miss the ship -what you do?

[carlp]

I got a fantastic deal on some shore excursions in Grand Cayman, by booking on our own rather that with the ship. Now one of my wife's sisters is telling her horror stories about people missing the ship afterward. she wants us to cancel and book with the ship.

anyone actually miss the ship, and what did you do?

[Colo Cruiser]

I got a fantastic deal on some shore excursions in Grand Cayman, by booking on our own rather that with the ship. Now one of my wife's sisters is telling her horror stories about people missing the ship afterward. she wants us to cancel and book with the ship. anyone actually miss the ship, and what did you do?

 

Security and Customer Service manager will collect your ID/passport etc from your cabin and give them to the port agent who will assist you in making transportation arrangements to the next port.

We use private tour guides all the time, best to be back onbaord at least 1 hour before sailing.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[CruiserBruce]

If you do a search on Cruise Critic, you will see MANY threads on this topic.

 

First, if you are on an independent tour, you are responsible to get yourself home, or to the next port.

 

Second, a look on YouTube will see several videos showing people running for the ship as it sails away, so it definitely happens. But, in your searching of the Cruise Critic boards, you will find very little evidence this has happened on a private tour. Instead, you will find alcoholic beverages are probably the most common denominator. And people just wandering on their own. Not on private tours.

 

Third, a private tour vendor realizes their business depends on having people back at the ship on time. Some vendors even promise to pay for your expenses to catch up with the ship if they cause you to miss the ship.

 

Lastly, VERY few people who have actually missed their ship come on here to discuss it. Not sure why??? ;)

Edited January 27, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[Kinkacruiser]

Contact the ship's agent for the port you are in. The phone number will be on the Patter. It's always a good idea to take a copy of it before you head ashore.

 

Traffic congestion delays can and do happen and I've heard of many passengers choosing Princess tours for this very reason. Do whatever will cause you less stress.

[Kingofcool1947]

I got a fantastic deal on some shore excursions in Grand Cayman, by booking on our own rather that with the ship. Now one of my wife's sisters is telling her horror stories about people missing the ship afterward. she wants us to cancel and book with the ship.

anyone actually miss the ship, and what did you do?

 

Are you a risk taker?

Do you want to save a few dollars?

Do you feel lucky? Well, do you? :D

Then go ahead and book your own excursions once on the pier.

Now, if your transportation breaks down, and you can't get back to your ship before all aboard time.......then you're SOL. You can find away on your own to meet the ship at next port of call.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

Just make sure your independent tour guide/driver gets you back to the ship,at least I hour before the final all aboard time.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Kingofcool1947

[AKman2495]

I tend to agree with cruiser Bruce. Yes, people do miss their ships but alcohol seems to be involved a lot.

 

Private tours would not stay in business very long if people kept missing ships.

 

That said, you must be careful in booking a private tour. Do not push the envelope. If the ship sails at 4:00 I would hesitate to book an independent tour that gets you back at 3:30-or even 3:00.

 

Finally, do an online search for reviews on the particular tours you are looking at. see what they say and choose accordingly.

[Loonbeam]

As noted, it happens. Also as noted, most reputable tour providers will make sure it doesn't happen. We had another group use the same company as us and their van broke down on the way back. The driver immediately called for taxis to get them back to the ship.

 

In the VERY rare event it does, as noted, you will need to arrange to meet the ship at the next port (or go home).

 

Other than where required, or in less traveled ports, I haven't used a ship's tour in ages and don't plan to.

[JimmyVWine]

Third, a private tour vendor realizes their business depends on having people back at the ship on time. Some vendors even promise to pay for your expenses to catch up with the ship if they cause you to miss the ship.

 

This. First, "independent" tour operators are often the very same companies that conduct the ship's excursions. It's not as if Princess uses its own staff to take passengers on zip lining tours and the like. They contract out with third parties. If you do enough research, you can often times figure out exactly which company(ies) Princess uses based on written descriptions of the activity or photos used in promotional materials. The upshot of this is that "independent" is not a synonym for "unreliable" or "fly by night". But you have to do your homework, consult the Ports of Call Boards here, consult Trip Advisor and whatever other trusted resources you can find.

 

Second, the independent tour operators are well aware of the fact that they are dealing with nervous, risk adverse cruise ship passengers whose primary concern is timing. So they make sure that they account for that. Their business model depends on essentially an unblemished record in this regard. Can problems arise? Sure. But it certainly is not a recurring theme. All but one of my port excursions have been "independent" and we have never been close to getting back to the ship late. Have I seen people running/stumbling to the ship as the lines were being released? Yes. But in every instance, all appearances were that the late passengers had taken an "independent" excursion to Senor Frogs or the Hard Rock Cafe. :eek:

[davekathy]

Things do go wrong so what I use to do when we did our own thing I would see what the Cruise line timelines were for a similar excursion and use that for our guidelines. Never hurts to be back early. Other than that I guess watching the ship leave you in port would make for a really interesting Kodak moment.

[caribill]

Don't worry.

 

If you are with a reliable vendor, you will be back at the ship in plenty of time.

[baggal]

Don't worry.

 

If you are with a reliable vendor, you will be back at the ship in plenty of time.

 

Maybe not "in plenty of time" but in enough time to make the ship. Still keep an eye on the time and encourage your tour guide to get back to the ship in a timely manner.

[jak378]

If you do a search on Cruise Critic, you will see MANY threads on this topic.

 

First, if you are on an independent tour, you are responsible to get yourself home, or to the next port.

 

Second, a look on YouTube will see several videos showing people running for the ship as it sails away, so it definitely happens. But, in your searching of the Cruise Critic boards, you will find very little evidence this has happened on a private tour. Instead, you will find alcoholic beverages are probably the most common denominator. And people just wandering on their own. Not on private tours.

 

Third, a private tour vendor realizes their business depends on having people back at the ship on time. Some vendors even promise to pay for your expenses to catch up with the ship if they cause you to miss the ship.

 

Lastly, VERY few people who have actually missed their ship come on here to discuss it. Not sure why??? ;)

 

I would add that depending on the line to retrieve your passport and get it to the port agent is at best iffy. You will find it very difficult to get transportation from Grand Cayman or any where else outside the US without it. I would never leave the ship in a foreign country without my passport.

[SingerEsq]

We have used private excursions (and ship excursions) many times and have never had a problem. As others have said, check them out thoroughly on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor, and you should be fine if they are reputable.

 

The only time we were even close to being late was .... well, when I was the private guide! :eek: On our first cruise to Hawaii, I wanted the husband and our friend to see as much of the islands as possible. We squeezed every minute out of every port and were literally the last passengers to board in Hilo and Honolulu! But also on time and never after the ship's warning horn blew. :D

 

(Last week in Ensenada, the captain blew several "warnings" from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. Last party rolled up at 4:50 and everyone on port side started cheering as they walked up to the ship. :cool:)

 

But, I have always taken with me the Patter or shore guide with the Port Agent's information just to be safe! Very important. They are your communication to the ship if you ever have an emergency on shore.

Edited January 27, 2015 by SingerEsq
Additional comment.

[OCruisers]

Contact the ship's agent for the port you are in. The phone number will be on the Patter. It's always a good idea to take a copy of it before you head ashore.

Traffic congestion delays can and do happen and I've heard of many passengers choosing Princess tours for this very reason. Do whatever will cause you less stress.

 

Per Above: Do be sure to have the ship's agent contact information with you!

LuLu

[paul929207]

I would add that depending on the line to retrieve your passport and get it to the port agent is at best iffy. You will find it very difficult to get transportation from Grand Cayman or any where else outside the US without it. I would never leave the ship in a foreign country without my passport.

Princess will send someone to your cabin to get the passport(s) from the safe if you will be missing. These documents are given to the ship's agent in port. They will give it to you

[Nebr.cruiser]

You've had a lot of good suggestions. We almost always do private tours and have never come close to missing the ship-we use common sense on booking tours that give a decent leeway for getting back; at least one hour ahead of sailing is my preference.

 

People do miss the ship, but it is extremely rare and often involves alcohol or human error on the part of the passenger (like not realizing the time.) Private excursions do not want to get a bad reputation by having customers miss their ship!

[Colo Cruiser]

I would add that depending on the line to retrieve your passport and get it to the port agent is at best iffy. You will find it very difficult to get transportation from Grand Cayman or any where else outside the US without it. I would never leave the ship in a foreign country without my passport.

 

 

For any established cruise line it is not iffy at all. Its protocal to retrieve the passport/and or ID's from the passengers stateroom (if they are there) and hand them over to the port agent who is always onboard off and on throughout the ships visit then on the pier for departure.

[toberman]

People do miss the ship, but it is extremely rare and often involves alcohol or human error on the part of the passenger (like not realizing the time.)

 

Which brings up another point... Make sure you're on 'Ship Time', not 'Island Time' - they can be different. Not normally... but ??

[Working 2 Cruise]

Another point is the OP mentioned booking several excursions in one port, Grand Cayman... that's a bad idea. Book one that will get you back to the ship on time. Often, people try to do too much in one day...

 

Missing the ship isn't worth it. Think of all the costs involved (at your own expense).

[COMBOY]

Let get something straight. Whether you book a tour independently or through the ship there can be no guarantee you can make the ship nor will the ship wait for passengers. This is all marketing hype by the cruise lines to book their tours. Of course missing the ship this is a rare situation and 99.9% of all tours arrive back on time. If you use a reputably tour company they shall insure you are back to the ship about an hour before departure. You just need to confirmed. There have been rare cases where a ship's tours got stuck in a traffic accident and the ship couldn't stay in port due to operational issue. The tour operator and ship's staff coordinated those passenger to meet up with the ship at the next port. But the vast reason most people miss the ship is either they didn't note the time to be back on board and/or alcohol was involve. If you miss the ship the port agent along with the ship's crew will fly you on down to the next port (at your own cost). If you don't have your passport then security will need to into your safe and courier your passport to you from the next port or you can go the US embassy and get a replacement (at your own cost). Missing the ship can be a costly, time consuming issue and ruin your vacation. Don't do it.

[shepp]

I always say that cruisers - much as I love all you guys - are as a group some of the most risk-averse travelers in the world. Yeah, I've been through all sorts of travel scrpaes - trapped by riots in India, stolen passport in Thailand - and survived. In 200 days of cruising, I've booked precisely three ship's tours, never missed boarding a ship before it raised the gangway. Could it happen someday? Well, yeah. I never expected to be trapped by rioters in Delhi, either.

 

On my upcoming Sea of Cortez tour, I've booked a tour with an operator highly rated on Trip Advisor for $65. Princess is selling the same thing, only a half-hour shorter, for 120. There are, indeed, times when you really pay for the assurance the ship will wait. To some of us, well worth it. To others, not. You'll have to decide which camp you fall into.

[cr8tiv1]

I did an independent tour in Panama. It turned out that several roll call members decided to join me so we had about 20 people. That was fun....we drove from the Pacific side to the Caribbean side. Nervous Nellie (me) exchanged several emails with the tour operator (who had very good reviews). I made sure that the drive knew I wanted the group back an hour before the last tender. Then we hit traffic. I could see that the driver was concentrating as hard as he could to find any escape route. The guide tried to keep us focus on something other than the time. We did make it back a half hour before the last tender but it sure was not reassuring to see them starting to take the trash cans on board along with all the other equipment set up for the tender port.

 

My one back up plan was to hop on the ship as she traveled through the canal the next day. Glad we didn't have to do that.

[Cruiselover1951]

As outlined in another post, insiders, including former cruise line staff, know that the ship will not leave behind paxes on an organized tour of any kind. First, as mentioned in multiple posts here, the private tour companies leave plenty of buffer time, secondly, if some unforeseen event (weather, traffic), it is highly likely Princess's own tours will be delayed, thirdly, Having been on multiple cruises, and have the ship wait for multiple delayed Princess tours, I never while waiting for the busses (up to an hour) have seen a private bus come in or any pax board, again, because the privates are unlikely to cut it as close as Princess's own tours.

 

One time my wife and I had been on a tour, arriving back to the ship 60 minutes before departure, she wanted to get back to the cabin, I wanted to hang around the market steps away the gangway, going back to the ship 5 minutes before the official deadline. My wife said, that passenger service called her every 5 minutes the last 30 minutes to ask whether I was back, whether she knew where I was etc., in other words, if they sail away without a px, it seems like a) they know that they are doing it and b) the do permit some leeway if you cut it close. I strongly believe, that when the ship leaves on time, all paxes are present and accounted for, and when paxes are left behind, it is after valiant efforts and some extra time to try and find out where the pax is and when he/she can be expected back. Only when all leads run dry, and the ship is coming up on a major delay, do they leave. Never seen it happen after many cruises, though I have seen people run to the gangway after the scheduled departure time.

 

Bottom line, making private arrangements, renting cars and driving off on your own is safe and done by many, barring any statistically highly unlikely event, with my guess the likelihood is no greater than the likelihood for a heart attack on the ship from overeating!!

[Nebr.cruiser]

Which brings up another point... Make sure you're on 'Ship Time', not 'Island Time' - they can be different. Not normally... but ??

 

Exactly. It is confusing when the ship and island time are different.

[Hlitner]

Geez, we see all the fear mongering posts about doing your own thing and it makes both DW and I smile. We have been cruising for about forty years, spent about 4 years on cruises to 6 continents and way more then 100 ports. In nearly all those ports we have gone off and done our own thing, sometimes going 100 miles from the port. Although we have never missed the ship, we do often have our "Plan B" which is what we would do if we did fail to get back to the ship on time.

 

On Grand Cayman we would not even give a 2nd thought to doing our own thing and in fact, that is what we have done on our many visits. But our advice to anyone who is going to fret about missing the ship....is to simply book cruise line excursions.

 

Hank