Family left behind

[njkruzer]

Many years ago we had port call in San Juan. We pulled out mid afternoon and then stopped and we're told we were waiting for some passengers who missed the ship. Of course we all rushed to watch who it was. 2 15 yo teens! The pilot boat brought them out. Figured that after the parents hugged them, they gave them a piece of their minds, of course don't know why they were on shore by themselves.

[Mom.to.2]

Many years ago we had port call in San Juan. We pulled out mid afternoon and then stopped and we're told we were waiting for some passengers who missed the ship. Of course we all rushed to watch who it was. 2 15 yo teens! The pilot boat brought them out. Figured that after the parents hugged them, they gave them a piece of their minds, of course don't know why they were on shore by themselves.

 

 

 

Wow! I'm surprised they didn't kick a parent off the ship (to take charge of the missing 15 year olds) before setting off on-time.

[Lynn1179]

Wish we could do that here in the UK. I'm very nervous of carrying passports, especially for beach days. We have paper copies and photos on the phone but I'm not sure that this would help in the event of REALLY needing your passport.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I have read that the copy is definitely helpful in lieu of your actual passport

[Turtle05]

Wow! I'm surprised they didn't kick a parent off the ship (to take charge of the missing 15 year olds) before setting off on-time.

 

I'm more surprised the parents didn't remove themselves from the ship.

[riclop]

We just got off the Indy today...had a great time. When we were in Jamaica there was a family that missed the ship by 5 minutes. We are just curious what happens when you are left behind? Does RCI assist with flights, passports, hotel etc? It didn't seem as though they were on an excursion because the ship did wait for a lot of late runners that were on organized excursions. They were in wet bathing suits and just stood there as the ship was sailing away. We felt so bad for them.

They are on there own and i am sure it will not happen ever again.

[Expat Cruise]

In these cases of Children left on the ship, children left in port I'm sure the reason Royal has done this on a limited basis is liability. Royal does not want to be responsible Children left on the ship. And the PR nightmare if anything happen to child passengers left behind by the big bad uncaring cruise company would be major.

 

Not to also forget about the lawsuits that could be filed. Leave a 25 year old behind and they end up dead, would not even make the major news outlets. Leave a teenager behind and have a problem..... can anyone say Natalee Holloway? It would be the lead story across every news cast.

[chengkp75]

If that happens, getting wet will be the least of their problems.

 

By getting wet, I mean they will be wet from falling in the ocean.

[JaniceB]

I did this same thing for this same reason!

 

Doesn't it say only for travel via auto. How would this help if you had to fly home. Is this something different than what I saw?

 

Love the idea of taking a photo with the port information. I think we should get a card with the info when disembarking.

[marci22]

In these cases of Children left on the ship, children left in port I'm sure the reason Royal has done this on a limited basis is liability. Royal does not want to be responsible Children left on the ship. And the PR nightmare if anything happen to child passengers left behind by the big bad uncaring cruise company would be major.

 

Not to also forget about the lawsuits that could be filed. Leave a 25 year old behind and they end up dead, would not even make the major news outlets. Leave a teenager behind and have a problem..... can anyone say Natalee Holloway? It would be the lead story across every news cast.

 

On one of our sailings we waited for a late person and they came running up just as the ship had started pulling away. It was a young man and he started jumping up and down, he was so upset. The ship actually pulled back and let him on. We heard later it was a teenager.

[Capt_BJ]

An oldie but a goodie I've posted b4

 

Sea Story follows:

 

Dateline...hmmm 1987....

 

I was Operations Officer on a Coast Guard Cutter working the Caribbean and we were making an R&R stop in Cozumel. Typically, we (@ 210 foot length) were slid into a place on the pier between the revenue producting cruise ships.

 

About 6pm I was on on board and after speaking to the gangway watch, I went to the bridge to watch one of the adjacent cruse ships leave.

 

The cruise ship cleared the pier and headed away when I looked down from the bridge wing to see a lady with a shopping bags in either hand running down the pier. She got adjacent to 'my' ship, stopped, dropped the bags & stared at the empty pier the cruise ship had just left.

 

I called down, "Is there a problem?"

 

"My kids and husband are on that boat." It was now just a few hundred yards away from the pier.

 

"Wait there."

 

I picked up the bridge to bridge radio, "I have one of your passengers."

 

They couldn't come back to pick her up, but.....

 

I rounded up a boat crew, gave her a life jacket and launched our fast rescue boat. The cruise ship lowered the same ladder they use for the pilot and the wayward shopper and mother was rejoined with her family.

 

Somewhere there's a lady with a very special cruise story....my guys felt it was a great change to a boring duty day!

[Clarea]

Great story Captain.:)

[Expat Cruise]

An oldie but a goodie I've posted b4

 

Sea Story follows:

 

Dateline...hmmm 1987....

 

I was Operations Officer on a Coast Guard Cutter working the Caribbean and we were making an R&R stop in Cozumel. Typically, we (@ 210 foot length) were slid into a place on the pier between the revenue producting cruise ships.

 

About 6pm I was on on board and after speaking to the gangway watch, I went to the bridge to watch one of the adjacent cruse ships leave.

 

The cruise ship cleared the pier and headed away when I looked down from the bridge wing to see a lady with a shopping bags in either hand running down the pier. She got adjacent to 'my' ship, stopped, dropped the bags & stared at the empty pier the cruise ship had just left.

 

I called down, "Is there a problem?"

 

"My kids and husband are on that boat." It was now just a few hundred yards away from the pier.

 

"Wait there."

 

I picked up the bridge to bridge radio, "I have one of your passengers."

 

They couldn't come back to pick her up, but.....

 

I rounded up a boat crew, gave her a life jacket and launched our fast rescue boat. The cruise ship lowered the same ladder they use for the pilot and the wayward shopper and mother was rejoined with her family.

 

Somewhere there's a lady with a very special cruise story....my guys felt it was a great change to a boring duty day!

 

Great story.... Having always owned boats all my life, I learned one thing at a very early age. When the USCG says something to a Captain it is like God talking to you.... No one in their right mind would ever question the Coast Guard. They are the best friend of any boater be it a 15' sailboat or the largest cruise ship in the world. When everyone else is running to port it is the Coast Guard charging out to rescue the boats that did not listen or got caught.

[Don Pedro]

I believe the closest Consulate to Cozumel is in Playa del Carmen, on the mainland.

 

http://merida.usconsulate.gov/service.html

 

That is correct! There was a consulate office in Cozumel for many years but at present it is closed.

[constable145]

One of my favourite things to do on YouTube is watch pier runners. Be on time. It is simple.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[knittinggirl]

By getting wet, I mean they will be wet from falling in the ocean.

That's what I thought you meant. Falling off the ship is Bad, Bad, Bad.

 

First there's damage from the fall itself. Then by the time the ship gets turned around, the person won't be where he/she fell off. The cruise ship chasing lawyer said that few ships have man overboard sensing cameras. I thought the Quantum ship bands would help w/ this, but I don't think they're linked into the overboard system. The ships have three days to find the people overboard, due to dehydration. If they were drunk when they fell, they have a head start on dehydration complications.

 

Just a lay person's take on getting wet w/ sea water.

[Capt_BJ]

Having always owned boats all my life, I learned one thing at a very early age. When the USCG says something to a Captain it is like God talking to you.... No one in their right mind would ever question the Coast Guard. They are the best friend of any boater be it a 15' sailboat or the largest cruise ship in the world. When everyone else is running to port it is the Coast Guard charging out to rescue the boats that did not listen or got caught.

I/we appreciate the thought. Realistically, I know there are some - even frequent writers here on CC - who probably do not see us in our 'white hat' mode of lifesavers. Rather these folks have seen us more in either our law enforcement mode or our regulatory mode and often these situations are not looked on as kindly . . .

 

A cruise delayed because a ship is having "difficulty" with their safety inspection .... a fisherman stopped for inspection at sea ... boater with some "cargo" he really shouldn't have .... all these tend to get a reaction a lil different from the face looking up at the helo about to lower a basket to one in trouble!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Capt_BJ

[chengkp75]

Having always owned boats all my life, I learned one thing at a very early age. When the USCG says something to a Captain it is like God talking to you.... No one in their right mind would ever question the Coast Guard. They are the best friend of any boater be it a 15' sailboat or the largest cruise ship in the world. When everyone else is running to port it is the Coast Guard charging out to rescue the boats that did not listen or got caught.

I/we appreciate the thought. Realistically, I know there are some - even frequent writers here on CC - who probably do not see us in our 'white hat' mode of lifesavers. Rather these folks have seen us more in either our law enforcement mode or our regulatory mode and often these situations are not looked on as kindly . . .

 

A cruise delayed because a ship is having "difficulty" with their safety inspection .... a fisherman stopped for inspection at sea ... boater with some "cargo" he really shouldn't have .... all these tend to get a reaction a lil different from the face looking up at the helo about to lower a basket to one in trouble!

 

And to my regret, I see the law enforcement and homeland security mission overtaking all other aspects of the USCG's mandate. That this is caused by a combination of budget and the current world political climate only makes me long for the "good old days". As always, this mariner looks kindly on the "puddle pirates" and their orange stripe. I salute the entire USCG for their service, but in particular send out my personal thanks to the cutter crews and the SAR boys in the air.

 

I'm sure there are a lot of Coasties who do not look fondly at the good old days when the cutters were on international ice patrol. :D

[Thoie]

Love the idea of taking a photo with the port information. I think we should get a card with the info when disembarking.

 

With so many people having smartphones these days, and storage being practically free, photograph everything you can think of on your phone :)

 

To be fair, iirc the cruise compass usually has the port agent info in a "cut out and keep" box. If you don't want to tear up your Compass for some reason, get a second (or 3rd!) copy from beside guest services before you go to bed, and mutilate those instead.

 

I use Google Keep to photograph anything and everything I need to note. Once you're on wifi/data it synchs across all devices - tablets, laptops, phones, but you don't need to be using data all the time.

 

You can also set reminders on notes as well if you want them to pop up at a certain time.

[Expat Cruise]

Having always owned boats all my life, I learned one thing at a very early age. When the USCG says something to a Captain it is like God talking to you.... No one in their right mind would ever question the Coast Guard. They are the best friend of any boater be it a 15' sailboat or the largest cruise ship in the world. When everyone else is running to port it is the Coast Guard charging out to rescue the boats that did not listen or got caught.

I/we appreciate the thought. Realistically, I know there are some - even frequent writers here on CC - who probably do not see us in our 'white hat' mode of lifesavers. Rather these folks have seen us more in either our law enforcement mode or our regulatory mode and often these situations are not looked on as kindly . . .

 

A cruise delayed because a ship is having "difficulty" with their safety inspection .... a fisherman stopped for inspection at sea ... boater with some "cargo" he really shouldn't have .... all these tend to get a reaction a lil different from the face looking up at the helo about to lower a basket to one in trouble!

 

I never have met a Coast Guard Member who wants to do anything but improve safety and protect people. Many who are not smart enough to know they need help. Safety Inspections: Protecting people Fisherman Stopped protect the resources of the sea, "Cargo" : again protecting the boaters and the public.

 

Nothing that you do is to hurt people, everything is to help people. And I see that you spent some time in the Bering Sea IN WINTER..... hats off for that alone. I was on a sports fishing boat near shore in July and it was not pleasure when the weather turned. Do not even want to think about it in the winter.

[Nado44]

We were on a private excursion in St Maarten a few years ago. While enroute back to the ship, the excursion van broke down. This fortunately happened in a populated area. We were able to easily flag down a taxi to return us to the ship and with several hours to spare.

 

Can imagine circumstances where folks miss the ship due to no fault of their own.

 

We always make sure we're back on the ship 2+ hours prior to departure. We also carry color photocopies of our passport - and write down pertinent information on the back. Taking a snapshot of the port information printed on the Compass is a great idea and one we will do for future cruises.

[knittinggirl]

We also carry color photocopies of our passport -

Photocopies don't run out of batteries!

 

Why do we need color photocopies? We always take black & white.

Edited March 28, 2016 by knittinggirl

[grand isle joe]

An oldie but a goodie I've posted b4

 

Sea Story follows:

 

Dateline...hmmm 1987....

 

I was Operations Officer on a Coast Guard Cutter working the Caribbean and we were making an R&R stop in Cozumel. Typically, we (@ 210 foot length) were slid into a place on the pier between the revenue producting cruise ships.

 

About 6pm I was on on board and after speaking to the gangway watch, I went to the bridge to watch one of the adjacent cruse ships leave.

 

The cruise ship cleared the pier and headed away when I looked down from the bridge wing to see a lady with a shopping bags in either hand running down the pier. She got adjacent to 'my' ship, stopped, dropped the bags & stared at the empty pier the cruise ship had just left.

 

I called down, "Is there a problem?"

 

"My kids and husband are on that boat." It was now just a few hundred yards away from the pier.

 

"Wait there."

 

I picked up the bridge to bridge radio, "I have one of your passengers."

 

They couldn't come back to pick her up, but.....

 

I rounded up a boat crew, gave her a life jacket and launched our fast rescue boat. The cruise ship lowered the same ladder they use for the pilot and the wayward shopper and mother was rejoined with her family.

 

Somewhere there's a lady with a very special cruise story....my guys felt it was a great change to a boring duty day!

Great story. Today? I would bet your liability dept. would give anyone a good scolding.

 

I hope the "bag lady" at least gave the crew a big fat tip for service.....rum isn't free ya' know......

I hope she a

[ksmcdonald]

Just off the Indy three weeks ago (spring breaker cruise). They set off 30 college kids for some reason. They looked terrified standing on dock with their luggage. I wonder if some were traveling with just birth certificates instead of passports. That could of been messy!

[awestover89]

They could always just swim after the ship :rolleyes: http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/28/woman-rescued-after-trying-to-swim-to-cruise-ship-that-left-without-her-5779956/

 

Disclaimer: Do not try to swim after your ship. Even if you managed to reach it without getting hypothermia or cramping up, I'd imagine the wake would push you down underwater.

[mollyeilis]

Funny that it only took an hour and a half to get a passport. Wonder how they verify who you are?

 

Some people here like to say that you will be trapped and spend days upon days trying to get a passport. No doubt it would have been easier to just book a flight and leave had he had a passport but definitely not the horror story some like to give when people ask if it is ok to travel without one. And I'm not dismissing how scary it must have been, only that it appears easier then some would like people to believe to obtain a passport in an emergency situation.

 

I have never once read anyone saying that. I have read replies like yours, where there is a perception that that is being said. But that doesn't mean it was said.

 

If I need to get home and it takes 1.5 hours to get a passport (and aren't you forgetting about some travel and overnight stuff, if I recall the story correctly from when I first read it?), that's 1.5 hours I'm not traveling. And it could mean more because I likely can't book that last minute travel without the passport info. Etc.