I thank the poster for bring this to my attention. I've always been under the impression that "they won't leave you if on a ship excursion" - part of the marketing strategy I suppose. We did miss our ship in the early 2000 in St. Thomas. It was due to very heavy traffic and and delays getting back into port. We were scheduled to dock, but then had to tender at the last minute which changed the all aboard time. Trip insurance covered the cost of the missed portion of the cruise and our expenses to fly back to Florida and wait for the ship to come in (3 days). However, HAL washed their hands of us - were absolutely 0 help to us and initially refused to allow us back on the ship in Florida to pack up our cabin. They were going to pack our stuff up and send it out to the pier. Finally, after many calls shore to ship, they finally agreed to let us back on to pack up. We had only our ship card and a Visa (in those days they told you to leave your passport on the ship). We still sail HAL because we like the cruise line the most. However, we do so knowing that they don't care about you whatsoever if something were to happen on shore - including a medical emergency or accident.