Ever been left behind on the ship for a ship's excursion?

[rachelfran]

I was!  Just this week.

I was on the 4/20 anthem departure and booked the trolley excursion in Boston on 4/25.

Our arrival to Boston was delayed and many announcements were made to forward your immigration time by one hour.

My tour was supposed to depart at 9:30 but I took the announcements to mean 10:30 and since my immigration time 

was originally 9am -- I went closer to 10 -- which was also the time the overhead announcements called my Letter. (how they group passengers for immigration)

It took only 15 minutes and was 10am by the time I got to the meeting place for the tour -- no one was there except another family that did

everything I did.  We ran outside and were told the last bus left at 10.  

 

We were refunded and got our own tour but I'm still confused by what happened ... I have never booked a ship tour  -- I usually book direct.

 

[Cruiser_1977]

I'm confused. If you thought you were on time for a 1030 departure, why did you run at 1000?

 

"We ran outside and were told the last bus left at 10."

[rachelfran]

There wasn't anyone at the meeting spot ..not passengers, no staff and nothing set up for folks looking for a tour.

We assumed they were gathering outside but were told they had already left ... and that the last bus (i don't know how many there were) had left at 10am.

[Cruiser_1977]

I'm sorry you missed your excursion and am glad a refund was issued. There was obviously a misunderstanding considering that other guests got to the meeting spot and on the buses/trolleys by the time they departed. 

[dwhe]

I suppose it's better to miss starting an excursion from the ship than getting back to the dock and missing the ship.

 

I'm glad my insurance covers missed excursions for any reasons.

[Boyetter2013]

I was also on the 4/20 Anthem and reading your post I believe I see what the issue was. It appears you moved your clock the wrong way. Overnight we went from Bermuda Time (Atlantic Time Zone -3) to Boston Time (Eastern Time Zone -4). Going from West to East you move the clocks backwards, not forwards. I could be wrong but I believe that is the issue.

[rachelfran]

good try but no -- we set our clocks correctly as evidenced by the fact that we went  to immigration at the  time we were called.

 

Regardless, I still don't know why there isn't a list of booked passengers that they check off as they get on the bus ... At least they'd know if they were missing anyone.

 

I've worked in tour and travel and my husband is a tour guide who works with arriving ships in ny and nj on excursions  -- and he gets a manifest with all the passengers he should have ... 

 

I'll follow up with RCCL.

 

Rachel

 

 

 

[Cruiser_1977]

@rachelfran I'm interested to hear what they say. Your money was returned. You were able to book another tour for the day. The original tour was operated by someone other than Royal, I doubt Royal will have much of an explanation. They may refer you to the tour operator. What kind of an explanation are you looking to receive?

Edited April 30, 2019 by JennyB1977

[Sancho_proudfoot]

Had this a few years ago. 56 passengers had booked (via RCL) a particular excursion.

 

A 54 seater coach was booked. Thety bumped the last two arrivals on the quayside, and gave them a refund.

 

OK, so they got the money back, but l would have been furious if l had missed out on a prebooked trip.

[FionaMG]

We were once put on the wrong excursion. The person giving out the stickers gave us the wrong one. This was in Malta and we got to see St John's Co-cathedral, which was where they finally tracked us down, presumably after the correct people showed up, having been left behind. I thought there was something odd because the excursion description did not include the cathedral but I just thought there must have been some last minute change for operational reasons. 

They apologised but did not give any compensation since the excursion we got was significantly more expensive than the one we booked. Only SIL was bummed because there was no shopping stop on the new excursion! 😂

Edited May 1, 2019 by FionaMG
Sp.

[Sobro]

Just happened to us April 8 on St Thomas. We had a 12:15 Meetup time, arrived at 12:13 and they were gone. The RCI dockside coordinator tracked them down and the taxi came back for us after dropping off the rest of our tour group at the site. All's well that ended well.

[kerryincork]

Happened to us in St Petersburg. We left at the right time with our tour group, but the passport control line we were put in was the slowest in the building, by the time we realised our guy was taking twice as long as everyone else to check passports, all the other lines were twice as long.

 

By the time we got out our tour bus had left, they put us on a different tour that had the space, it was a better tour so we lucked out 😉

[johnjen]

15 hours ago, rachelfran said:

I was!  Just this week.

I was on the 4/20 anthem departure and booked the trolley excursion in Boston on 4/25.

Our arrival to Boston was delayed and many announcements were made to forward your immigration time by one hour.

My tour was supposed to depart at 9:30 but I took the announcements to mean 10:30 and since my immigration time 

was originally 9am -- I went closer to 10 -- which was also the time the overhead announcements called my Letter. (how they group passengers for immigration)

It took only 15 minutes and was 10am by the time I got to the meeting place for the tour -- no one was there except another family that did

everything I did.  We ran outside and were told the last bus left at 10.  

 

We were refunded and got our own tour but I'm still confused by what happened ... I have never booked a ship tour  -- I usually book direct.

 

I'm confused by the word "immigration." Did you mean to say "departure?" Glad in the end it worked out.

[travelplus]

Very interesting. Usually all tours have a meeting place on the ship and you are. escorted off through immigration much like B2B cruisers. I would have thought your letter would have asked you to allow more time for immigration or the tour bus waits. Was there port staff who could have called the bus or ordered and paid for a taxi or offer a new excursion for no extra cost. 

 

On disembarkation in Barcelona we did a tour but did not go to the airport. Instead we got off at the last stop. We were in an on board lounge escorted off. For the most part I don't schedule an excursion for the first or last day as I'm already in the Port city on arrival or im not flying home the same day. 

 

I think you may have misunderstood or the port excursion director failed to page you. They ask for your cell# when purchasing excursions in the Cruise Planner so I hope the tour operator and excursions desk has this to text or call you if not then it's great feedback. 

[travelplus]

I also book direct with Royal for the most part for the comfort in knowing if the ship fails to dock or the tour is not what is advertised I can get a refund. If an accident happens and delays the ship I'm covered. It costs more to purchase airline tickets hotel and meals to catch up to the ship. 

 

I don't mind a private tour if it's highly recommended but if I miss the ship can I go after their insurance claiming negligence for delaying us if it's not my fault and their bus breaks down? I found Royal's prices to cost less than private tours for 3. The price says from 50 but it's only for 8 passengers and it can be hard to find others. Thoughts? 

[BND]

1 hour ago, johnjen said:

I'm confused by the word "immigration." Did you mean to say "departure?" Glad in the end it worked out.

I'm pretty sure Boston was their last stop which meant they had to go through immigration as it was their first stop back in the US after their foreign stop.

[TampaGambler]

15 hours ago, rachelfran said:

good try but no -- we set our clocks correctly as evidenced by the fact that we went  to immigration at the  time we were called.

 

Regardless, I still don't know why there isn't a list of booked passengers that they check off as they get on the bus ... At least they'd know if they were missing anyone.

 

I've worked in tour and travel and my husband is a tour guide who works with arriving ships in ny and nj on excursions  -- and he gets a manifest with all the passengers he should have ... 

 

I'll follow up with RCCL.

 

Rachel

 

 

 

Good try, but no. It’s not Royals job to run down everyone to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. 

 

Ive been on many cruises and they all beat a dead horse on time changes. 

 

You need to just be lucky they refunded you

[rachelfran]

12 minutes ago, TampaGambler said:

Good try, but no. It’s not Royals job to run down everyone to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. 

 

Ive been on many cruises and they all beat a dead horse on time changes. 

 

You need to just be lucky they refunded you

Wow ... Not sure what your issue is -- we weren't the only ones left behind so there was a disconnect due to the late arrival of the ship.   Refunding us was the right thing to do and I'm glad it wasn't a problem.  

 

25 minutes ago, BND said:

I'm pretty sure Boston was their last stop which meant they had to go through immigration as it was their first stop back in the US after their foreign stop.

  Yes, this.  We were back from Bermuda so they did the passport check on arrival to Boston.

Edited May 1, 2019 by rachelfran

[johnjen]

2 hours ago, BND said:

I'm pretty sure Boston was their last stop which meant they had to go through immigration as it was their first stop back in the US after their foreign stop.

ah....thanks.