Rookie question - boarding at ports

[AlaskanNewby]

Well, I think I have figured out our excursions for our June Princess cruise. Thanks to all the help from this board!

We will be doing:

 

Ketchikan - Orca Cove kayaking with Southeast Sea Kayaks

Juneau - Whale watching with Capt Larry & glacial helicopter tour with Coastal, then gold panning thru Princess

Skagway - Glacial Point wilderness safari

 

Now for what is probably a silly question, but I have never done a cruise before, so here goes...The cruise site lists a boarding time and departure time. I am assuming that we must be back on the boat before the boarding time - right? Is there usually any kind of lines that we have to deal with at that point? Do we need to allow extra time to get back on board? The last thing I want to do is miss the boat. Sorry if this seems silly, but the 'cruises' I have been on in the past have been dive boats with a maximum of 12 people, so there were never lines for anything.

 

Thanks

[elmtree]

I have never experienced lines when reboarding any ship..and if there is...I can;t imagine the ship just leaving....."Sorry you can't board!" "Move away from the gangplank"..Ha.. So, I think if you are back before the scheduled sailing time, you will be fine...Also, if you have booked your excursions with the ship, they will even wait on you if there is a problem with arrival..Enjoy your cruise...

[hooked-on-travel]

I say be back at boarding time. They would ideally have everyone on by boarding time because it will take 30 minutes to put things back together for an on-time departure. That said, there will be lines, especially in certain places. If the ship is docked near town, you'll be able to see that the line is huge (or not) and will be able to decide how much longer you think you can wait. No, they aren't going to leave people in line. But if you gambled by waiting until sailing time, and there wasn't a line, YOU LOSE.

[northwoods2]

We were on RCCL a couple years ago and the departure time had come and we were still tied up to the pier. They waited about 30 minutes and then started releasing the ropes. No one had boarded in the time since the original departure time. We started pulling away from the pier and a car came speeding down the pier. The ship pulled back to the pier to let this family of 4 on the ship.

 

Note: this was in Italy so I don't know if there are different rules on docking.

 

The point of this story: They aren't going to leave you on the pier. But you may get some dirty looks if you are boarding after the posted all-aboard time.

 

And as stated above if you are on a ship organized excursion that is late there is no problems. The ship waits.

[quickfingers]

When we were on Princess last year, we had an individual card for each of our family members. When we left the ship, they scanned the cards. When we got back on the ship, they scanned the cards. They knew everyone that had left the ship that day and everyone that had came back. They kept very good inventory on who left and who came back. I am sure that if there was a discrepancy they would have held the ship up, for a while.

[momthecruisedirector]

In Mazatlan we watched a boat racing towards the ship, the ship slowed to a stop while they assisted the two passengers climb a rope type ladder to board the ship. There have been many stories of people missing the ship because they either didn't remember that ship time isn't always shore time or they had a bit too much to drink and lost track of time. We always try to get back an hour before departure time to play it safe - what if the taxi had a flat tire...... If you are on a ship excursion they will hold the ship for you.

[Budget Queen]

You will need to be on board 30 minutes before the stated departure time.

[gprentice]

We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise a few years ago when my wife held up the ship for about half an hour.

 

When you scan your card going off the ship, they have an inventory of of who's off and who's on.

 

I noticed coming back on - at one of the port visits that my wife didn't insert her card all the way into the machine and there wasn't a 'bleep' sound.

She didn't seem to notice and the crew member present was busy talking to someone at the time - I noticed - but just continued on.

 

That night at dinner my wife made a comment that we hadn't left the port at the proper time yet. Just after her comment, a bunch of crew security member came looking for her. When they realized that she was actually on the ship and not still 'shopping' at port, the ship sailed.

 

She was responsible for holding up 5000 people (unknowingly) - we gave her a hard time and laughed.

 

Graham