missed the ship

[DEElovesCruisin']

Has anyone missed getting back on the ship on time when in port? I don't plan on it happening, but what do you do and what documents should you carry when you leave the ship? :rolleyes:

[cincicruisers]

We havent missed the ship, but we have seen miss it several times in years past at Cozumel from too much fun at Carlos and Charlies. If we are not on a ship sponsored excurison we take our DL, copy of passport, and Credit cards, just in case. Some people take the actual passport, but I am too nervous to do that.

Have fun on your cruise!

[springtxbill]

Take your ships daily planner that should have the ships agents contact information. If something happens you can call them and they will assist you in getting back to wherever the ship will be.

[alphakitty]

Has anyone missed getting back on the ship on time when in port? I don't plan on it happening' date=' but what do you do and what documents should you carry when you leave the ship? :rolleyes:[/quote']

 

I'd leave the copy on the ship and take my Passport with me off the ship. If the ship leaves port without you for whatever reason, you are far better off having your passport with you than on the ship. I'm not sure what good a copy would do you except maybe to get a replacement Passport sooner.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have seen many people miss the ship in various ports including a girld who worked in the spa from a HAL ship.

 

Remember that you will have to pay for hotels, food, planes, and any other expenses that you incure while returning to the ship.

[Cotton]

If something happens you can call them and they will assist you in getting back to wherever the ship will be.

 

I don't know how much assistance you'll get, but the cost of getting back to the ship will definitely come out of your pocket!:o

[Happy ks]

When you are getting off in any port, they will tell you what time to be back on the ship. Many times they have signs up, as well as verbally telling you. The time is a half hour before sailing time. Always make sure you have the right time on your watch, the time the ship is keeping, sometimes they are in different time zones. Passengers have a responsibility to make sure they understand this.

 

Therefore, with the exception of a mechanical breakdown on a ship sponsored excursion, the ship does leave and does not wait.

 

While we enjoy our port days, we tend to be back onboard before the crowds are coming back, at least an hour or two before the posted time. It's a lovely time to enjoy the ship to yourselves.

[HappyCruiser383]

We did the Party Boat tour in Cozumel last year. When we got to the beach spot, my DH went out to go parasailing while I stayed on the Beach. The Party Boat blew it's horn to signal 'it's time to leave'. My DH was still WAAAYYYY out and WAAAAYYYY up in the air. I gathered up all of our belongings and headed for the party boat (not an easy task by myself). I was the last one back on the party boat and my DH was still up in the air!!!! Holly cow!!!! He was certainly going to miss the trip back to the ship. The party boat was pulling away as I brushed up on my spanish. The crew on the party boat said "it's ok, it's ok". Maybe for you, I thought. As the party boat got further and further from the beach, the parasailing boat pulled up and dropped off 8 people. He made it! Whew!

 

Then, when we were leaving Cozumel we saw about 5 people running down the dock, waving at the ship (as if the Captain would 'pull over'). The stranded people on the dock ran around talking to people as the ship pulled farther and farther away. A couple minutes later, they boarded a boat (Coast gaurd??) and raced to meet up with the ship. The ship never stopped. They pulled up beside us and got in through a lower door.

 

The hundreds of people watching from the ship railing, aplauded. It was a pretty exciting episode . . for us anyway.

[katybird]

We did the Party Boat tour in Cozumel last year. When we got to the beach spot, my DH went out to go parasailing while I stayed on the Beach. The Party Boat blew it's horn to signal 'it's time to leave'. My DH was still WAAAYYYY out and WAAAAYYYY up in the air. I gathered up all of our belongings and headed for the party boat (not an easy task by myself). I was the last one back on the party boat and my DH was still up in the air!!!! Holly cow!!!! He was certainly going to miss the trip back to the ship. The party boat was pulling away as I brushed up on my spanish. The crew on the party boat said "it's ok, it's ok". Maybe for you, I thought. As the party boat got further and further from the beach, the parasailing boat pulled up and dropped off 8 people. He made it! Whew!

 

Then, when we were leaving Cozumel we saw about 5 people running down the dock, waving at the ship (as if the Captain would 'pull over'). The stranded people on the dock ran around talking to people as the ship pulled farther and farther away. A couple minutes later, they boarded a boat (Coast gaurd??) and raced to meet up with the ship. The ship never stopped. They pulled up beside us and got in through a lower door.

 

The hundreds of people watching from the ship railing, aplauded. It was a pretty exciting episode . . for us anyway.

 

Yes! We saw 4 people brought by pilot boat to the ship. MAny were on deck watching the drama. Another passenger told us they would pay a fee for that ride. I believe it was around $300 PP

[HERKIMER417]

Last Fall on the Zuiderdam we stopped at Half Moon Cay. My wife went back to the ship early and I purchased the horseback riding excurshion.

 

The group was larger than the number of horses ready so we were split. I was in the first group and it was great. We rode on a trail and then thru the water. I looked at the ship to take a picture and could see my balcony room and wondered if DW was there.

 

When the second group mounted there was a couple of extra horses and they asked if I wanted to ride again. Sure!

 

As I took to horse into the water I noticed that the ship had turned around. Then it hit me - the ship could not turn around if it was still at anchor.

 

Unknown to me - DW gets a call in our room asking if I was there. When she said no - response was ' OH, are you sure!"

 

We cut some of the second ride short and made it the dock as quickly as we could. One of the ships officers was counting heads as we loaded on the ferry. We boarded thru a lower opening as the ship was starting to power up.

 

My DW was wondering how she was going to explain to DD how she lost me.

 

Great time!

[cruisinbuddy]

We did the Party Boat tour in Cozumel last year. When we got to the beach spot, my DH went out to go parasailing while I stayed on the Beach. The Party Boat blew it's horn to signal 'it's time to leave'. My DH was still WAAAYYYY out and WAAAAYYYY up in the air. I gathered up all of our belongings and headed for the party boat (not an easy task by myself). I was the last one back on the party boat and my DH was still up in the air!!!! Holly cow!!!! He was certainly going to miss the trip back to the ship. The party boat was pulling away as I brushed up on my spanish. The crew on the party boat said "it's ok, it's ok". Maybe for you, I thought. As the party boat got further and further from the beach, the parasailing boat pulled up and dropped off 8 people. He made it! Whew!

 

Then, when we were leaving Cozumel we saw about 5 people running down the dock, waving at the ship (as if the Captain would 'pull over'). The stranded people on the dock ran around talking to people as the ship pulled farther and farther away. A couple minutes later, they boarded a boat (Coast gaurd??) and raced to meet up with the ship. The ship never stopped. They pulled up beside us and got in through a lower door.

 

The hundreds of people watching from the ship railing, aplauded. It was a pretty exciting episode . . for us anyway.

 

You must have been sh#&&*%g your pants. OMG. I couldn't imagine that.

Cozumel must be a popular spot for people missing the boat. on our Disney cruise it appeared that 6 people missed the ship. Repeated pages for them.

[Coolmama_1]

You must have been sh#&&*%g your pants. OMG. I couldn't imagine that.

Cozumel must be a popular spot for people missing the boat. on our Disney cruise it appeared that 6 people missed the ship. Repeated pages for them.

 

We left Playa de Carmen for our Tulum tour and the ferry waited for almost an hour before we left. We had 28 people missing. I think the thing about Cozumel is that Mexico is on CST and most of the other ports and the ship are on EST. It seemed to be a big source of confusion.

[Kudos2Fly]

It hasn't happen to use yet. This is one reason I go for the ship excursion, its worth the money if you come back late. Our daughter in law was on a family cruise during Christmas. They were in Grand Cayman and was hour and half late getting back to the ship. Because they where on a ship excursion the ship waited for them that hour and half!

 

I figure that 20 or 30 dollars more they charge you for the ship excursion is worth it. I would hate to have to spend 300 or more trying to get back to the ship!

[wrp96]

It hasn't happen to use yet. This is one reason I go for the ship excursion, its worth the money if you come back late. Our daughter in law was on a family cruise during Christmas. They were in Grand Cayman and was hour and half late getting back to the ship. Because they where on a ship excursion the ship waited for them that hour and half!

 

Happened to me in Grand Cayman as well. Our ship's excursion was over an hour after the last tender getting us back. We hopped on the tender they held for us and started off. What was even scarier is that there were people running up to the tender dock trying to get us to come back, which they did not do as all of us on the ship's excursion were accounted for. Right after we boarded the ship we started moving. As far as I know we left 6 people behind in Grand Cayman.

[biffman]

(Let me preface this by saying that my wife is late for everything - and I mean EVERYTHING. Before our first cruise, I explained to her that she could not be late for the ship because they would leave without her. She "yeah'd" me to death, so I figured she really believed me.)

 

On our last cruise, in Martinique, my wife and I and another couple went on an excursion to a beach. We got back about an hour and a half before the ship was scheduled to leave. My friend and I went back on the ship while the wives went shopping.

 

My wife was a couple of minutes behind my friend's wife, who after shopping, returned to the ship. My wife was about 300 yds from the ship (behind a fence), when they started pulling up the gangplanks. My friend's wife began to yell to my wife to RUN! My wife couldn't really hear her and thought she still had 20 minutes to get on the ship. Finally, my wife realizes what she is yelling and begins to run. She has bags in her hands and her skirt is falling down (she had a bathing suit on underneath).

 

Meanwhile, the crew is pulling the last gangplank onto the ship. My friend's wife is pleading with them to please wait. My wife is still running. She's about 50yds away and people are yelling "sianara" and laughing. Luckily, the crew was nice enough to wait for her and let her get on the ship.

 

In the meantime, my friend and I are on the ship obliviously drinking and eating by the pool. The wives came over and told us the story. We ended up laughing about it, but it was very scary. Suffice it to say, my wife is no longer allowed to go shopping in ports by herself anymore.

[Bazel]

Yes – Cozumel is notorious for late arrivals due to the change in time zone, That is why you always see small boats dock side ready to run late arrivals out to the ship. Not only do you have to be able to pay in cash to the small boat owner for the ride, some ships charge a fee to open the side door as this activity takes workers and an officer away from their assigned tasks. I was on a ship where late arrivals were run out by a small boat and we were told the ship assessed them $50 each to open the door.

And in the category of another true story (really) .. a good friend was a group host for many years and on one of her departures she had a passenger stay dockside because she wanted to take a picture of the ship as it sailed away (honest!). She too got to pay for a ride to the ship.

BZ

[MszKitty]

I was the leader for a group of 52 family & friends on a 3 night Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico and one couple in our group missed the ship. Those of us on the ship kept hearing their names being paged over and over so we knew something was wrong. Luckily, they were ok, but they did miss the ship. Come to find out, they thought the ship left an hour later than it did. So when they were leisurely walking back to the ship from town, and as they turned a corner, they could see the ship sailing away.

Being that Ensenada was the only stop on this cruise, they pretty much missed the whole cruise. (they only got one night on the ship). The ship's personnel offered to pack up their things from their cabin, but being that they were friends, I offered to do it. So, security watched while I packed up their belongings.

Once we got back to LA, they were there waiting for us and their bags. They told us that there was an RCCL representative at the pier that gave them instructions on how to get back to the border. They ended up having to take a taxi (at $100) to Tijuana. Once there, they had a problem because the wife is not a US citizen and she did not have her passport with her. It took about 10 hours at the border to finally get paperwork that would satisfy the officials. Once across the border, he had his sister pick them up and drive them home. Luckily they live in Southern California, so once across the border it was smooth sailing (no pun intended...lol). All in all it was almost 24 hours before they actually got home.

They are going on this same cruise with us again in one week. We have told them that they are not allowed to get off the ship! LOL (or if they do, they have to stay with us at all times....lol)

[HappyCruiser383]

You must have been sh#&&*%g your pants. OMG. I couldn't imagine that.

 

You bet I was! The people on the party boat and the parasailing boat were acting like it was no big deal. :eek: We made it back to the pier with enough time for me to have a drink (or 3 or 4). Boy did I need it.

 

I feel so bad for people who miss the ship! After reading all these stories, I will never leave the ship without my passport and lots of money. Oh yeah . . and my bull horn and maybe the small cattle prod! :D

[FundyGirl]

We almost "missed the boat" in Cozumel...having too much fun at Carlos & Charlies. Got back to the ship as they were pulling up the gangway. I don't remember how we got back to our cabin but we both passed out on the bed. My husband woke up a while later and asked if I wanted to go to the sailaway party on deck. It was 9:05 and I told him I needed some more sleep. He showered, got dressed, stepped out the door and met the room steward who said "GOOD MORNING!!! :D :D Needless to say we were already in our next port of call!!!! What a day...but we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Anyone care to join at Carlos & Charlies on April 2nd? ;)

 

Kathy & Paul

[FredS]

We stopped last year in Alicante, Spain. The Royal left for Barcelona and a couple was left behind. They were not even at the dock waving. The Cap't announced that two people had been left behind and their passports had been given to the Port Authority. The couple managed to get to Barcelona and catch up with the ship, They said they had looked at the Princess Patter for the time the ship left, but realized when they were back at the ship they had looked at the Patter for the prior day when we were in Gibralter.

[Kudos2Fly]

On a cruise in 2005 we where in Cozumel. It was around 11:30 at night and we whatching people coming back as the crew was pulling up the gang plank. In a way it was funny whatching these people try to get back to the ship. I think everyone got back on the ship. Never herd any calls for people :D.

[Capt_BJ]

From: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=210365

 

 

 

 

Dateline...hmmm 1987....

 

I was Operations Officer on a Coast Guard Cutter working the Caribbean and we were making an R&R stop in Cozumel. Typically, we (@ 210 foot length) were snuk into a place on the pier between the revenue producting cruise ships.

 

About 6pm I was on on board and after speaking to the gangway watch, I went to the bridge to watch one of the adjecent cruse ships leave.

 

The cruise ship cleared the pier and headed away when I looked down from the bridge wing to see a lady with a shopping bags in either hand running down the pier. She got adjacent to 'my' ship, stopped, dropped the bags & stared at the empty pier the cruise ship had just left.

 

I called down, "Is there a problem?"

 

"My kids and husband are on that boat." It was now just a few hundred yards away from the pier.

 

"Wait there."

 

I picked up the bridge to bridge radio, "I have one of your pasengers."

 

They couldn't come back to pick her up, but.....

 

I rounded up a boat crew, gave her a life jacket and launched our fast rescue boat. The cruise ship lowered the same ladder they use for the pilot and the wayward shopper and mother was rejoined with her family.

 

Somewhere there's a lady with a very special cruise story....my guys felt it was a great change to a boring duty day!