Has anyone missed their ship?

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, rvmike said:

On an excursion in Israel our two buses were several hours late because of a bad accident on the Highway. Our guide told us not to worry because the Captain was on the bus behind us.

 

Now there's a guarantee for you.....

[dkjretired]

14 hours ago, K12Guy said:

My wife has been telling me for many years that my ship apparently sailed without me. I still don't know what the heck she means by that. I will ask her again and report back. Maybe.

 

 

I get the same thing, you will never get an answer....

[CathyCruises]

Talk about watching the ship sail away. . .

 

Three years ago while we were on Silhouette, my husband had a heart attack while we were docked in Rhodes, Greece. We were whisked off the ship post haste (I was given 10 minutes to pack up all our belongings including retrieving the laundry we had sent out that morning) and we went by ambulance to the nearest hospital. 

 

When the port agent came to take me to a hotel, I could see the beautiful Silhouette, all lit up, sailing toward the horizon. Saddest thing I’d ever seen. . .

 

But! It turned out to be a minor heart attack although they kept him in the ICU for a week. We ended up spending 10 days on Rhodes, came to love it, and actually look back on that time as just another crazy adventure! We have fond memories and laugh about it a lot!!

[davekathy]

Never and not even close. 

[Bo1953]

50 minutes ago, CathyCruises said:

Talk about watching the ship sail away. . .

 

Three years ago while we were on Silhouette, my husband had a heart attack while we were docked in Rhodes, Greece. We were whisked off the ship post haste (I was given 10 minutes to pack up all our belongings including retrieving the laundry we had sent out that morning) and we went by ambulance to the nearest hospital. 

 

When the port agent came to take me to a hotel, I could see the beautiful Silhouette, all lit up, sailing toward the horizon. Saddest thing I’d ever seen. . .

 

But! It turned out to be a minor heart attack although they kept him in the ICU for a week. We ended up spending 10 days on Rhodes, came to love it, and actually look back on that time as just another crazy adventure! We have fond memories and laugh about it a lot!!

Maybe, just maybe he wanted to stay a while in Rhodes and that was the only way to get you to agree???? 

 

Glad to know he is better and bon voyage

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, dkjretired said:

 

Now there's a guarantee for you.....

 

I think maybe the ship's doctor is another guarantee...

[GACrusin]

We were on the last tender back to the ship in Grenada many years ago.  That was too close for comfort and have never cut it that close again!  We were in our late 20s at that point.  Now we're the people who are at the airport consistently 2 hrs before our flight, if that tells you anything!!  

[Ereggae]

I have seen this happen 4 times already and there was no boat bringing anyone to the ship.  After witnessing the first incident I always check my time to the ship's clock when disembarking just to avoid this problem.

[justcrusn]

If you go to youtube and search “pier runners” lots of videos.

The late arrivals get ZERO SYMPATHY from those who did return on time and had to wait by the way.

For some reason cozumel is a top spot.

[Presto2]

2 hours ago, CathyCruises said:

Talk about watching the ship sail away. . .

 

Three years ago while we were on Silhouette, my husband had a heart attack while we were docked in Rhodes, Greece. We were whisked off the ship post haste (I was given 10 minutes to pack up all our belongings including retrieving the laundry we had sent out that morning) and we went by ambulance to the nearest hospital. 

 

When the port agent came to take me to a hotel, I could see the beautiful Silhouette, all lit up, sailing toward the horizon. Saddest thing I’d ever seen. . .

 

But! It turned out to be a minor heart attack although they kept him in the ICU for a week. We ended up spending 10 days on Rhodes, came to love it, and actually look back on that time as just another crazy adventure! We have fond memories and laugh about it a lot!!

 

I really can not imagine how this must have been for you both. I suppose Rhodes is beautiful and am glad that you managed to have such an amazing attitude and remember Rhodes with fondness.

 

On P&O Oceana a few years ago there was a medical emergency and we watched the poor lady waiting with her cases for someone to pick her up as her husband was in hospital and had been taken ill. From what we observed the ship's staff were very attentive and she gave them some huge hugs when a taxi arrived. Just pray that all was well for them both.

I just could not imagine being left in a hotel room on my own in an unknown country while my husband was in hospital. Just a nightmare .

 

I just can not imagine that situation.

 

Regarding those very late for the ship (particularly those who do it repeatedly) I have no sympathy whatsoever if the ship leaves them behind

 

Re those who left children on the ship and were late --- have even less sympathy and they should have faced charges.

 

Just find it annoying when people think that rules don't apply to them ……….. the rest of us plan to be on time and make sure that we are. If it was an aeroplane it would leave … and the answer when they were left behind would be '"Tough"

 

Sorry, am I being mean???

 

 

[clskinsfan]

Closest I have ever come to missing the ship was in Nassau. The one and only time we went over to Paradise Island and the traffic coming back in the afternoon was horrific. We were walking up the gang plank 5 minutes after we were supposed to leave. Embarrassed as you can imagine. At least until 6 other people came walking down the pier after us. They then got to be the heckled pier runners instead of us:)

 

Needless to say we just head over to Junkanoo Beach when we are in Nassau now. And start our walk back to the ship nice and early.

[bEwAbG]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Re those who left children on the ship and were late --- have even less sympathy and they should have faced charges.

 

Well, they were with family, so I don't think charges would be necessary.  However, they then ran to the media to use their parental status in a bid for sympathy, which I don't think many appreciated.  

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, justcrusn said:

If you go to youtube and search “pier runners” lots of videos.

The late arrivals get ZERO SYMPATHY from those who did return on time and had to wait by the way.

For some reason cozumel is a top spot.

 

Senor Frogs is a contributing factor to pier runners in Cozumel

[bkbarrym]

Several years ago we took a Eastern Med. RCCL cruise out of Venice. We booked a package through an airline which included airfare, cruise and transfer to/from the pier (local transfer agent not RCCL). Concern would always be flying in on the day of the cruise (especially overseas), however, our issue was with the local company responsible for the transfer to the ship.  Our flight arrived in plenty of time and we grabbed our baggage and met the agent outside of the baggage hall. All good with 3-4 hours before disembarkation.  The problem came when the transfer agent insisted on waiting for everyone that was on her list for the transfer.  In became apparent to everyone but the agent that those who hadn't shown after an extended period (the baggage hall was empty) were not going to show or had found their own way to the pier. After several hours and pleading (threats) by everyone they finally agreed to leave the airport. At that point we were in real jeopardy of missing the ship.  To further complicate matters they stopped at another ship before ours. We finally arrived at the pier minutes before sailing, ran to drop of our luggage and  ran up to the departure area where we were met by the RCCL check in personnel and wisked onto the ship. Very lucky that we were able to still board.  We missed muster and had to sign a waiver.

[arsenalboy]

4 minutes ago, bkbarrym said:

. Very lucky that we were able to still board.  We missed muster and had to sign a waiver.

 

If I sign a waiver can I miss muster?...…..

[K12Guy]

1 minute ago, arsenalboy said:

 

If I sign a waiver can I miss muster?...…..

That would NOT break my heart, one bit. Even with a nice dram of MaCallan it's all I can do to sit through the process and I actually understand the need for the muster.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

When you arrive in port you present the authorities with a manifest of all crew and passengers ... when you leave the departure list should tally. If it doesn’t then one assumption is someone may have ‘jumped ship’ and is technically an illegal immigrant.

 

The ‘return on board’ time is usually thiry minutes - or more- before departure time to allow for formalities, so being back after departure time is doubly ignorant ... imho.

 

Back in the day if we ‘lost’ a crew member ... they were sacked ... end of story.

 

Perhaps the ‘Pier Runner’ videos should be played on the shipboard TV .. to raise awaren ess 😀

[justcrusn]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Senor Frogs is a contributing factor to pier runners in Cozumel

I just KNEW there was alcohol involved!

[Cruise Raider]

We've seen others miss the ship before ... running down the dock with their hands up in the air.  This is always preceded by someone at guest services calling these people to please make contact with the pursers desk.  

We've never missed a ship but came close once.  Luckily, we were on a ship's sponsored tour in Boston, so they waited for us.  We got stuck in a detour and the driver actually got lost and then hit traffic.  They did call someone on the ship letting them know we were on our way but delayed by about an hour.  We were fortunately just heading up the east coast a very short distance to our next stop so it made it a little easier to wait for us, I would think.  I'm sure the tour operators got in a little trouble, though.  

 

[Presto2]

We have been late three times but like Cruise Raider, we were on ships' excursions in: Rome, Montecarlo and Corfu.

Each time the tour guide was in contact with the ship throughout. 2 were due to heavy traffic and one was because the tour guides were enjoying themselves too much and got us back late (ooops). Thinking back, the last time we were in Civitevecchia we were over 90 minutes late as the ship was waiting for 3 coaches stuck in traffic (due to an accident).

 

Will never forget the last time in Corfu though, approaching the ship and seeing the Captain on the bridge with another officer (arms folded) watching us running up to board. There was only a small gangway left and we were whisked on (don't think we went through the security machines to be honest). The crew didn't look too pleased and kept telling us to hurry - it wasn't our fault though !

 

I can't imagine the stress of being late and not having the protection of the ship's tour - nightmare.

 

PS I do like watching the videos though --- especially when they do actually leave them ! Drives me nuts when the ship is like an hour late and they just seem to stroll towards it !!!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Presto2

[Bootman4U]

It is always interesting to be reminded that there are always a few people who have decided their "vacation" is much more important than your own.

[bobndee]

The very first cruise we ever took was out of Norfolk, VA.  As it was only a three hour drive to the port, we drove in the morning of departure.  No problems.  But the ship was over an hour late for sailaway.  It seems that there had been a traffic accident in the highway tunnel and the resulting backup caused a number of passengers to be delayed.  The captain announced the issue and said he that would wait for them to arrive before sailing.  Luckily for us, we had driven through the same tunnel, but before the accident.

 

On a catamaran tour to the Misty Fjords in Alaska our boat didn't get back to the port until about 10 minutes after the scheduled departure.  We were the last to board before the ship left port, but we never worried because it was a ship's tour.

[VacationLuv008]

Loving these stories. Moral:  book a ship tour!

[sippican]

1 hour ago, VacationLuv008 said:

Loving these stories. Moral:  book a ship tour!

 

As I said, earlier - that guarantee is simply a scare tactic! If you are willing to sacrifice quality and value in favor of the guarantee to meet the ship in the next port then ships' tours are definitely for you and I respect your choice. I  recognize that there re many who would just never enjoy a port day without that "guarantee". 

 

If however, you inderstand the very slim possibility that you may miss the ship (which is frequently due to passenger stupidity), you may want to explore the idea of a private excursion, which,  IMHO, are far superior to cruise line excursions in most instances.

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by sippican

[wave rider]

I love having a balcony on the docked side of the ship so that I can watch for the runners trying to make it at the last minute.  I am a stickler for being on time in most of my activities to the chagrin of the rest of my family.  Years ago when we were on an Alaskan cruise I went back to the ship a little early in Ketchikan while my wife and daughter did a little shopping.  Imagine my surprise when sitting on the balcony watching the last minute runners I see my wife and daughter just strolling along.  By that time I was calling their cell phones to see if they were back yet.  Everything from the pier had been pulled back onto the ship except one lone gangway.  Naturally my wife ignored her cell phone ringing and continued to stroll along.  I cold see at least that my daughter was trying to hurry her mother along.  But at least when they boarded the ship, there were still several people really running to get aboard!