Anyone ever been late back to your ship?

[gogogo8]

Cruise ships like to promote their shore excursions by stating that the ship will wait for any tardy ship excursions but not private tours. Has anyone actually experienced or know of people being late on their return to the ship? While past history is certainly no guarantee of the future, just how often do ships have to wait for late tours?

[eh2zed]

Cruise ships like to promote their shore excursions by stating that the ship will wait for any tardy ship excursions but not private tours. Has anyone actually experienced or know of people being late on their return to the ship? While past history is certainly no guarantee of the future, just how often do ships have to wait for late tours?

It can happen that ship tours return a bit late to the pier. I have seen it quite often and even as long as an hour on occasion. This is not typical however. I would say 98% ship tours return on time.

As for independent tours, this can happen as well. The ship may wait a few minutes particularly if the guests have contacted the ship and are on route and only a few minutes away. No guarantee though. If the ship is gone you get yourself to the next port.

We book mostly independent tours. Only use recommended guides or companies. Start as early in the day as possible and plan to return at least an hour and a half before departure. Also start your tour if possible the furthest away from the pier you intend to go and then throughout the day work your way back closer.

[ALWAYS_CRUISER84]

ill tell you this much, do you have any idea how much it costs to keep a ship in port late.... LOTS which is why its better doing shore ex's thru the company because they will need to wait for late people if there is a whole group of them, it makes sense!

[cruiseryyc]

On our Med cruise last June, we left three ladies behind in Rome. They miscalculated the train time back to the port and had to find their own way to the next port of call.

[CathyCruises]

Other than the above, I have seen one report on CC of some folks missing the ship (in Naples). We always do ports on our own, but plan carefully to be back on boatrd in plenty of time--never even been close to missing the ship. You DO have to be aware of the timing, however.

 

IMO, the cruise ships hang this threat over your head of "you better take OUR excursions or you risk missing the ship" just to enhance their revenues. Persionally I don't buy into that--and for what I save going on my own, it is well worth it to me! The other threat is "you better buy things in our recommended stores or there will be NO guarantees!" Bullpucky, I say--just another profit center for the ship.

 

Cathy

[texancruzer]

While on Serenade we were invited to dine at the Captains table one evening. One of the questions I asked him (I was seated directly to his right) was "how often do people get left in port" I was surprised when he responded "quite often".

 

Same cruise, after we had left port in St. Lucia and gone down to the Pitons for our 360 degree turnaround.....we sat there for a long long time..... then we saw a small very fast boat come up to the ship and a whole group of people get on....... late people :D He waited for them but not at the port. Heard the fast boat costs them some $$$$.

[lisiamc]

I've seen people running down the dock when they were late, and some coming out on the pilot boats on various cruises - some made it onto the ship in time and some didn't!

 

One of our favourite sailaway pastimes is to hang over the rail and watch for latecomers. I've been told on these boards that this is cruel, but since I didn't make those people late, I don't feel any guilt for enjoying the drama.

 

We take ship-sponsored excursions about half the time. When we do our own thing, we watch the clock very carefully. We also make sure we have the name of the local agent in case the worst happens.

 

Lisa

[thedoctoriscruising]

We have taken ship's excursions twice -- once in Puerto Rico and once in Cozumel. All other excursions on our 10 cruises have been on our own using folks recommended on this board and we have NEVER had a problem. These companies have been doing this for years and know their jobs depend on getting people back to the ship in time.

 

Private tours and on your own seems to me to be the best way to go. With all the money we've saved and all the extras we've received, paying the price of missing the boat one time would still be worth it.

 

BTW, the RCCL excursion in Cozumel was a cooking class and it was really fun -- we were the only 3 people from our cruise taking it so we got taxi service and cooked a wonderful mexican meal with 8 other people.

[tom_uk]

There was example published here of a party that missed the ship at Naples that became quite well-known. In their case there was an road accident, and as a result the road congestion was intense. Even their experienced local drivers couldn't do anything about it.

[RJHNorthyorks]

Our ship left a woman in Crete in 2007

[cruisemom42]

From all I have heard and experienced, I think this is more common in Caribbean/Mexican ports than in Europe. Whether that is due to "island time" mentality and drinking at ports (yes, we've all seen them running out the door of Carlos 'n Charlies or Margaritaville and up to the ship at the last moment....) or whether travelers to Europe are just less casual and more aware of the implications of missing the ship and getting to the next port -- who knows?

[chipmaster]

Cruise ships like to promote their shore excursions by stating that the ship will wait for any tardy ship excursions but not private tours. Has anyone actually experienced or know of people being late on their return to the ship? While past history is certainly no guarantee of the future, just how often do ships have to wait for late tours?

 

Don't know about any cruise sponsored misses, maybe they really do wait:D

 

Odds are low!! Last cruise 3000+ people 10 ports, excluding the embarkation and disembarkation the count was 4. That works out to roughly 1/6000 if you believe it is a random event. In reality it isn't a random event and thus the probability is very very low. Thus, you are likely not to find too many stories. The one from Naples keeps coming up, that is a high risk port in combination with what the poster admited was poor planning resulted in that story. I believe there is another recent post about a cruiser in Boston who decided that private taxi versus public transportation on a friday evening was a better plan in combo with bad weather. Both cases I've read here could have been avoided, unfortunant, but you can learn and avoid it on your own tour ;)

 

People having to much to drink and forgetting time on some tropical beach, well who is to blame for that :rolleyes:

 

All stories always include bad traffic, or bad traffic and poor time / schedule planning. The actual likely hood if you plan carefully and keep tabs on your day is lower then losing our luggage getting to the boat in my opinion and we don't let that deter us from crusing.

 

All our private tour drivers were well aware of the days traffic events and in the more problematic / worrisome tours kept tabs during the day.

 

If you like the OP said plan to be off the ship early ( easy with private tours ) and back an hour to an hour and half before departure. You will be well ahead of any cruise bus tours on the same roads. You will be assured of seing more, for less and back on ship having a drink, taking a dip in the pool well before the crowds return.

 

Go private, plan and you'll be in more then excellent shape!

 

Happy planning

[debbymark]

the last time I cruised twenty people miss the ship. They had little money and they sat in a cafe all night and got the train the next morning to the next port. They were in Rome

[nparmelee]

There was another story on these boards somewhere of a couple on a ship sponsored excursion that somehow got separated from the group on the way back to the ship after getting dropped off at the port and did get left at the port. No matter which method of excursion you choose to do, always be aware of your surroundings and the time.

[browneyes7]

I've seen people running down the dock when they were late, and some coming out on the pilot boats on various cruises - some made it onto the ship in time and some didn't!

 

One of our favourite sailaway pastimes is to hang over the rail and watch for latecomers. I've been told on these boards that this is cruel, but since I didn't make those people late, I don't feel any guilt for enjoying the drama.

 

We take ship-sponsored excursions about half the time. When we do our own thing, we watch the clock very carefully. We also make sure we have the name of the local agent in case the worst happens.

 

Lisa

 

My husband and I do the same thing........watching the late people coming aboard. I can't believe people can be so careless about the time. I realize there are other problems that can arise, though. I just hope it never happens to us!:)

[X-ring]

As we were slipping out of port in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in 1998, a fast boat with 3 male passengers raced by us to catch up with the ship.

 

If I recall correctly, the 3 had to scramble up a rope ladder that the ship let down from an opening under the starboard bow. Must have been quite an experience climbing a rope ladder (some 7-8 stories high) while the ship is underway and they're twisting in the breeze!

 

The guy with the fast boat must have had a good payday that day!

[texancruzer]

Just remembered this one too.

 

While on our Europe cruise we took a number of SHIPS TOURS that were basically a ride into town and then you had free time to explore ON YOUR OWN.

 

They always gave us a time and place to meet to head back to the ship.

They always said " we will wait 5 minutes past the time and then leave, you will be responsible to get back to the ship " it was also posted in the brochure and on the tickets.

 

In Aix-en-Provence (France) we left a woman. I believe she did get on the next bus (our tour was the "short" version) but I bet she was panicked a bit for a while. It was a good hour+ ride back :eek:

[Donray]

2007 Carnival cruise we all waved as a taxi pulled up in Athens as the ship was about 100 feet from the pier. Four people had to get to Katakolon the next day. I imagine that was a very expense trip by taxi plus food and hotel. This is a good reason to have a lot of available cash from an ATM card and a good credit limit.

[as19111]

We had a couple who were left behind in Kuai, Hawaii. They, too, had to hire a boat to race to the ship.

 

I'm no expert in these things, but I do believe that some ports have issues with the tides and that causes problems.

 

On the other hand, on our first cruise to Alaska, we had flight problems from the east coast. While we made the ship with minutes to spare, I still believe that it was safety in numbers that held the ship. There were at least 30 of us who had purchased Princess transfers. At no time did the Princess reps in Vancouver tell us to relax and all was well. The lesson learned was fly in at least a day early!

[cruisemom42]

the last time I cruised twenty people miss the ship. They had little money and they sat in a cafe all night and got the train the next morning to the next port. They were in Rome

 

Just curious, do you know what they doing that caused them to miss the ship?

[MSMcDuffy]

I went on a Greek Isles cruise in '04 and the ship had to wait for several people in Santorini (I'm guessing about 10-20% of the passengers)

because the line to take the tram down the cliff to catch the tender was so incredibly long, they would have left too many people behind. Many of us, including myself, had been on the ship's shore excursions and at the end of the various excursions there was time to shop/wander around the town and we were told how to get back to the ship (the tram, donkeys, stairs, etc.).

 

We headed for the tram with what we thought would be sufficient time to make it back but the line was much longer than anyone expected. Princess had their Reps up there letting people know the ship would probably wait for everyone. I'm sure there were people stuck up there who had not been a part of the ship's excursions who were probably very nervous.

 

I think the tender that I was on just made it within minutes of the scheduled departure time but there were some more tenders after ours.

The ship left about 45 min behind schedule.

 

If I remember correctly, there were at least 2 other large ships that day in port and it must have been that they were on similiar schedules with everyone trying to get back to their ships at the same time. That was the only time on the 3 cruises I've been on where the ship departed late.

 

I also heard a couple was left behind in Kusadasi.

[teacherman]

Two years ago in Livorno, we were docked where one of the streets right near the ship had a small drawbridge to allow small boats to go in and out of a canal. We like to stand on the back watching the departure, and we heard a horn blosing. It was a taxi waiting for the drawbridge to go down, as our ship puulled away. Then a couple jumped out a the taxi and started yelling and waving there arms. Anyway, our ship pulled out and I do not know what happend to them.

[bigwally]

We cut it pretty darn close in Rome. The traffic out of the city was pretty abominal and then, once we'd reached the autostrada, some old gent had spun out on the ramp, blocking it completely. He wasn't hurt, and his car wasn't damaged, but for some reason he was out looking things over instead of a) getting back in and driving on or b) pulling over to the shoulder to make further inspections.

 

Since our English speaking guide had already left us in the city, and the mini-bus driver didn't speak English at all, it took all the gesticulations I could come up with to get the message over to both our driver and the growing crowd that we needed to get this old fella out of the way!

 

As it was, we passed ship's excursion buses on the way back to the ship, so I knew we were safe. But we still arrived back at like 6:25pm when the "all-aboard" was supposed to be 6:30pm! :eek:

[elvisbuff]

I am thinking about doing a self guided tour in Rome and Florence/Pisa and plan on taking the train and then the HOHO bus. How much time do you think I should allow to get back on the train to the ship? Our ship will be leaving both ports at 7pm. I would like leave a little extra time in case there are any mishaps.

thx

[CatherineL]

I would hate to miss the ship. I guess it makes sense to keep a little extra money on you, incase of emergencies.

 

But I'm betting that if you missed the ship in Europe and had to make your way to the next port, you'd still spend less than if you did all your excursions through the ship tours. Some of the prices are ridiculous - especially when you need to pay for a family of four.