Late To the Ship? Does Carnival Wait on You?

[cruisin2015]

Have you ever missed the cruise ship or seen someone else that did? Will Carnival wait on you before they leave you, or does the ship leave right on time no matter who is back onboard.

 

I was watching some pier runner videos on YouTube and in some cases the people don't make it make onboard because the ship started to depart. If you have ever been a pier runner how did it feel and if you missed the ship how did you feel?

[thecruiserofships]

Have you ever missed the cruise ship or seen someone else that did? Will Carnival wait on you before they leave you, or does the ship leave right on time no matter who is back onboard.

 

I was watching some pier runner videos on YouTube and in some cases the people don't make it make onboard because the ship started to depart. If you have ever been a pier runner how did it feel and if you missed the ship how did you feel?

 

Carnival will usually sooner wait for people delayed because of a ship sponsored shore excursion. Otherwise, the ship may wait a little, but probably not long. It is the Captain or Officer's decision, and could depend on the ship's schedule.

 

On my 2013 Carnival Triumph cruise hundreds of people were late getting back on the ship. The designated back onboard time was 3:30PM, with a 4:00PM departure. However, due to the number of late passengers waiting the ship didn’t sail until past 4:30PM. I took some pictures of the number of late passengers. I posted these pictures a while back on my blog on a post I made about if the ship will wait for you.

The pictures of the large number of late passengers can be found here: http://www.embarkandaway.com/general-cruise-blog/will-the-cruise-ship-wait-on-you

 

 

On Alaska cruises the chances of the ship waiting appeared to be much slimmer (just an observation) . On my Miracle cruise the gangway was disassembled on-time and I saw some late passengers get turned away.

To Everyone: Just Be On-Time If You Can!

Edited March 29, 2015 by thecruiserofships
Added Information

[poison7fl]

Uh, no... They will not wait...UNLESS, you are on a Ship's excursion. They will not make thousands of folks wait for a few. Waiting also costs them alot of money.

[Eng23]

If you are on a ship sponsored excursion that is delayed they will wait. If you go out on your own and are not back in time you will be waving good bye to the ship as it will not wait on you.

[cruisin2015]

Thank you to all for the responses. I will be extra sure to get back on-time.

[Sooner-Cruisers]

Here's a really interesting read on missing the ship:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

[thecruiserofships]

Here's a really interesting read on missing the ship:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

 

That was a very interesting story. I felt like I was right along with the person that missed the ship.

 

Thank you so much for sharing!

[amber381]

Here's a really interesting read on missing the ship:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

 

That almost gave me an anxiety attack!

[lady_cruiser]

On our last Carnival cruise, in our last port-of-call, they started paging for 6 individuals. We decided to go down to the open deck and see if any one made it back on time. It was 20 or so minutes before we saw a van speeding up to the ship and 3 people came bouncing out. We all gave them a rounding applause for making it back to the ship before it left the port.

 

At dinner that night our servers told us that the other 3 never made it back to the ship. Never found out what happened but still felt sorry for them since we were at a new port where no one (but one guy we found in a coffee shop) spoke English. Not even the police officers. And what I found bad was that we had another three days at sea before we made it back to Galveston.

[deladane]

On my cruise last week, at St. Maarten which was our last port, they waited for 3 people. They started paging them at 5pm at sailaway time, and within 10 minutes, all 3 people made it back to the ship. I read that post from the guy who got left behind on his cruise before I left for my cruise and that scared me enough to make sure I got back to the ship an hour or two before sail away time whenever possible haha

[getupgo]

The guy was not on any excursion. So not booking with the ship excursion was not an issue. Any online vendor will get you back to the ship on time. That is their #1 priority.

[lizardhowson]

Watching the "dock runners" at departure time is interesting (putting it nicely since some are intoxicated - precisely why they are late)

[IndyDenise]

During my cruise ( two weeks ) ago three men were allowed to board via boat as we were leaving Grand Cayman. We weren't moving fast but that had to as scary as missing the ship in the first place.

 

When we were leaving Cozumel we also stopped in the water. This was a complete stop after we had been moving for about a half hour. Rumors ( never saw it so I can't confirm) that a family of 5 were brought onboard. Carnival WAS paging this family before we left.

[IPlayWithString]

The only time I've ever seen the ship wait was on our first cruise. We were in Nassau and a mom was standing near the exit, screaming and having a massive meltdown. She'd let her 16 yr old daughter and her daughter's friends go to the beach alone and they hadn't made it back yet when it was time for departure. They showed up maybe 20 minutes later and Mom gave them all the smackdown.

[cruisecraze96]

In February both our ship the Breeze and another Carnival ship both waited in Nassau, they were paging a party of 6 and just after 4 a golf cart shows up with them, the other ship across from us was still waiting when we left and we were already pulled away when we say another golf cart show up with theirs.

[aquarianne11]

Here's a really interesting read on missing the ship:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

 

Wow! Scary story, it so not fun to be left behind by the ship :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[OCruisers]

If you are on an excursion thru the ship and walk back directly with others from the excursion, the ship will wait. No worries! :)

 

LuLu

[arpie05]

I don't recall the details but two years ago parents left their little kids onboard w paid sitter or in Camp Carnival. The parents didn't make it back. Fell asleep at the beach. I think it was a couple days before they reboarded. They had to be charged for someone to look after the little kids. I got to know the staff that sailing because my next door cabinmate and his exwife was down the hall caused quite a scene all week.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[cruiser fanatic]

Nobody was left behind on the Freedom a few weeks ago per the CD Jen. The ship will ONLY wait if you are on a ship sponsored excursion.

[mitsugirly]

I have to say that out of all the cruises I have been on (with NCL) every single cruise, with the exception of 1, has made pages for missing passengers and waited on them way past the pull out time. They say it's the Captains call so I guess NCL must be a little more lenient with the passengers? I have watched quite a few pier runners on every cruise. :p I would NEVER take the chance and I always make sure we are back way before we are told to be back. That's just too darn scary.

[jsglow]

Watching dock runners is one of my favorite late afternoon pastimes.

 

Don't miss the ship. The time to be back on board is no late than the time they tell you. We did have a ship held about 10 minutes in St. Maarten because there was a toddler involved.

 

I've heard that there can be huge port financial penalties if they stay past the appointed time.

[katiedidthat]

If it's a line-sponsored excursion they have to wait, but not for people who go off on their own. On our last cruise, we stopped at Canaveral and had booked the Disney excursion through Carnival. We were back on the bus in plenty of time but one guy with another group was running really late. The tour guide told his party he had 5 minutes to be on the bus or we were leaving without him. He caught the bus exactly 1/2 an hour late, putting us 1/2 hour off schedule. We pulled back into the terminal and my family was the last passengers off the bus (had a toddler and a stroller that the bus driver was in no hurry to unload). I have never seen the port staff and carnival staff in such a hurry. They literally folded up the gangway as we crossed it and were sailing away before we'd even made it to the elevators. That cemented my choice to NEVER chance being late to the ship on our own.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Have you ever missed the cruise ship or seen someone else that did? Will Carnival wait on you before they leave you, or does the ship leave right on time no matter who is back onboard.

 

I was watching some pier runner videos on YouTube and in some cases the people don't make it make onboard because the ship started to depart. If you have ever been a pier runner how did it feel and if you missed the ship how did you feel?

 

Like others have said, if you book an excursion through them they have to wait for you in the event the tour is late getting back for any reason. If you go out on your own and don't get back on time you're SOL. They make it very clear that you have to be back onboard by a certain time and to keep your watch on ship time so you don't get confused with local time and miss the ship. Golden rule is be back a half hour before sail time and you'll be fine. They will make announcements for anyone whose s/s card wasn't scanned back onboard until sail time and if they see people running as they get ready to close the door they will let them on. But don't expect them to wait if youre hanging out in port too long.

 

There are exceptions, like my breeze cruise from Miami last fall where there was a major ATC meltdown the day before and many, many people arrived late because their flights were delayed or cancelled. People were still checking in at 5 or 530 pm and they held the departure for a while when normal check-in closes at 330 but that doesn't happen often.

 

Bottom line, be onboard when they say to be onboard and dont expect them to wait for you if you're not onboard and they're ready to go. They have a schedule to keep and it's not fair to everyone else who was back ontime to have to wait on a few who couldn't be.

[mitsugirly]

Like others have said, if you book an excursion through them they have to wait for you in the event the tour is late getting back for any reason.

 

If it's a line-sponsored excursion they have to wait,

 

 

Are you guys sure about this? It has been reported several times on these boards that they don't "actually" have to wait, but most do because of it being a ship sponsored tour. It's completely at the discretion of the Captain because if they are waiting, they are incurring more port charges that come out of the companies pocket. My TA also told me that they are not required to wait. There's just multiple cases of this being stated although I can say that I normally see them wait for ship sponsored tours and that has been my experience when cruising and a van of people are pulling up late. But I guess in reality, they don't "have" to wait. :(

[chengkp75]

Are you guys sure about this? It has been reported several times on these boards that they don't "actually" have to wait, but most do because of it being a ship sponsored tour. It's completely at the discretion of the Captain because if they are waiting, they are incurring more port charges that come out of the companies pocket. My TA also told me that they are not required to wait. There's just multiple cases of this being stated although I can say that I normally see them wait for ship sponsored tours and that has been my experience when cruising and a van of people are pulling up late. But I guess in reality, they don't "have" to wait. :(

 

No, the ship does not "have" to wait for a ship sponsored excursion. If the ship sponsored excursion misses the ship, the company is liable for the transportation cost to next port, so they will try to stay long enough to let everyone get back, but it is not a guarantee.

 

Many things will affect the Captain's decision to wait or leave, most importantly being the arrival time at next port, then fuel cost for increased speed due to delay, then weather conditions, and sometimes things like a port being "day light only" meaning large ships are not allowed to leave or arrive in the dark (lack of lighted navigation aids, for instance).

 

If you miss the ship on a ship tour, the company pays. If you miss the ship on a private tour, you pay. Just like missing the ship at embarkation (and they won't always wait for people on cruise line booked air, either), if the cruise line arranged travel, they pay, if you arranged, you pay.