If The Captain Is Kind Enough To Hold The Ship

[petesweet]

Sometimes the captain is kind enough to hold the ship for those who straggle in late from a port outing, but we learned that you PAY for that! The captain told one of our party that they charge by the minute for those who are responsible for holding up the process. (Maybe that's a new policy in view of fuel prices - don't know.) Recently on our Baltics cruise, about four or five people came leisurely strolling in and waving and bowing to those on the ship who were applauding them. I'll bet they weren't quite so happy once they got the bill! (And two couples actually missed the ship. We saw them watching us sail away.)

[Gooey Eyes]

Sometimes the captain is kind enough to hold the ship for those who straggle in late from a port outing, but we learned that you PAY for that! The captain told one of our party that they charge by the minute for those who are responsible for holding up the process. (Maybe that's a new policy in view of fuel prices - don't know.) Recently on our Baltics cruise, about four or five people came leisurely strolling in and waving and bowing to those on the ship who were applauding them. I'll bet they weren't quite so happy once they got the bill! (And two couples actually missed the ship. We saw them watching us sail away.)

 

It must be a mess if you miss the boat! What would be the first thing you would do?

[G'ma]

I would check myself into a hospital for I would be too injured to sail. That is the only reason to miss a ship. Those who "stroll in leisurely, waving to the crowd" are inconsiderate lumps.

 

There is NO reason to miss a ship unless one is severely injured or in jail.

 

I'm glad they charge them....by the minute......maybe next time they will think of something other than their own immediate needs.

[salty dingo]

I have also heard anecdotal reports of people charged for delaying the ship, but have not read any official policy on this. Has anyone seen those fines in any NCL literature?

 

I do agree you have to be pretty dense to miss a ship.

[petesweet]

I would check myself into a hospital for I would be too injured to sail. That is the only reason to miss a ship. Those who "stroll in leisurely' date=' waving to the crowd" are inconsiderate lumps.

 

There is NO reason to miss a ship unless one is severely injured or in jail.

 

I'm glad they charge them....by the minute......maybe next time they will think of something other than their own immediate needs.[/quote']

 

That's how I feel about it. We were watching from the rail, and I couldn't believe the smarty attitude of the ones who strolled in. If I had been held up so that I was late, I would have rushed in and been very repentant. Not so with them.

[yaletown605]

If I were the captain of a ship, I would not wait for anyone. When it is time to leave, then the ship sail away. The time for departure are well posted everywhere. It is hard to miss. There is no excuse.

 

The same go for tour. The guide always tell you to stay together or meet back here at certain time. There are always one or two people who wander off shopping or whatever and the rest of us end up sitting in a hot bus for up to 30 min while the guide go look for them. I say, just leave.

 

BTW, petesweet, how was the Baltic cruise. We are still debating whether to do the Jewel or Jade.

[Gooey Eyes]

That's how I feel about it. We were watching from the rail, and I couldn't believe the smarty attitude of the ones who strolled in. If I had been held up so that I was late, I would have rushed in and been very repentant. Not so with them.

 

Yeah, I'd have alot of apologizing to do - it's pretty inconsiderate.

If you want to be on the land longer take a land trip.

I couldnt imagine missing the ship - what a nightmare to get home.

[petesweet]

BTW, petesweet, how was the Baltic cruise. We are still debating whether to do the Jewel or Jade.

 

The Jewel was very nice for the Baltics trip; however, for some reason we had a late arrival into St. Petersburg. It was bummers for us to come into St. Petersburg at 10:30 when other ships came in about 7 a.m. Fortunately, we arranged a custom tour with Denrus that ran into the evening and we were able to recoup that lost time. You might want to research the arrival time into St. P.

 

Good bit of norovirus on the ship, but that can happen on any ship. You might want to read my review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=43137.

[bethaniesmom]

i guess it varies from cruiseline to cruiseline...but on our last cruise, we were leaving each port before the official time to be back on board! I guess they could leave early if everyone was accounted for....but it was the first time we had ever seen this happen. I agree too that those who are late should have to pay for the delay because you know the ship has to pay if they stay overtime in a port, especially for those evening departures where they are shutting down the lights on the pier before you are hardly away from the dock!

 

Here's to always being on board before time to pull away!

 

Beverly

[franu]

We were in Amsterdam in 2002. Leaving us more than an hour to get to the pier from the train station which should have taken less than 10 minutes, the taxi driver went the wrong way. When we insisted that his direction was wrong he made an illegal turn. He was flagged down by the local police who took his time giving the man a summons.

 

The police would not let us say that we were in jeopardy of missing the ship. We eventually arrived at the pier late for the sailing but we were very lucky as one of the ship's excursions was late. That was very fortunate for us. I know that if they would have called our names I would have been quite apologetic and moving as quickly as possible.

 

I now return at least 2 hours prior to sailing.

Fran

[TreasureQuest]

On my last cruise, when the captain gave us a cheery welcome to each port over the PA system, he always ended with a reminder about the departure time and the admonition about listening for the blasts on the ship's horn. I beleive it was

--5 short blasts and you'd better start running for the pier because we're sailing shortly.

--one long blast and you can quit running because you just became a resident.

 

Incidently we never sailed late from any port, so he must have had a reputation for keeping his word.:cool:

[Zeno]

On another cruiseline (not NCL) we were on a ship sponsored excursion (thank heaven) that returned late and let me tell you we were rushed onto the ship. The gangway was literally hauled in directly behind us and the ship was underway before we reached our cabin. The captain sounded the ship's horn a few times to get people to really hustle their buns along the dock.

 

Believe it or not some none-to-clever teens on the excursion actually asked their father if they could rush into town to buy some t-shirts. I am pleased to say that his response was something to the effect of "Like Hell - get on board NOW!".

[Bigdog49]

On another cruiseline (not NCL) we were on a ship sponsored excursion (thank heaven) that returned late and let me tell you we were rushed onto the ship. The gangway was literally hauled in directly behind us and the ship was underway before we reached our cabin. The captain sounded the ship's horn a few times to get people to really hustle their buns along the dock.

 

Believe it or not some none-to-clever teens on the excursion actually asked their father if they could rush into town to buy some t-shirts. I am pleased to say that his response was something to the effect of "Like Hell - get on board NOW!".

 

Had the same thing happen in St. Maartin on NCL. The gangway just about hit me in the butt.

[terrymtex01]

On our recent cruise to Alaska two of the four excursions we were on were late getting back. Even though we were on ship booked excursions we RAN back as fast as we could.. (which is not very fast for my fat short legs..lol)..I knew it wasn't our fault, but I did not want to hold up the ship more than we had to. I was told by a crew member that it cost the cruise line a LOT of money for every minute we are docked past the time we are supposed to be. As a previous poster commented, they literally had the gang way GONE the second the last person stepped foot on the ship. And believe it or not, on the last excursion where we were late, I actually heard people saying they were going to stop in one of the shops on the way back. Thank god the shops had closed. I always think I am jaded to the ways of selfish people, but when they are just so in your face about thinking of no one but themselves.. it blows my mind.

[Philob]

An officer on Royal Crib told me that once the gangway is up, its up.

 

Otherwise its another ship load of port fees and taxes.

[smeyer418]

Sometimes the captain is kind enough to hold the ship for those who straggle in late from a port outing, but we learned that you PAY for that! The captain told one of our party that they charge by the minute for those who are responsible for holding up the process. (Maybe that's a new policy in view of fuel prices - don't know.) Recently on our Baltics cruise, about four or five people came leisurely strolling in and waving and bowing to those on the ship who were applauding them. I'll bet they weren't quite so happy once they got the bill! (And two couples actually missed the ship. We saw them watching us sail away.)

 

I think the Captain was pulling your leg. It doesn't cost extra fuel. Sometimes Captains just tell people things when questions are asked that aren't necessarily the truth(does the crew sleep on board? no they have to pay to sleep on board or we fly them in every morning)..

[wendolyng]

How about an agreement that we will hold the ship 5 mins. but you will discover a bill for "drinks on the late boarder" for the entire ship. There could be some special bell for everyone to run to the bars because someone is late. Just an idea.

[iheartbda]

An officer on Royal Crib told me that once the gangway is up, its up.

 

Otherwise its another ship load of port fees and taxes.

 

Not on every line, or else this captain was being REALLY nice.:D

 

[G'ma]

How about an agreement that we will hold the ship 5 mins. but you will discover a bill for "drinks on the late boarder" for the entire ship. There could be some special bell for everyone to run to the bars because someone is late. Just an idea.

 

How about the insensitive clods planning their day ashore also plan to arrive back at the ship at the appointed time instead of expecting 3000 people to sit and wait for their royal arrival.

[smeyer418]

I was on the NCL Dawn and we were leaving Nassau around 1 pm. We finished our walk around town and went to the main dining room(Venetian) to eat as the boat was sailing. We left and were sitting right in the rear windows watching the ship leave Nassau when we noticed the Dock getting bigger and closer again. the Miracle of Azipods we backed up and picked up 4 stragglers. The CPT didn't have to but boy were they lucky...

[House_Atreides]

On my last cruise, when the captain gave us a cheery welcome to each port over the PA system, he always ended with a reminder about the departure time and the admonition about listening for the blasts on the ship's horn. I beleive it was

--5 short blasts and you'd better start running for the pier because we're sailing shortly.

--one long blast and you can quit running because you just became a resident.

 

Incidently we never sailed late from any port, so he must have had a reputation for keeping his word.:cool:

 

Absolutely love this post thank you for the laugh!:D

 

And I'm mean. I say sail on....let them become residents ;)

[petesweet]

I think the Captain was pulling your leg. It doesn't cost extra fuel. Sometimes Captains just tell people things when questions are asked that aren't necessarily the truth(does the crew sleep on board? no they have to pay to sleep on board or we fly them in every morning)..

 

You'll note the fuel comment was just my assumption. Other later comments gave the real reason - that the ship has to pay big time for every minute they remain over their scheduled departure time.

 

(Don't know why it would not cost more for fuel, though: The engines are fired up and ready to go, and that costs money, I would think.)

[terrymtex01]

I was on the NCL Dawn and we were leaving Nassau around 1 pm. We finished our walk around town and went to the main dining room(Venetian) to eat as the boat was sailing. We left and were sitting right in the rear windows watching the ship leave Nassau when we noticed the Dock getting bigger and closer again. the Miracle of Azipods we backed up and picked up 4 stragglers. The CPT didn't have to but boy were they lucky...

 

All I can say is that was four lucky people. I hope they sent the captian a bottle of wine or something.

[petesweet]

Wouldn't it be interesting to watch the bridge through the viewing window at the time the officers were deciding what to do?

[insidecabin]

We have been on a couple of trips where stragglers have caught the ship using the pilot boat.

 

One in Bcarcelona we waited at the monument for the port bus it never came so we grabbed a cab, just as we got to the bridge it went up and the cab driver threw us out, they were letting a ship out of the inner harbour so 20mins and by this time weere close to sail time.

 

Lucky for us another cab driver having a break at the cafe took us over when the bridge came back down along with a few others it was a run for the ship.