Should I be concerned about missing an excursion's departure time?

[someoneinpnw]

Cruising for the first time next month. Alaska on the Norwegian Jewel. The itinerary says arrival time of 7:00 AM in Skagway, AK and a note also says will not get off the ship until 2 hours after docking. I was concerned that I will miss an excursion's departure time of 7:30 AM. (I booked this excursion with an locally owned charter, not via the cruise line).

 

I called the cruise line and was told that I won't get off the ship until 8:00 AM at the earliest. Then I called the aforementioned charter up in Skagway, AK and was told that the Norwegian Jewel always arrives between 4 to 5 AM and per the longshoremen's union contract, the gangway has to be put down by 7:00 AM. And even if I miss the 7:30, the charter will put me on the next one, which is 8:30 AM.

 

I am all confused. Obviously someone is not giving me accurate info here. Should I be worried? Especially I would like to hear from someone whose cruise stopped in Skagway, AK.

 

thanks

[Keith1010]

If the charter company is reputable then my guess is they know more about NCL then the person in reservations who probably doesn't know.

 

You may want to post on the Alaska Ports Of Call Board to see if others have used this charter company before.

 

Keith

[sail7seas]

I agree that if this is a reputable, dependable company with which you booked, they know the rules, arrival times, departure times etc probably better than we do and they will take care of you.

 

If you are uneasy, perhaps you should cancel them and go with a ship's excursion. You know you will be taken care of by them.

 

[cb at sea]

They will wait for you....you should be off the ship very close to the posted time on your itinerary. No worries. We've NEVER had a 2 hour wait past the posted time...ever.

[njhorseman]

The two hour reference is for disembarkation day at the end of your cruise (and is even overstated for that purpose). It doesn't mean it will take two hours for disembarkation to start in a port of call...that normally occurs a half hour or less after the ship docks.

[bbwex]

As others have said, the tour operators know the ships and their itineraries better than the cruise lines. They work around the ship's arrival times day in and day out. In one case, I had to get to Skagway from Haines on the first ferry in the morning. I had this whole deal worked out where I would ask them when I got aboard the ship what exact time we would get to Haines, etc. Then someone suggested that I call the ferry. The people at the ferry office told me that a) their dock was just across the dock from the ship, and b) that the ship had already reserved half the spaces on the ferry, so obviously we were going to be there in time!

[Putterdude]

I wouldn't worry about it, we book independent tours all the time, if you are not off the ship on time .... no one else will be either.

[someoneinpnw]

Thank you very much for all your replies. You guys are great. This board is great. Though this booking is not via Norwegian cruise line but this tour charter has excellent review from people on this board.

 

I am not worried now.

[fleckle]

The problem occurs when everyone else is off the ship, assembled at the meeting place ready to go on the excursion, and a few people are still missing.

 

That puts the tour operator in the awkward position of needing to decide whether to start the tour without the missing people and risk angering them, or to wait longer for them and risk angering those who are there and ready to go.

 

Communication is important if you are delayed once the ship arrives so they don't think that you are a no show.

 

If the ship is late arriving, they can see that for themselves.

But once the ship is there and other passengers are already off, they don't know whether or not you are really coming unless you show up or call them.

 

That is why it is helpful to take a cell phone along at the Alaska ports and call the excursion vendor if you should be delayed getting off the ship. They appreciate it when you let them know whether or not you are really coming.

 

 

A compromise that some vendors use is to start the tour with those who are already there, and send another driver to pick up the latecomers and deliver them to meet up with the tour at another point along the way.