 

We were 20 minutes late getting back to port and apparently our names were repeated many times on the intercom. My friend I was traveling with had done a different excursion that day and heard my name several times and didn't say anything to anyone "because he knew I was on a Princess excursion and that they would wait".

 

As expected, the ship did wait for us but when they saw us come, they kept rushing us to get on the ship. The elderly gentlement didn't walk back to the ship with us and Princess had to go to the boat and bring him back.... When I boarded - I had all this applause for getting on the ship from people in the balconies.

 

So glad I booked that excursion through Princess.

[cactusrose]

On our first cruise in Tahiti we took a ship sponsored excursion that took us to a Motu for a Picnic. The weather was really rough. Seems we were in the tail end of a Typhoon. Anyway we got to the Motu and everyone got out of the dug out. We noticed that there was another couple already on the Motu and asked them how they got there. They said they had hired a private tour that dropped them off and were waiting for them to come back and pick them up. Well my DH and I headed out to investigate the Motu but the weather was getting worse. He turned around to see the dug out leaving without us. He yelled and I yelled and we both ran across coral to get their attention. Fortunately they say us and came back. When we got to them and asked why they would leave us, they said they had taken a head count and it was correct. You guessed it.. . . .the couple that was waiting for the private tour to pick them up took our place and didn't say a word. We were really lucky. Someone may or may not have figured out where we were and it probbly would have been days, or a week until someone came back.

[nancyrg]

My dad and I went horseback riding in Juneau a few years ago on a Princess excursion. It was due to arrive back at the ship at 5:30pm but the sailaway was at 5:30pm. I asked at the shore excursion desk and they told me not to worry-since it was a Princess excursion-they would not leave without us.

Well, the drive back to the ship took longer then they had anticipated and it was well past 6pm when we arrived back to the ship. Our names (there were 8 of us) were being called on the PA-even though they knew where we were-they called my mom-who told them we were on the excursion.

well-when we returned-the head of the shore excursions was waiting on the gangplank for us-we all ran to the ship-and they literally pulled up the gangplank and pulled away moments later.

People were applauding when we returned.

Thank goodness it was a Princess excursion-or we would have missed the ship for sure!

[Pam in CA]

My sister was on the Princess tour on the Amalfi Drive when their bus ran into completely stopped traffic. Being the Amalfi Drive, there was no way for them to get off or go a different way. They wound up getting back to the ship about 2 hours after the ship was supposed to sail. Of course, the ship waited for them but if anyone had taken a private tour, they would have been SOL.

[Iamthesea]

You guessed it.. . . .the couple that was waiting for the private tour to pick them up took our place and didn't say a word.

I hope you "had it out" with that couple. :mad: Did the bus driver boot them off?

 

Perhaps the Glover's were with a Princess tour, but they were the only ones, so I don't think so...unless they were left behind.

[TigerLadyK]

We almost got left behind in St. Lucia. We were on Celebrity and had decided to go on a non ship sponsered excursion that was highly touted on the Cruise Critic boards (with Shal). My husband and I were in a jeep with a family of 5 from Princess on the far side of the Island and the other family wasn't ready to leave at the assigned time. They were finally rounded up and we started down the road. About 15min into an hour long drive the jeep started making a grinding noise and sputtering and dying. Yep, she was a gonner. The two guides called somebody at their office which was by the port, but we had to be on board in just over an hour, and it would take them 45 min to get us a new jeep. The guides kept saying someone would stop, but we were lucky to see a vehicle every 5 minutes, and no one was stopping. Then a van cab with only two passengers stopped. We could all just barely fit, but by that time we had less than 30min before our ship departed and we were about 45 min away. No problem the driver said, and peeled out. The man obviously had a death wish and under any other circumstance I would have demanded to get out, but we were making great time so I silenced my screams. We made it back to the ship with 5 min to spare (as did the Princess passengers).

 

Needless to say we tipped him well, and I will never take a non cruise excursion that is not scheduled to get me back to the ship at least two hours before departure.

[chasetf]

We were on a HAL Alaska cruise leaving Ketchican. We were on the aft deck as we sailed away when I noticed a tug coming up behind us. He paced us for a while, staying about 50 yards behind us. After about 10 minutes he put the pedal to the metal and came up on our starboard side. Thought he was awful close, so went and looked over the side and saw two people climbing aboard with their shopping bags at the place where the pilot departs. Always have wondered what that ride cost them.

[bearette]

We were listening from the buffet as we heard "Will the Christianson Family of Aloha 5347 (I don't remembr the cabin number) please contact the purser's desk. " They continued this every few minutes for half an hour. At sail time the captain made an announcement that a family with minor children was left on the dock so we were going to pull out slowly to avoid port fees (this was in Cabo) to allow them to get a boat to catch up. After over 30 minutes we were barley by Los Arcos. We watched and cheered as the boat finally arrived. We talked to the captain later at an event and he told us the reason they waited was because the parents were on board and had left their minor children with family (I think he said Aunts and Uncles.) The rules in Mexico about bringing minors is pretty strict because of all the abductions that go on. If you have a minor who isn't your child without notarized letters approving their presence with you; you are in big trouble. That family is so lucky! For the rest of the cruise when anything happened late we said "I bet the Christiansons aren't here yet."

[mommykim]

This is one that simply amazed me and I know for a fact that it's true. One of my husbands employee's had booked an inside cabin for his family of 4 on the Disney ship while it was here in Los Angeles. He did not allow himself enough time to get to the dock in his own home town and plain missed the ship by about 25 minutes. He complained to the people at the dock about it and threatened to call the newspaper about how the nasty cruiseline left his poor family..... Would you believe Disney gave the 4 of them a suite on the next cruise out? It made me want to scream as I KNOW Disney did nothing wrong but he still thinks they were only making up for their mistaje in leaving them.

[Coral]

I recently sailed from NYC. There were tons of floods that week because of all the rain in NYC and on Thursday when we flew down, there were 167 flights to LGA cancelled that day (not sure of the other airports or how many were cancelled the next 2 days but I am sure many).

 

We left as scheduled on the Golden on Saturday. I happened to be waiting for th Matride in the dining room and on his stand were pages of people who missed the ship and what port they were planning to catch the ship at (most in Newport the following day).

 

My guess is that NYC has high port fees and the ship would have been fined heavily to stay there longer then the planned time.

[Joy2Day]

We were scheduled to leave Cozumel at 4 pm. We watched as people crawled back to the ship from the various "party places" right before 4 pm. The purser's desk kept paging Malcolm. We got the rest of the story from Malcolm's tablemates later in the cruise. Malcolm was about 65. His grown son had made it back to the ship on time, but Malcolm did not. Malcolm stayed with the port agent that night, but could not meet us in Grand Cayman because he didn't have a passport which is required to fly to Grand Cayman. So while we were in Grand Cayman, he had taken a ferry to the mainland and a 5-hour cab ride to meet up with us in Costa Maya. By the time he made it to Costa Maya, he was met with the news that our ship would NOT be making the Costa Maya port call due to sea conditions. Instead, we'd be visiting Cozumel again. So back in cab goes Malcolm for the 5-hour cab ride back to Cozumel. Malcolm didn't look too happy when he reboarded the ship.

[hotshot99]

The story that I hear is this. If you arrive back to the ship 1 minute after the ships departure time, make sure you have your camera ready to take pictures of your ship sailing away....

[cruise7]

hotshot99 thats exactly the point.....lol

[Lynda90]

Thanks for all the great stories. Certainly an eye-opener for all of us. Especially if we have non-Princess tours booked.

[imsulin2]

I think I've told this story before, but a few years ago on a Carnival cruise, we were in Grand Cayman...on the Inspiration. There were several other ships there that day, including one other Carnival ship (the Pride??) Anyway, the tender piers are a real zoo in the late afternoon, with everyone trying to get back to their ships. There were two couples behind us in the tender line, who had obviously had a "good time" in GC. hic. Right after we boarded the Inspiration, these couples produced their Sign & Sail cards, and.....oops! Wrong Carnival ship! You could see the Pride sailing away in the distance, while these four people were pleading at the gangway!! Don't know what happened to these guys. Hasta la bye bye!