When is the ramp pulled up, if everyone is not on board?

[kay1864]

Years ago, a member of our party was late, but made it on the ship. But we didn't know that when the ship started moving, and we thought she was stranded.

 

The ship left on time, which means they didn't pull up the ramp until the last minute. But don't the ropes have to be untied after that happens? Seems like all of that would take at least 5 minutes or so. Which is strange, because it was probably 3 or 4 minutes after the ship started moving that she finally walked into our cabin. Shouldn't have taken all that time for her to walk the length of the ship, but who knows.

 

Also...at no time did the purser come to our cabin to get her passport. Isn't that standard procedure, to hand passports to the port agent, for pax who aren't checked in?

[S.A.M.J.R.]

I am by no means an expert, and someone with WAY more experience will be along shortly, but my GUESS...

 

There are multiple factors that will decide how long they wait (if at all) for late passengers.  And, in the case you mention, if the ship left on time, your friend wasn't "late".  

 

How do you know what time your friend boarded?  

 

I'm pretty sure they're in radio communication with the dock, so they might have known a couple of minutes before she got on board that she was on her way, so no need to get documents.

 

Or, maybe they don't get the documents until they sail, then they're given to the pilot to bring back to the pier?

[time4u2go]

Did you ask her what she did after she boarded the ship? Perhaps she used a restroom or stopped to get something to eat?

[RobInMN]

There's "all aboard" time, and there may be a hard "the ship must leave the dock" time. I'm pretty sure the captain has some discretion as to how long to wait. If the dock needs to be used by another ship. Is the dock going to close. How long to wait before it will affect the next port. etc.

There is also ship excursions vs. independent or no excursion.  Ship excursions are in contact with the ship and there is a guarentee that the ship won't leave without you or in extreme circumstances, rejoin at the next port.

We were on a ship excursion and 45m to an hour late getting back. It was after "all aboard" time. We (bus) were literally the last people back on board. We were whisked through the port area, no shore side security check. my wife & I were only had 2 people behind us boarding the ship and when the last person's seapass card was scanned, the security officer announced "zero zero", and there were muffled cheers. and they immediately pulled the gangway.

 

There's descriptions on this board of what happens when someone misses the ship. I would be surprised if that process begins even at "all aboard" time. My guess is it doesn't start until the captain has decided that the ship will leave by a certain time, and security will likely wait until the last minute to do what they need to do.

If I remember correctly, what happens is that 2 security officers with body cameras wait outside the passenger's cabin. When they are radioed to proceed, they turn on their cameras and record the time and who they are and what cabin they are entering etc. They then enter and look for passports, medication, and if an infant is involved, they may grab some diapers and formula. These are then left with the port agent and the ship leaves. My guess is that this process probably takes at least 20 minutes by the time they get stuff to the port agent.

 

[neverbeenhere]

Next time at Cozumel, watch the process(make note) as you likely will have individuals that are pier runners and the ever-mocked pier walkers.

[luvbrady]

15 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Next time at Cozumel, watch the process(make note) as you likely will have individuals that are pier runners and the ever-mocked pier walkers.

This is sooooo true.  The absolute best.  Made better because there are typically ships on either side of the pier with first rate hecklers!

[nelblu]

On my February Anthem 8 niter departure in Nassau was 4PM and at 4:30 we were still anchored.  I kept seeing passengers some walking and some taking their sweet time, with not a care in the world.  Crew and officers kept the chattering and communicating with the Captain, Finally, at about 4:45 everything was pulled up and with the drama over headed to the dining room. 

 

Next stop was Coco Cay, so they had some flexibility.

 

In this instance, don't know if those tardy Paxs communicated with the ship's authorities.

Edited June 7 by nelblu

[Poplin]

We were on a New England/ Canada  cruise and did a RCCL shore excursion.  The bus was over 30 minutes late getting back to the dock. We were told the captain made an announcement that they were waiting for a RCCL shore excursion to arrive. I don't know if the announcement kept the hecklers at bay or the age of the passengers made a difference  - haha. 

[Scottdalfonso]

This....

[kay1864]

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

How do you know what time your friend boarded?  

She didn't know the exact time, but I do know she came straight to our cabin after boarding, and she arrived about 3-5 minutes after the ship started moving. So maybe 4:25p or so.

 

She knew she was really pushing it to get to the dock on time...and almost didn't.

Edited June 7 by kay1864

[kay1864]

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

Did you ask her what she did after she boarded the ship? Perhaps she used a restroom or stopped to get something to eat?

She came straight to our cabin.

[Baron Barracuda]

Remember waiting several hours in San Juan for late bus that was held up by road closure due to traffic accident.  On the other hand have read horror stories on these boards of passengers who missed ship.  There was a well publicized story recently of eight NCL passengers left behind after a late private tour on the African island of Sao Tome

[njkruzer]

In Costa Rica in October on Radiance Canal cruise, all aboard was 9:30, sailaway wa 10.  When we left the dining room noticed only 1 gangway down, 4 officers standing on dock staring at the pier, waiting... there had been a rain storm earlier, we had to turn around because of a downed tree and were 1/2 hr late at 5:30. At 9:30 shore excursions were still stuck.  New buses had to be sent to rescue passengers.   Also saw police bring passengers back who were stuck other places.  Didn't hear that we were missing any passengers when we finally left.  

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, kay1864 said:

Years ago, a member of our party was late, but made it on the ship. But we didn't know that when the ship started moving, and we thought she was stranded.

 

The ship left on time, which means they didn't pull up the ramp until the last minute. But don't the ropes have to be untied after that happens? Seems like all of that would take at least 5 minutes or so. Which is strange, because it was probably 3 or 4 minutes after the ship started moving that she finally walked into our cabin. Shouldn't have taken all that time for her to walk the length of the ship, but who knows.

 

Also...at no time did the purser come to our cabin to get her passport. Isn't that standard procedure, to hand passports to the port agent, for pax who aren't checked in?

All aboard time is all aboard time. We appreciate when a Captain takes the gangway for an on time departure. For those who are late,,,, see ‘ya on the next port!

[GTO-Girl]

We have personally seen passengers left on two occasions.  Once in Nassau and once in St Martin..

 

In Nassau we saw the guy standing on the dock begging the ship to come back….as his wife strolled down the dock carrying her shopping bags…😳😳

 

In St Martin the passengers were on another ship that had been docked right beside us. Not sure if they got the time wrong or what happened but they showed up about 20min after their ship had left.

Edited June 7 by GTO-Girl

[shipgeeks]

I saw a reference today to a cruise in which the teens knew it was time to get back to the ship, but the parents didn't seem to care, so the teens went back without them.  Parents did not make it.  Anyone have more about this?

[time4u2go]

7 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I saw a reference today to a cruise in which the teens knew it was time to get back to the ship, but the parents didn't seem to care, so the teens went back without them.  Parents did not make it.  Anyone have more about this?

What ship? What cruise line?

[njkruzer]

8 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I saw a reference today to a cruise in which the teens knew it was time to get back to the ship, but the parents didn't seem to care, so the teens went back without them.  Parents did not make it.  Anyone have more about this?

Saw the same thing in several places.

[vjmatty]

7 hours ago, Poplin said:

We were on a New England/ Canada  cruise and did a RCCL shore excursion.  The bus was over 30 minutes late getting back to the dock. We were told the captain made an announcement that they were waiting for a RCCL shore excursion to arrive. I don't know if the announcement kept the hecklers at bay or the age of the passengers made a difference  - haha. 

They still heckle. I was on a ship excursion in St Lucia that was late, along with a several other tours totaling over 50 passengers. There were still shouts and catcalls from the balcony. Somebody in the group yelled “it’s a ship excursion, stupid” and everybody shut up all embarrassed 😂

[BirdTravels]

What folks should appreciate is that in many cases, leaving late requires the ship to sail faster to the next port. And sailing faster means more fuel. It would be great if that cost was added to the room bill of every passenger boarding after the all aboard time. 

[vjmatty]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

What folks should appreciate is that in many cases, leaving late requires the ship to sail faster to the next port. And sailing faster means more fuel. It would be great if that cost was added to the room bill of every passenger boarding after the all aboard time. 

Not the room bill since it wouldn’t be fair to an innocent roommate who was on time, like the OP for example. The bill should be assessed individually. 

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

I saw a reference today to a cruise in which the teens knew it was time to get back to the ship, but the parents didn't seem to care, so the teens went back without them.  Parents did not make it.  Anyone have more about this?

 

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

What ship? What cruise line?

 

1 hour ago, njkruzer said:

Saw the same thing in several places.

 

It was a Reddit AITA post. No other info. AFAIK, the OP was a new account and hasn't posted any follow up.

 

 

Edited June 8 by RobInMN

[vjmatty]

1 minute ago, RobInMN said:

 

 

 

It was a Reddit AITA post. No other info. AFAIK, the OP was a new account and hasn't posted any follow up.

 

 

Looks like a karma farm thread, TBH

[Mum2Mercury]

10 hours ago, kay1864 said:

Also...at no time did the purser come to our cabin to get her passport. Isn't that standard procedure, to hand passports to the port agent, for pax who aren't checked in?

I've never really believed that the staff come to fetch your passport.  How do they know it's in your safe?  

 

I'm never going to have personal knowledge about this, as we don't cut it even remotely close!  

 

 

Edited June 8 by Mum2Mercury

[Mum2Mercury]

9 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

How do you know what time your friend boarded? 

Good point.  She might've boarded ... and then gone to an upper deck to watch the ship pull away, or she might've picked up a drink or snack before returning to the room.