Has anyone ever missed their ship at a port?

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, ldubs said:

Percentage of passengers vs frequency of occurrence are not the same things.   This could happen at every single port and it would still be a very low percentage of the total passenger count.   Why care should be taken when "stats" are used.  

Agreed, you can get statistics to prove any point you wish really.

[jlp20]

We have taken the Mexican "Riviera" many times. One of our favorite sports was Mazatlan,  where we set up at the rail and watched drunks coming back. Seen captain ease ship close enough for pax to actually jump from pier to the ship, pax chase the ship by powerboat while still in channel to get back on and also never be seen again. 

[MicCanberra]

It happens, often the ship may know that someone isn't going make it back in time due to one reason or another.

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, ldubs said:

Percentage of passengers vs frequency of occurrence are not the same things.   This could happen at every single port and it would still be a very low percentage of the total passenger count.   Why care should be taken when "stats" are used.  

 

11 hours ago, JMorris271 said:

The question could be what is the ratio between ships with tardy passengers to the  total of  cruise ship departures.

LOL, I realized that this morning as I was waking up. So we would need to know on how many departures it happens and I'm not sure we could ever figure that out. We know that it doesn't happen on every sailing. I know that it hasn't happened on the 8 ships we've been on (about 25 ports or so). So I'll change my adjective from "rare" to "infrequent" (best word I can come up with this early in the morning).

[Heidi13]

On 12/15/2018 at 3:42 AM, sparks1093 said:

What percentage would you say missed the ship in a port? A couple of passengers out of thousands per month per ship? For a 2000 passenger vessel if 2 passengers missed the ship once every 4 weeks that's .00025 percent. That to me means rare.

The percentage of passengers missing the ship and the number of times a ship sails leaving pax ashore are separate metrics, in my opinion. I concur, leaving 1 or 2 from some of the mega ships is a very low percentage.

 

In my experience, the number of pax left ashore varies with demographics and region. I recall that we rarely completed a cruise without leaving somebody. In my opinion that isn't rare.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Especially when you consider why they stayed behind.

[sparks1093]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

The percentage of passengers missing the ship and the number of times a ship sails leaving pax ashore are separate metrics, in my opinion. I concur, leaving 1 or 2 from some of the mega ships is a very low percentage.

 

In my experience, the number of pax left ashore varies with demographics and region. I recall that we rarely completed a cruise without leaving somebody. In my opinion that isn't rare.

 

 

I already recognized my faux pas regarding how to look at the percentage of passengers. If your experience is someone missing the ship every cruise then of course that is telling.

[Heidi13]

On 12/16/2018 at 4:03 PM, sparks1093 said:

I already recognized my faux pas regarding how to look at the percentage of passengers. If your experience is someone missing the ship every cruise then of course that is telling.

Yes, apologies - noted your post reading through the rest of the thread after responding. Some cruise regions were on average about once per cruise. Some regions we had hardly any.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

Yes, apologies - noted your post reading through the rest of the thread after responding. Some cruise regions were on average about once per cruise. Some regions we had hardly any.

No worries. I would guess that the regions that featured Senor Frogs were probably on the more frequent side.

[navybankerteacher]

My 26 cruises have been on ships averaging perhaps 1,500 passengers.  I am aware of just three people (a couple on one cruise, and one person on another); so in my experience on just under 8% of my cruises have passengers missed sailing.  Estimating an average of 6 port calls per cruise, I would say passengers missed the ship at about 1% of my port calls. Finally, three passengers out of 39,000 sailed with produces a factor of about .007%

 

Statistics can be wiggled around a fair amount. 

[OCruisers]

On 12/14/2018 at 12:39 AM, ldubs said:

 

 

You enjoy seeing people miss the ship?   

NO!  No fun watching someone for one reason or another in an unfortunate situation. 

[ldubs]

42 minutes ago, OCruisers said:

NO!  No fun watching someone for one reason or another in an unfortunate situation. 

 

Thanks - I thought it was just me.   

[ldubs]

Gosh, people missing ships in Europe isn't that uncommon, and I only know about the ones I know about.  I suspect there are a lot more that I never hear about.  

[navybankerteacher]

12 hours ago, ldubs said:

...I only know about the ones I know about.  

...

 

I do not think any of us thought you might know about those about whom you do not know.

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

I do not think any of us thought you might know about those about whom you do not know.

 

Sometimes I know what I don't know.  Other times I don't know what I don't know.  The latter usually causes more problems.   

[angie7911922]

We rarely do excursions from any of the ships anymore. Most of ours are 3rd party. Just be smart, and make sure you have a watch with you so you can keep an eye on the time. Give yourself a little extra time to get back to the ship, and you should be just fine. We have never yet missed a ship!!!

[MicCanberra]

Good advice, that should keep anyone from missing a ship unless things are out of your control.

[gooch47]

On 12/18/2018 at 11:29 PM, OCruisers said:

NO!  No fun watching someone for one reason or another in an unfortunate situation. 

 

But sometimes they deserve it.  We took a tour once with a young couple who was so self centered they were late, sometimes by a long time, after each stop.  And sure enough, when it came time for the ship to leave that port we watched them from our balcony as they wandered up to the ship at least a half hour past when they were supposed to be back carrying a large number of shopping bags.  They were allowed to board.  The next day, the same thing.  Same couple, still holding up the ship.  They got a stern talking to from several ship's officers that day.

[Shmoo here]

9 minutes ago, gooch47 said:

 

But sometimes they deserve it.  We took a tour once with a young couple who was so self centered they were late, sometimes by a long time, after each stop.  And sure enough, when it came time for the ship to leave that port we watched them from our balcony as they wandered up to the ship at least a half hour past when they were supposed to be back carrying a large number of shopping bags.  They were allowed to board.  The next day, the same thing.  Same couple, still holding up the ship.  They got a stern talking to from several ship's officers that day.

We did a long cruise once and the first port of call there were 4 people (2 couples) who were late.  When they did show up (about 1/2 late) they just sauntered up to the ship to get on.

 

Later in the cruise, one of those couples were, again, not onboard at all aboard.  About 45 minutes late, a police truck came screaming up to the ship, and there they were.

 

I think they got away with it the second time because we had switched captains between the two stops.  I think the first captain wouldn't have been so generous about waiting the second time around.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Shmoo here

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, gooch47 said:

 

But sometimes they deserve it.  We took a tour once with a young couple who was so self centered they were late, sometimes by a long time, after each stop.  And sure enough, when it came time for the ship to leave that port we watched them from our balcony as they wandered up to the ship at least a half hour past when they were supposed to be back carrying a large number of shopping bags.  They were allowed to board.  The next day, the same thing.  Same couple, still holding up the ship.  They got a stern talking to from several ship's officers that day.

They would learn quick enough if they had actually got the Stern look, that is the one they have seeing the ship leaving without them and they can only see the Stern of the ship filled with people waving.

[gooch47]

7 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

They would learn quick enough if they had actually got the Stern look, that is the one they have seeing the ship leaving without them and they can only see the Stern of the ship filled with people waving.

LOL.  I really didn't use the word "stern" correctly, did I?

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, gooch47 said:

LOL.  I really didn't use the word "stern" correctly, did I?

Nevermind, they will get their karma in a big way one day.

[Hlitner]

Do many miss their ship?  No.  Do some miss their ship?  Yes.  We base this on first hand knowledge having spent well over 1000 days on cruise ships (as a passenger).  Why do folks miss their ship?  Lots of reasons ranging from forgetting to set their watch to the proper time, getting stuck in a traffic jam trying to get back to the port or port city, having an accident, etc.  Since we usually do our own thing in ports all over the world (we think that "tour" is a 4 letter word) we usually have a "Plan B" in case we would miss a ship.   In some places (especially within Europe) missing a ship may not be a big deal.  But if it happens on an island with limited transportation it can be a very big deal.  And if your ship is heading off to cross an Ocean it can be a huge mistake.  

 

Will Captain's wait?  This depends on many factors.  Most Captain's will wait when it is not too inconvenient.  But there are times where circumstances necessitate the ship leaving near the scheduled time.  There can be issues with tides. pilots, weather, and maintaining a schedule to get to the next port.  Also consider that delays in leaving a port generally means a ship must increase their speed to make the next port on time...and increasing speed means using more fuel which costs the cruise line more money.  We were actually on one Caribbean cruise (several decades ago) where a family was late returning to the ship at the first 3 ports.  When we got to port number 4 that family was removed from the ship (we do not know who paid their airfare home).  Granted it was a very strange case, but it did happen.  Bottom line is that when a Senior Officer gives you a warning, it is usually in one's best interests to heed that warning :).

 

Hank

[MicCanberra]

I am wondering why it took three times to be late before the exile, I would done it after the second time.

[lifes-a-beach]

I wonder if the cruise lines keep a record of those who are late, like they do of those that, say, gamble significant amounts or are art buyers.  It would be interesting to know if there was some internal notification that John and Joan are habitually late and don’t deserve any consideration.  Of course, if John is an unusually prolific art buyer and Joan gambles at a high level I suppose that could generate another notification altogether.  I imagine in all three instances they might be very drunk.  

Edited December 24, 2018 by lifes-a-beach