Beware! Princess Shore Excursions Policy of Waiting

[KAJOKG]

What a nightmare. We were on a land tour a few years ago, and one couple did not pay much attention, got off a river cruise boat at the wrong stop. We were to meet our bus at a certain location in Amsterdam. They were not there. The tour director waited an acceptable amount of time, but had to pull the bus away without them. They finally made it back to the tour 3 days later, at their own expense. So, pay close attention whenever on a tour of any kind. It's up to us to be diligent and stick close to the departure site in plenty of time. I do notice that the directors on city tours in the islands do a head count after every stop, but some are lax and should not pull away without all the passengers after a reasonable amount of time.

 

Also, always bring the day's Patter. Somewhere in the Patter is the name, address and phone number of the ship's contact within the city. They are very helpful. If you had that with you, you probably would have cut your problems in half. And as many say, bring copies of your passports.

[Catnip]

 

Also, always bring the day's Patter. Somewhere in the Patter is the name, address and phone number of the ship's contact within the city. They are very helpful. If you had that with you, you probably would have cut your problems in half.

 

That's always a good idea. However, in the OP's case, she said they DID contact the port agent and he was no help at all.

We immediatly sought out the Port Agent as the ship was still in sight and asked what to do, his response was that the ship would not be returning for us and that we needed to leave the port immediatley as we were in his country (Venezula) illegally as we did not have any ID or passport. We had 10 dollars between us.

[spongerob]

Maybe there is some confusion here. It sounds like the OP got hold of a local official, not necessarily the Princess port agent.

[FamilyGuy1010]

My recommendations:

 

1) Take your real passport/ID with you off the ship and at least one credit card with some cash. Leave the copies in the safe. The copies won't do you much good if you actually need a passport. Your cruise card is worthless off the ship.

 

2) If the computer is down, make sure that someone is taking a paper roll. Slower, but they need to know who is on/off the ship. Someone can update the computer manually if the system comes back up.

 

3) Know where you are supposed to be to get back on the ship. Etch that picture in your mind. Know how to tell locals where that is. Ask someone if you don't know!

[Catnip]

We immediatly sought out the Port Agent as the ship was still in sight and asked what to do, his response was that the ship would not be returning for us and that we needed to leave the port immediatley as we were in his country (Venezula) illegally as we did not have any ID or passport. We had 10 dollars between us.

 

I may be wrong, but the OP says she sought out the port agent. :confused:

[chessbriar]

I sorry to hear about your terrible experience.

 

I fail to see how this is Princess' fault and why you should be reimbursed. Even if you had scaned your card before you left, they would have left without you as the tour had returned. They cannot control what guests do once the tour ended. Unfotunately, you got separated from your group as the tour was ending.

 

Many ports have considerable fines for ships not leaving on time.

 

This is another fine example of why you should always purchase travel insurance. It would have allowed you to recover the money you spent.

 

The safes not opening is another reason we pull our docs and credit cards from the safe the night before. I would never get off the ship without proper ID.

 

I glad you made it home safely.

[Luckyroot]

Once aboard we had to meet with the Chief Purser, the Captain and the Staff Captain, all of whom apoligezed and stated that they would back us up due to the shipboard problems.

As of now, Princess has yet to refund the over $3000 it cost to get back aboard a ship that we were certain would never leave us. They did offer $150 credit toward the next cruise.

 

Hopefully with the backup of these 3 officers, you should be able to get full restitution. Keep fighting till you do!

[MaryPoppinz]

Wow- really scary story. This is probably a "dumb" question, but could you have called the Grand's emergency number?

 

I was thinking of the same thing, and, in fact, added it to my little list of things to take ashore.

[KAJOKG]

It is our responsibility to always be at the appointed site of departure and try to be on time. We always get to that point at least 1/2 hour before the directors instructs. I don't know if the OP did or did not contact the ship's port contact. That could be the problem. Friends of ours had an unfortunate accident in St. Lucia and had to stay on shore. The ship's port contact was fabulous.

 

Bad advice regarding bringing original passport on shore. They are more valuable to undesireables than money. Usually the ship's officers advise that you leave your passports on board and in a safe. Bring a copy along. When we were in Madrid, our tour director took all our passports and placed them in the hotel safe. There were many suspected terrorists looking to snatch passports to make their way to Europe through Spain. Passports are the first thing to be snatched. If you insist, make sure you carry them in a neck or belt pouch. Don't feel relaxed about having your passport with you, not for one minute.

[MaryPoppinz]

Whenever I fly internationally, I always wear one of those around the neck packs which has a credit card and my passport and is very slim and hardly seen under my shirt.

 

Me, too. They'd have to practically remove my bra to get to my documents. And, I think I'm generally aware enough to notice that. ;)

[MaryPoppinz]

Bad advice regarding bringing original passport on shore.

 

I'm completely comfortable with my risk in doing it. I'm not completely comfortable with any risk of spending the night in an unlocked Caracas hotel room and being without my passport in Venezuela. I would have left the ship without swiping out, but I would have *never* left the port city in this location without my passport.

 

Choose your poison.....

[Ethel5]

Oh, I promised I wouldn't do this but here goes.........

 

I don't understand why the OP feels Princess should reimburse them for something that wasn't the ship's fault.

 

They are the one's who got seperated from their group and failed to have ID on them. If the Purser's desk didn't respond to opening the safe in the 15 minutes that the OP gave him, I would NOT have gone on the excursion-better to lose a little money than to risk something happening.

 

We have had only one experience with Port Agents and, granted, it was in SFO, but she couldn't have been more helpful.

 

There are just too many holes and too many coincidences in this saga.

 

Applying asbestos undies.

[MaryPoppinz]

The manifest and the passengers onboard outta match, don't you think? It couldn't have.

 

Also...a headcount should have been done at the dock at the conclusion of the excursion, so that at least their absence would have been noted.

 

And what of a cabin steward whose passengers have gone AWOL for three nights? Is that of no concern?

 

I wouldn't have left without my passport, either, but I do think there is room for some heads to roll on this.

[lesleyfb]

Absolutely. Heads should roll. They should have never been allowed off the ship until their details had been logged somewhere. The guide should have kept a better eye on her group.

[CrystalBluePersuasion]

I have never gone anywhere without my passport and driver's license in my possession. Even when I was on the Alaska cruise, I carried my passport all the time. I realize that I may be naive, but I don't see what a color copy of the passport would do any good. I do, however, agree that keeping a color copy in the cabin is a good idea. My husband and I are leaving Saturday for a cruise on the Grand. I'll make sure to get color copies of our passports to keep in cabins. Quite frankly, if I had been stranded like that, I would not have gone to Miami and stayed two nights, I would have gotten the first plane home and be done with it. No cruise is worth that much trouble. And they could keep my luggage and clothes - it certainly would be cheaper to replace that than all the trouble getting back to the ship! What a nightmare!!!

[98Charlie]

Sorry to hear of the OP's problems on this cruise but happy to hear they did eventually catch up to their ship and arrived home safely.

 

As far as the passport vs. passport copy issue goes, DH & I always take our passports ashore and leave copies of our passports onboard. As was said before, a copy will only help ID you but isn't necessarily enough ID to get you out of a foreign country if you're left behind.

 

DH & I spent two years behind the Iron Curtain during the '60s and truly appreciate what full ID is all about when traveling far from home. I think too many cruise pax today have the wrong view of what passports are all about.

 

I enjoy reading comments from cruisers that think nothing about taking their drivers license and credit cards ashore but are afraid to take their passports off the ship.:)

 

Dianne

[JLC@SD]

Oh, I promised I wouldn't do this but here goes.........

 

I don't understand why the OP feels Princess should reimburse them for something that wasn't the ship's fault.

 

They are the one's who got seperated from their group and failed to have ID on them. If the Purser's desk didn't respond to opening the safe in the 15 minutes that the OP gave him, I would NOT have gone on the excursion-better to lose a little money than to risk something happening.

 

There are just too many holes and too many coincidences in this saga.

 

Applying asbestos undies.

 

 

Another key item, make sure the safe works and that you know how to operate it before leaving your valuables in it. Hard to believe it didn't work, must have forgot the code they entered.

 

And if you got separated from a bus group, you should contact and notify one of the other Princess Tour bus guides on one of the other buses. They are in contact with the tour operators and they could get you transfered back to the port. If you miss your bus, let one of the other busses know, they can help you.

[chrysalis]

If nothing else, this whole discussion should send some messages to all those folks that still resist getting a passport in the first place and just travel with nothing more than a BC or DL.....whether you go ashore with a photocopy or your real passport is a moot point for the scores of cruisers that have neither.

 

Too many people have advised others here not to bother getting a passport until the law requires it......rubbish I say.

[Ethel5]

The manifest and the passengers onboard outta match, don't you think? It couldn't have.

 

Also...a headcount should have been done at the dock at the conclusion of the excursion, so that at least their absence would have been noted.

 

And what of a cabin steward whose passengers have gone AWOL for three nights? Is that of no concern?

 

I wouldn't have left without my passport, either, but I do think there is room for some heads to roll on this.

 

I agree. BUT.... How did the tender "get lost" from the ship to the dock? Maybe they had to circle in order to wait their turn at the dock. I also have questions about how the tour guide magically appeared at the airport and then when they missed the 1st flight, he again magically appears. Why did they miss the 1st flight that he arranged for them? And how does a taxi driver not know where the embassy is on a small island? Once back in Maimi, I would have been so happy to be "home" that I would not have spent time or money getting back on the ship at what would have been the last port.

[LARGIN]

This is correct. Though half a dozen one, three fourths another. I personally have spoken to dozens of people who have had their purses/wallets stolen in port with all of their credit cards/id/passports.

 

My Embassy friend who gave me the advice was referring to when I was in Italy on a land trip and the gypsies were out in full force and stealing purses and wallets. It was much easier from their stand point to tell people to carry copies with them and to keep the passports in a safe place (in a safe) as opposed to your body.

 

One could argue either way which is more likely - missing the ship or having your wallet/purse stolen. I personally think I stand a better chance of having my purse stolen in a port then missing the ship. One has to decide what chances they are willing to take.

I agree.. Our passports remain on the ship...

[MaryPoppinz]

Ethel, I have no idea about the answers to your intriguing questions. But, as interesting as they are, they don't discount the questions about whether some of the folks who work for Princess should have done some things differently.

[Snurp]

Maybe there is some confusion here. It sounds like the OP got hold of a local official, not necessarily the Princess port agent.

 

The person we asked for help from was the port agent, not a local official. His ID confirmed this as did he verbally. We had help in finding him from one of the other ships in port personel. When we got back aboard three days later, I pulled the Patter (we save them) to see if the agent was listed. This was the only port on our trip that the Patter did not list a port agent or contact person for. I wanted to contact the Port Agent's office when we got home to inform his supervisors how unhelpfull he was. I brought this to the attention of the Purser's office, they were not sure why this information was not listed in the Patter for that day and promised to get me the information. They never did.

I do accept some of the responsibility for becoming seperated from the group, but we are talking a matter of minutes. We did not wander off. We patiently waited as several elderly people were helped off the bus and we felt as if we were in the way standing right beside the bus door. We made the descision to wait in front of the bus by the fence to get out of the way. Several large groups from other ships were also arriving back and walked in front of us, blocking our view of the group. Being polite and curtiouse did not pay off in this instance. We were dropped off outside the gates to the port, no where near the tender zone. The tender that brought us in that morning got lost coming to the dock in heavy rain , so by the time we got off, we had no clue where we were at, besides being in front of straw huts, which there were many. With the crowds of people later that day,nothing looked the same as it did that morning when we were the only people there.

[SharkieRools]

Also...a headcount should have been done at the dock at the conclusion of the excursion, so that at least their absence would have been noted.

I don't think I've ever seen or heard of an excursion where a headcount is taken at the END of a tour, perhaps after everyone gets on after the last stop but not after it's over.

 

And what of a cabin steward whose passengers have gone AWOL for three nights? Is that of no concern?

That's a good question, I wonder why he/she didn't report anything.

[KAJOKG]

Snurp -- Folks can give advice, chide you for missing the bus, argue passport or no passport, but bottom line, your ordeal was truly a nightmare. I believe the first mistake was made by Princess. The officials should NEVER have let anyone leave the ship without having the boarding pass swiped. If passengers were inconvenienced, so what? This is the system they now use to keep track of passengers, and it did not work, so they should have waited until the problem was resolved - IMHO. Glad you're home safe.

[spongerob]

Thanks, Snurp. Regardless of how this works out, this story serves to remind us that cruising is international travel, and serves to snap us out of complacency regarding how we should be prepared for any eventuality when leaving the ship. I think sometimes we forget that when talking about how great (or not) we think the food is or how well (or not) people are dressed on formal nights.