You're late returning to your ship and it left. NOW WHAT?

[cb at sea]

The head of security would have gotten your passport out of the safe and left it with the port authority.  Don't know if your money would be left, also...but I doubt it.  

Hopefully, your credit card has  room for big charges!

 

Just watch your time...ship's time is ALL that matters...and you'll be fine.

[tonit964]

This actually happened to a CC member a few years back. He posted what happened. It was a very tense read. I believe his user name is klfhngr but I'm not positive. 

 

I printed it out for my adult kids to read when we took a family cruise to Mexico, so they would be sure to make it back to the ship on time.

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, tokidoki said:

saw just now on youtube of a couple left stranded in Cuba.   Seems the Sky left 2 hrs earlier than expected

 

 

If the ship really did leave two hours early with no notice, more than one couple would have been left behind!

[marktwothousand]

Wow, I didn’t know you were supposed to leave your passport on the ship when going into ports. I just assumed you were supposed to bring it with you. 

[greatwhitenorth1]

Lots of videos online of people who just miss the boat by minutes. They will not come back to the dock if they see you waving.  Quickly look for someone working at the port dockside and ask if they have a boat that will take you along side to get you onboard. Maybe even the pilot boat that goes out after your ship reaches a certain point. They may do it for cash.  It will cost you dearly but cheaper then having to fly out. Problem is most don't carry that much cash. Important thing is to keep the contact info of the Port Authority with you and stay on ship time to avoid this.

 

[victory2020]

3 hours ago, tokidoki said:

woops!   it happened of April this year!

Did it say anywhere what date in April? We were on the April 30 sailing & we got an email well before the cruise saying time had been changed from 5pm to 3 pm, then many mentions of the departure time in the Dailies, etc.

[casofilia]

If you don't want to carry your passport when you go ashore make sure you are carrying a photocopy of the important pages and make sure the original is in your safe.  If you are like us, with dual nationality, then you can always carry one and leave the other in the safe.

 

Also always carry a credit card with at least a $5000 limit and plenty of wriggle room.

[Trekker954]

If you are left in some podunk Caribbean island, chances are you will have to fly back to Miami for a connection to the next Caribbean island the ship is sailing towards as many of these islands do not have direct flight service so lets hope the port agent can find you passport.

[DirtyDawg]

10 hours ago, cathi007 said:

Depends on the island, I might never leave

 

Or if the next stop is Nassau! Then I'd be collecting my passport and booking at the Hilton for a couple of days. 😉

[zitsky]

I'm having a debate with my partner.  Is it better to leave passport in safe or take with you (in a secure bag)?

[cathi007]

16 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I'm having a debate with my partner.  Is it better to leave passport in safe or take with you (in a secure bag)?

We always leave it in the safe, but make photo copies to carry on us. I think that is the safest way

[RedwingHockeyFan]

So nowadays with a cruise leaving and returning to a US port, you only need your driver's license and birth certificate.  So what if one does not have a PP, just curious.

[SeaShark]

6 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

So nowadays with a cruise leaving and returning to a US port, you only need your driver's license and birth certificate.  So what if one does not have a PP, just curious.

 

If you are on the ship, then it matters not whether you have a passport. However, in the case where you miss the ship (which is the thread topic), you would have to catch a plane to fly to the next destination. You can't board an international flight with just a driver's license and a birth certificate...you would be stuck.

 

Likewise if there was an emergency at home during your cruise, if you don't have a passport you can't leave the ship and fly home early. Again...you would be stuck.

[roger001]

10 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Wow, I didn’t know you were supposed to leave your passport on the ship when going into ports. I just assumed you were supposed to bring it with you. 

You can do that also.  That is what we do.  

[heelfan94]

A couple of people mentioned travel insurance.  I'm curious about whether the coverage I had from this past cruise would have covered it.  Does anyone know if it is under trip interruption or something else?

[JamieLogical]

43 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

So nowadays with a cruise leaving and returning to a US port, you only need your driver's license and birth certificate.  So what if one does not have a PP, just curious.

 

If you miss the ship or have any sort of emergency requiring you to fly back to the US, then you would likely have to work with the US Embassy wherever you are to get an emergency passport. Having your birth certificate and driver's license would probably help expedite that, but it still would not be very fast or cheap!

[Georgia_Peaches]

Happened to these people recently...

https://www.newsweek.com/norwegian-cruise-havana-passengers-stranded-1250626

[zitsky]

19 minutes ago, roger001 said:

You can do that also.  That is what we do.  

 

I take a picture and store it on my phone.  I find my passport gets a little bent in my pocket but it's still readable.  I may bring a plastic bag to protect it from bad weather I am expecting.

 

For our last trip we bought a security bag.  They will probably go there so they don't get bent.

Edited December 11, 2018 by zitsky

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Happened to these people recently...

https://www.newsweek.com/norwegian-cruise-havana-passengers-stranded-1250626

 

Ha! Seeking compensation. Somehow the couple thousand other passengers managed to get the memo that the ship was leaving early. Yet this failure is on NCL and these passengers think they are entitle to compensation? If they choose to ignore every single form of communication NCL puts out, I don't see how NCL is liable.

[Georgia_Peaches]

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Ha! Seeking compensation. Somehow the couple thousand other passengers managed to get the memo that the ship was leaving early. Yet this failure is on NCL and these passengers think they are entitle to compensation? If they choose to ignore every single form of communication NCL puts out, I don't see how NCL is liable.

Absolutely the fault of the passengers...but of all places to be stranded, I don't think I'd want it to be Cuba.  The article isn't clear on what steps they actually took to get home or how their passports were retrieved.  But I did notice the contact info for the port agent was located at the bottom of the daily in each port of call on our last sailing.  I guess that's a good thing to take ashore.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches

[Cruiser_1977]

14 hours ago, tokidoki said:

saw just now on youtube of a couple left stranded in Cuba.   Seems the Sky left 2 hrs earlier than expected

All other guests made it back on time. The crew informed passengers via several methods of communication BEFORE reaching Cuba. This is entirely on the couple and not NCL. One thing I will not tolerate is a lack of personal responsibility. Paying attention is part of being a responsible person.

[JamieLogical]

14 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

All other guests made it back on time. The crew informed passengers via several methods of communication BEFORE reaching Cuba. This is entirely on the couple and not NCL. One thing I will not tolerate is a lack of personal responsibility. Paying attention is part of being a responsible person.

 

 

My sentiments exactly. If hundreds of passengers had missed the ship due to NCL's poor communication, then clearly there was a failure on NCL's part. But if only one couple managed to miss emails ahead of the sailing, changes to the edocs, multiple PA announcements on board, notices in the dailies, and the physical signs posted along the gangway, that is on them.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, heelfan94 said:

A couple of people mentioned travel insurance.  I'm curious about whether the coverage I had from this past cruise would have covered it.  Does anyone know if it is under trip interruption or something else?

Did you ask your travel insurance company?

 

We can't know the exact terms of your specific policy.

There's no reason not to ask them. 

After all, IF you are going to file a claim, you will need to notify them anyway.

 

GC

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

...but of all places to be stranded, I don't think I'd want it to be Cuba.

 

Each to their own, I can't think of anywhere nicer to be stranded in the Caribbean, had a wonderful 2 weeks there 10 years ago.

[terry&mike]

4 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Each to their own, I can't think of anywhere nicer to be stranded in the Caribbean, had a wonderful 2 weeks there 10 years ago.

Agree. Flew there with my Mom for a long weekend last year, stayed in a "Casa Particular" (room in local residents home), had a wonderful time. Beautiful place, kind people. Nothing not to like.