Lesson learned I hope

[pacruise804]

14 hours ago, lbfluffy said:

My co worker just told me the horrible event that happened to them. They were heading to their cruise in Long Beach on October 27th, the day of their cruise. The port is about 6 hours away. Her mom did not want to book a room the night before because she felt it was too expensive to book a room plus charge for two cars parking fee. It was a group of 5 of them. Her mom and sister were coming from a different town so they had two cars. Well my coworkers car broke down on the way to the port. They managed to get to the port at 312, 12 minutes after their boarding time. They would not let them on. They begged pleaded, name dropped, but the agents at Long Beach said no. Oh and they didn’t have insurance.  I feel bad for them. But it is always safer to drive the night before. I doubt they will get any money back, but her sister is trying.

 

 

A few things that don't make sense to me:

-Mom didn't want to book a room but was coming from a different direction.  Was mom paying all expenses? Why didn't co-worker travel the night before and allow mom to travel day of if she wanted to

-Where are the comments about check-in time vs. boarding time?  Most times boarding time is listed there are several posts that no one has a boarding time but a check-in/arrival appointment.  If this was their arrival appointment time then there might have been room for negotiation.  If it was truly the final boarding time as listed on the cruise contract then your co-worker is out of luck.

[crzndeb]

43 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

I've been on several cruises that left at 4.  And I'm going on another one on Thursday.  

 

From my boarding pass.

 

This exactly...nobody has a specific boarding time, however, there is a final cutoff to board, as CruisinCrow posted. As others have mentioned, manifests need to be turned in. 

 

If they start allowing one or two to board past cutoff, it will turn into many in no time, because people will take advantage of it.

[BNBR]

They allow people to board after final boarding all the time at ports of call.  The slippery slope argument just doesn't hold water.

 

I'm not sure the lesson learned here.  You may want to consider a hotel the night before.  But honestly, bad things happen sometimes.  Flights are missed, cruise ships get stuck or are severely delayed and everyone misses flights home, etc.  Things just, kind of, happen.  You lost nothing other that the cruise.  You aren't out any more money than you would have been if you went.  In fact, you'll save money since many fees, excursions, drink packages, etc, will all be refunded.  Your only loss here is disappointment and you'll save some money, too. That's it. 

 

The captain hindsights are not helpful.  Heck, if only I invested my life savings in to Apple years ago...  If only you had insurance, if only you stayed at a hotel, etc.  Hindsight means nothing.

 

Personally, I'd make the most of it.  Enjoy the week off, find some fun stuff to do with family, and move on.

Edited November 6, 2018 by BNBR

[lbfluffy]

Ok so I talked to her again. What happened was they pulled up to the drop off for the luggage and was told it was too late. They were told to turn around. So they didn’t even get through the door. They tried to talk to see if the manager would do anything, but they were denied. Her mom paid for all of them. I guess it was four of them. Her mom has cruised a bunch of times. Nothing worked. 

[Ehpride]

My boarding pass very clearly has a final boarding time of 3:00 pm on it. I'm sorry they missed their cruise. Hopefully, they'll get a close hotel room next time. It really is worth the cost.

[CruisinCrow]

1 hour ago, lbfluffy said:

Ok so I talked to her again. What happened was they pulled up to the drop off for the luggage and was told it was too late. They were told to turn around. So they didn’t even get through the door. They tried to talk to see if the manager would do anything, but they were denied. Her mom paid for all of them. I guess it was four of them. Her mom has cruised a bunch of times. Nothing worked. 

 

How frustrating to be so close and yet so far.

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, lbfluffy said:

Ok so I talked to her again. What happened was they pulled up to the drop off for the luggage and was told it was too late. They were told to turn around. So they didn’t even get through the door. They tried to talk to see if the manager would do anything, but they were denied. Her mom paid for all of them. I guess it was four of them. Her mom has cruised a bunch of times. Nothing worked. 

If mom paid for everything else, maybe they could have sprung for the room?

Would a phone call at say 2:30 to the port have helped if they knew they were almost there?

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, BNBR said:

They allow people to board after final boarding all the time at ports of call.  The slippery slope argument just doesn't hold water.

 

I'm not sure the lesson learned here.  You may want to consider a hotel the night before.  But honestly, bad things happen sometimes.  Flights are missed, cruise ships get stuck or are severely delayed and everyone misses flights home, etc.  Things just, kind of, happen.  You lost nothing other that the cruise.  You aren't out any more money than you would have been if you went.  In fact, you'll save money since many fees, excursions, drink packages, etc, will all be refunded.  Your only loss here is disappointment and you'll save some money, too. That's it. 

 

The captain hindsights are not helpful.  Heck, if only I invested my life savings in to Apple years ago...  If only you had insurance, if only you stayed at a hotel, etc.  Hindsight means nothing.

 

Personally, I'd make the most of it.  Enjoy the week off, find some fun stuff to do with family, and move on.

Leaving a port does not require a passenger manifest to be turned into Customs.  

Pre-cruise Procedures

Security checks begin the moment passengers receive a booking confirmation, since US authorities including Homeland Security and Immigration screen all names on the passenger list. Cruiseships must present their complete passenger manifests at least 60 minutes before sailing, so passengers should arrive for check-in no later than 90 minutes before sailing with all documents in order, including a valid passport and boarding pass. 

[Crazy4Camping]

We were told that since we booked our flights through Carnival, that we were guaranteed to get to the ship(like they would cover it if the flight was cancelled)even if it was at the next port.  Anyone have any experiences with this?  I truly hope that since we are landing at 1:30 and the last boarding is 9pm that we will be ok.

[serene56]

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I didnt see that this was the last time to board a hour before the ship left. the OP said their boarding time was 3 pm.

 

could be thats why, the ship left at 4 pm? sounds early to me for the ship to leave port.

I wonder if the friends have called Carnival emergency number to let them know what was going on-- and keep them in the loop for every hour or so?     

[coevan]

sorry, but as my dad always told me "son, you don't plan to fail, you fail to plan"

[Treyatl2006]

11 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

Cutoff time means just that.  If they let one set of passengers on later, then everybody would say, hey, the time doesn't matter.  I can show up whenever.  If a store closes the doors at 9 PM and I  show up at 9:12, they aren't about to open the door just for me because I had car trouble getting there.  

Cut off time is different than boarding time.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

It sucks that they had to learn a very expensive lesson. A $100 hotel room with parking plus shuttle/Uber would have been the way to go if trying to save money.

[deliver42]

I'm going on a 12 day  cruise out of Miami, a 4 hour drive for me. I booked the Hampton at the airport for $156.00 including breakfast and a shuttle to the port and parking for 10 days. the extra 2 days will cost $20.00. The cab back to the hotel after the cruise, about $40.00. Parking at Miami is $22.00 per day, which would be $264.00, so I actually saved money. All it takes is some research.

[Cobrakev]

I bet they had already resold their room. That is how you can get the last min deals at the port.

[StolidCruiser]

55 minutes ago, Cobrakev said:

I bet they had already resold their room. That is how you can get the last min deals at the port.

 

You would lose that bet.  You can’t get “deals at the port”.  Especially after boarding has closed (hence the denial referenced by the OP).

 

They also don’t upsell vacant cabins to onboard guests.

 

The cabin either remained vacant or was used as a substitute if something happened to make another cabin uninhabitable.

 

[beerman2]

2 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Leaving a port does not require a passenger manifest to be turned into Customs.  

Pre-cruise Procedures

Security checks begin the moment passengers receive a booking confirmation, since US authorities including Homeland Security and Immigration screen all names on the passenger list. Cruiseships must present their complete passenger manifests at least 60 minutes before sailing, so passengers should arrive for check-in no later than 90 minutes before sailing with all documents in order, including a valid passport and boarding pass. 

"Leaving a port does not require a passenger manifest to be turned into Customs".

 

Pre-cruise Procedures

Cruiseships  must present their complete passenger manifest at least 60 minutes before sailing etc.

 

Point being it doesn't matter who the manifest has to be turned into, it HAS to be turned in 60 minutes before.

 

[tonit964]

I live about an hour away from two ports and this is my fear every time, car breaking down or accident on the 405 fwy. I would much rather get there early and wait at the port for three hours than take any chances on something going wrong. I also fly in two days prior to the cruise.

If I lived 6 hours from the port as the posters friend did, I would never leave the same day, ever. Penny wise and pound foolish in this case.

Edited November 7, 2018 by tonit964
spelling error

[pacruise804]

20 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

I've been on several cruises that left at 4.  And I'm going on another one on Thursday.  

 

From my boarding pass.

 

 

15 hours ago, Treyatl2006 said:

Cut off time is different than boarding time.

Carnival referred to the cut off as a final boarding time, so I'm not sure how it's different.  Cut off/final boarding time is different than check-in time, and I can't imagine Carnival assigning an arrival appointment at final boarding time.

[RWolver672]

15 hours ago, Treyatl2006 said:

Cut off time is different than boarding time.

If you are referring to my post about boarding an airplane after the doors are closed, it's the same thing as not being able to check in at the port after the cutoff time.  Either case, you are not getting in.  

[Treyatl2006]

13 minutes ago, RWolver672 said:

If you are referring to my post about boarding an airplane after the doors are closed, it's the same thing as not being able to check in at the port after the cutoff time.  Either case, you are not getting in.  

No... You quoted me and I responded. The OP said 3pm was his/her boarding time. He didn't say that it was the final/cutoff time. If it was the cutoff time then the OP thread is misleading.

 

 

[Alaskan Joe]

On 11/5/2018 at 10:07 PM, niciediva007 said:

You’re saying the Cruise line wouldn’t let them board? I could understand if they were boarding an aircraft, with TSA and all, but the cruise line has more autonomy and certainly could have let them board. Wow. I wonder if there is more to the story? 12 minutes doesn’t sound like enough  of a tardy to warrant being turned away.

I agree 100% there has to be more to the story. In fact, on our 2nd cruise we decided to fly in the day of the cruise. We were flying from Detroit to Seattle. Long story short, we had plane issues and was late taking off. We got to the port about 1 1/2 hrs after our check in time, and about 20 mins before final boarding. They were like we have been waiting for you, we boarded no problems. Now although we did get to board, my DW and I will NEVER fly in the day of again nor will we book a trip without insurance.

[RWolver672]

18 minutes ago, Treyatl2006 said:

No... You quoted me and I responded. The OP said 3pm was his/her boarding time. He didn't say that it was the final/cutoff time. If it was the cutoff time then the OP thread is misleading.

 

 

I missed that completely.  You are correct.  They should have said "cutoff time" not boarding.  

[Bahbert]

Thanks for posting this. We have a six- or seven-hour drive to get to port, and we've always left the day before just to be safe. We were considering driving down in the morning for our next cruise, but this thread just reminded me that it's not worth missing the ship to save $100 on a room. If we left at 5 a.m., we'd have a few hours of cushion... but that's not enough for me (and we'd be tired that first night).

[cb at sea]

You could have paid to get to the 1st port of call....