Ever Miss the Ship? We Did.

[Asawi]

It seems to me like ship crew were not aware they were two pax short. How that can be I have no idea! I say this because there apparently were no attempt to contact them or getting their documents ashore as NCL claim is what should happen.

As for not checking uo on them once they were onboard, well, I don't feel that is an issue. 

As for saying this is a "poor us" story there must be a problem with reading comprehension or something with the person saying so. 

Edited Thursday at 11:54 AM by Asawi

[graphicguy]

12 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

I always get worried about missing the ship, so I do take a photo on my phone of the port agent, the number of the US embassy (if we're in another country) and take our passports and the 'can't be without it' medicine when we go out at a port.

 

Because of the time zone stuff and my phone is really bad with it anyway, I do a timed alarm based on the amount of hours we have. Like if the ship is at a place from 8 am to 6 pm, and we get off the ship at 9 am, I set an alarm to go off in 7 hours, letting me know to head back to the ship.

 

I'm glad you were able to get back on at the next port.

Smart.  That's a good idea.

[DCGuy64]

For safety's sake, I always note the ship's time and the "all aboard" time before departing for the day. No need (for me) to wear an additional watch or manually change the time on my phone. I would panic at the prospect of being left behind. I am SO glad the OP was able to get back on the ship at the next port. I hope others learn from this couple's experience.

[graphicguy]

The ship always has a sign that states what "all aboard" time is before you disembark.  Further, there's clock showing "ship time" at the disembarkation check-in/out.

 

I have a cheap Timex I use to set to ship time when I cruise.  I've had it for years.  It's never failed to let me know what ship time is when I set it.

 

Bottom line to all of this, it's the passenger's responsibility to get on the ship by All Aboard time.  The reasons why someone wouldn't doesn't matter to the ship's Captain or the crew.  

 

The ship's phone number should be called if you're going to miss the ship. The ship's phone number is right on the back of the key card.  

 

Further, it's probably a good idea to let family know with a phone call if you miss the ship, if you feel it's appropriate.  If something happens health wise, and that is a concern, carry a card in your wallet with who to contact in an emergency.  That way, everyone will be notified that needs to be notified.

 

The ship personnel has no clue what you did or didn't decide to do.  If they contact family, get them in an uproar, causing untold panic, only to find out you just missed the ship because you didn't know the correct time to be on board, that would be an entirely different conversation on these boards.

 

 

 

 

[ronandannette]

25 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

For safety's sake, I always note the ship's time and the "all aboard" time before departing for the day. No need (for me) to wear an additional watch or manually change the time on my phone. I would panic at the prospect of being left behind. I am SO glad the OP was able to get back on the ship at the next port. I hope others learn from this couple's experience.

Oh Lordy, had it been just DH and myself, it would have been a lot easier!! This was a “bucket list” trip for myself and my elderly siblings. They are much less experienced travellers than we are and keeping them calm while we figured it out was half the job. Then they (my sister especially) was paranoid at the rest of the ports and fussed until we agreed to board at least an hour early. LOL

 

We are now docked back in Boston and waiting to disembark. We are very much “all’s well that ends well” people and we are at peace! I’ll be checking with my travel insurance as soon as we’re on the ground, to see if the trip interruption coverage will apply. I’d love to get that huge rental car bill paid, but we shall see. If I communicate further with NCL I’ll come back with an update on the protocols as I do think it’s a matter of interest. Thanks to all!

Edited Thursday at 01:06 PM by ronandannette

[hlperez]

I always take the daily program on shore with me, so I have the port agent's details if necessary.  In Marseille I once tried to call the port agent when I thought we might be late back.  They never answered!!  My last cruise was on Princess and they no longer print the agent's details on the program.  They encourage you to take a picture of the details from your television, but I couldn't always find it.

 

[NJGeorge]

Lost passports on one cruise and missing the ship on another. You might want to look into a staycation next time!

[ronandannette]

13 minutes ago, NJGeorge said:

Lost passports on one cruise and missing the ship on another. You might want to look into a staycation next time!

I don’t know anybody that has travelled widely over the past 25 years who hasn’t encountered glitches of some sort. Life is  like that. It will take more than these (relatively) minor perils to keep me home. 😁

Edited Thursday at 01:48 PM by ronandannette

[Asawi]

8 minutes ago, ronandannette said:

I don’t know anybody that has travelled widely over the past 25 years who hasn’t encountered glitches of some sort. Life is  like that. It will take more than these (relatively) minor perils to keep me home. 😁

Agree! If all you ever do is cruise and do organised excursions (ship or independent) you surely encounter things of various seriousness sooner or later. Lost luggage, cancelled transportation, accidents, illness... I have been relatively spared  (or maybe just  chosen to not dwell on things once cleared up) but my backpacking daughter has been robbed (not just pickpocketed, attacked and robbed) twice but that is not stopping her from going places I'd rather she didn't. 😮 (She does however know I'll drop everything and come and get her wherever she is, should she need it.)

[Middleager]

55 minutes ago, ronandannette said:

I’ll be checking with my travel insurance as soon as we’re on the ground, to see if the trip interruption coverage will apply. I’d love to get that huge rental car bill paid, but we shall see.

Earlier on you talked about possible liability (of NCL)

and now you talk about trip interruption coverage and hope to get the car rental bill paid.

 

So you still think some other parties can be at fault and cover/compensate you financially.  If the big car rental bill can be covered for someone's own fault for not getting on the ship on time, then the car/trip insurance rates will surely go way up for the public.

 

NCL is not at fault for leaving on time.  Yes they could've shown more sympathy, and at some time tried to contact you or your ememgency contacts, but NCL does not owe you anything financially, and not liable to you financially.  The car rental company charged you just like any customer.

 

Why would you think you can get financial coverage?

 

You say you're a customer service professional. Ok.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, ronandannette said:

 Then they (my sister especially) was paranoid at the rest of the ports and fussed until we agreed to board at least an hour early. LOL

Why not listen to them?

Edited Thursday at 02:39 PM by RocketMan275

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

According to the OP, they arrived at the port 4 minutes after all aboard and spoke immediately to the port agent.  I would assume the port agent is in email or phone communication with the ship, and would relay to them that the OP is not in any danger.  

 

The OP stated that they arrived after the gangway was taken (not after all aboard time). Since they arrived after the gangway was taken, the OP has no real way of knowing when the gangway was taken. 

 

At each port, the All Aboard time is clearly listed at the top of Page 1 of the Freestyle Daily. And at each port, there are signs with the All Aboard times at the gangway security as you "swipe off" the ship. When you need to beck onboard is very clear. 

 

The All Aboard time is normally 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the ship. If there are missing passengers, Captains normally wait as long as they can before ordering the gangway to be taken. Part of that consideration is whether the missing passengers have been contacted. So the OP was over 30 minutes past the All Aboard time. Once the gangway is taken and the ship starts departure, the ship will normally never stop departure. 

 

The Port Agent is well aware that the ship was departing and had already been told that passengers were not accounted for and were being left behind. The Port Agent knew, exactly, what their options were. Passengers who are being left behind are normally are not in the best of moods and it is appropriate for the Port Agent not to get involved with "emotion", especially if passenger are watching their ship sail away.  

 

As a very frequent cruiser, we always take our phones off "Set Automatically" and set them to ship's time (which is not always local time). 

 

[ronandannette]

40 minutes ago, Middleager said:

Earlier on you talked about possible liability (of NCL)

and now you talk about trip interruption coverage and hope to get the car rental bill paid.

 

So you still think some other parties can be at fault and cover/compensate you financially.  If the big car rental bill can be covered for someone's own fault for not getting on the ship on time, then the car/trip insurance rates will surely go way up for the public.

 

NCL is not at fault for leaving on time.  Yes they could've shown more sympathy, and at some time tried to contact you or your ememgency contacts, but NCL does not owe you anything financially, and not liable to you financially.  The car rental company charged you just like any customer.

 

Why would you think you can get financial coverage?

 

You say you're a customer service professional. Ok.

I never said one single thing about NCL being liable. Or wanting any type of compensation from them for anything whatsoever . Go back and re-read. Carefully. I said the on-board personnel could have offered some measure of concern without it implying any liability on their part. You know, like a regular person might “oh, we’re sorry this happened to you…”

 

And as for the trip interruption insurance, it covers all kinds of things. This may be a one of them. I’ll find out from the policy provider. And what a bizarre comment for you to make anyway. Fire insurance covers your home even if you accidentally start the fire. Auto insurance covers accidents where the driver is at fault. And so on. If we are eligible under the terms of the policy, I will most certainly make a claim. Why wouldn’t I?

Edited Thursday at 03:00 PM by ronandannette

[ronandannette]

17 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Why not listen to them?

We did. Fortunately the rest of our ports were private tours and the drivers were happy to cut things a bit short to get us back earlier than originally planned.

[Middleager]

On 9/25/2024 at 10:09 AM, ronandannette said:

As to the idea of them contacting us, I suppose it is just my expectation of a customer-focused company to offer at least a gesture of concern and acknowledgement. That could have been done without any further liability and would have gone a long way to soothing our feelings. Like I said, I do this sort of thing for a living - smooth ruffled feathers  on the daily, and it often doesn’t take much more than a little genuine kindness and aplomb. Too much for NCL though, apparently.

This is what you wrote.  It can be read as you think NCL may be liable for more.

But now you explain you are not saying NCL can be liable for more, good.

 

But still doesn't mean some trip/travel insurance should cover your travel to get to the next port for your own fault in not knowing the correct time.  This time is one rental car, next time could be expensive flights and other expenses for many people.  Imagine if it's a transatlantic cruise where the next port is many thousand kilometers and several sea days away, and there're expenses for flights and hotels and meals, etc.

[ronandannette]

2 minutes ago, Middleager said:

This is what you wrote.  It can be read as you think NCL may be liable for more.

But now you explain you are not saying NCL can be liable for more, good.

 

But still doesn't mean some trip/travel insurance should cover your travel to get to the next port for your own fault in not knowing the correct time.  This time is one rental car, next time could be expensive flights and other expenses for many people.  Imagine if it's a transatlantic cruise where the next port is many thousand kilometers and several sea days away, and there're expenses for flights and hotels and meals, etc.

I was editing to address this while you were posting. The policy either will or will not cover this circumstance. If it does we will collect. If not, we won’t. Simple.

[RocketMan275]

45 minutes ago, ronandannette said:

We did. Fortunately the rest of our ports were private tours and the drivers were happy to cut things a bit short to get us back earlier than originally planned.

Do you think returning to the ship an hour before departure is cutting things a bit short?

[PATRLR]

On 9/25/2024 at 9:57 AM, graphicguy said:

The "rental car's clock was wrong" is a bit weak.  You have a phone with the time listed.  

 

I've been tripped up by this in the past.  I don't spend much time looking at my phone while driving but I do look at a car's clock.  Haven't missed a ship, but have bungled business meetings.

 

 

On 9/25/2024 at 9:57 AM, graphicguy said:

  If you're on a ship, you should be wearing a watch set to "ship time" for this very reason

Maybe you, but, I've never worn a watch in my life.

[rodndonna]

45 minutes ago, Middleager said:

This is what you wrote.  It can be read as you think NCL may be liable for more.

But now you explain you are not saying NCL can be liable for more, good.

 

But still doesn't mean some trip/travel insurance should cover your travel to get to the next port for your own fault in not knowing the correct time.  This time is one rental car, next time could be expensive flights and other expenses for many people.  Imagine if it's a transatlantic cruise where the next port is many thousand kilometers and several sea days away, and there're expenses for flights and hotels and meals, etc.

 

I'm "doubting" insurance will cover - as it could then be easily taken advantage of anytime one wants to overnight in a port and pick up at the next port and having the tab (hotel, travel and extra meals) picked up. 

 

If the rental car broke down or they were in an accident that caused missing the ship - then more likely (just guessing)

[PATRLR]

19 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

This makes me think that I should get an international calling plan before my next trip. I will have to look into what Verizon offers.

 

19 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

Verizon has a 10 per day travel pass that lets you use your phone at its normal rate in the US.  

 

I'm in the US and my Verizon plan includes calling to/from/in Canada.  And I don't think I have any special plan (but maybe I do). 

 

[sanger727]

20 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I'm "doubting" insurance will cover - as it could then be easily taken advantage of anytime one wants to overnight in a port and pick up at the next port and having the tab (hotel, travel and extra meals) picked up. 

 

If the rental car broke down or they were in an accident that caused missing the ship - then more likely (just guessing)

 

I seriously doubt that someone who is taking advantage would rent a car at the last minute for hundreds of dollars.  When they submit their receipts, it will show that everything was booked after the ship left as opposed to ahead of time. 

 

Trip insurance may cover some of it.  We had an issue a few years ago where our flight was cancelled at the last minute.  We were able to book a flight with another airline at a very high cost.  Booking the new flight as opposed to waiting for the airline to re-schedule us was our choice.  But our trip insurance paid for some of the flight. 

Edited Thursday at 04:07 PM by sanger727

[rodndonna]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

 

I seriously doubt that someone who is taking advantage would rent a car at the last minute for hundreds of dollars.  When they submit their receipts, it will show that everything was booked after the ship left as opposed to ahead of time. 

 

Trip insurance may cover some of it.  We had an issue a few years ago where our flight was cancelled at the last minute.  We were able to book a flight with another airline at a very high cost.  Booking the new flight as opposed to waiting for the airline to re-schedule us was our choice.  But our trip insurance paid for some of the flight. 

 

The situation you describe - where your flight was cancelled - was totally out of your control.

 

Not getting back to ship because of messing up the time is not out of our control. 

 

 

 

 

[julig22]

4 hours ago, graphicguy said:

The ship's phone number should be called if you're going to miss the ship. The ship's phone number is right on the back of the key card.

The phone number on the key card:

"The central telephone number for our ships is 001 732 335 3280 (from US$ 7.95 per minute; please have ship name and your credit card number at hand). Who knows how responsive they are - would hate to be put on hold while I'm watching the ship sail away!!!

 

Personally, I'd be calling the Port Agent first -  If they don't answer, then I'd try to call the central number. And if that port agent isn't reachable, then I think that I would be holding NCL partially responsible if I got left behind, depending on the timing.

The advice to take a picture of the port information has been mentioned frequently, often by the CD, sometimes suggested in the Freestyle.

I also take a picture of the bus and/or tour meeting point anytime I'm on a tour where there is free time.

[Middleager]

2 hours ago, ronandannette said:

And as for the trip interruption insurance, it covers all kinds of things. This may be a one of them. I’ll find out from the policy provider. And what a bizarre comment for you to make anyway. Fire insurance covers your home even if you accidentally start the fire. Auto insurance covers accidents where the driver is at fault. And so on. If we are eligible under the terms of the policy, I will most certainly make a claim. Why wouldn’t I?

Car and home insurance are indeed covering your possible mistakes for burning down your home, or at fault accidents, but to a limit.  If someone keep having house fires or keep getting into at fault accidents, we all know insurance companies have stopped taking on those clients.  Trip/travel insurances can cover flight cancellations or delays, beyond your control, not your fault. 

 

We've had a transatlantic cruise that had 7 sea days, which became became 9 sea days due to a cancelled port. 

If someone missing the ship at the last port because they were at fault (confused with time, got drunk, overslept, and whatever reason they can find, not the ship's fault), and gets covered for the expenses of 9 days of hotel/meals, flights, that'd be really special.

Please let us know if you get compensated, because you can teach all of us how to have long extra vacations (in Azores, Canary Islands, Hawaii), because we missed the ship's last port.  And share that insurance company with us, so we can all get coverage for accidentally missing the boat.

[ronandannette]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Do you think returning to the ship an hour before departure is cutting things a bit short?

An hour before all-aboard? No. It’s plenty.