Has anyone ever missed their ship at a port?

[Bee Guy]

Never missed the ship, but have been on an excursion when bus broke down and it looked like we might be in trouble.  IFRC, it was not booked through the cruise line, so it would have been on me.

[Mike981]

On our second cruise we flew in the day of embarkation and weather had us severely delayed. We were very fortunate that there were many others delayed and the Captain held the ship for us. It left the port within minutes.

We now fly in the day before and I'm trying to convince my wife that we should go two days before and hang out on the beach. Purely for logistical reasons. 🙂

 

[Velvetwater]

Had a few near misses with some cruisers we have met on board.

 

Met a couple who told us they didn't cruise with their friends anymore as when their friends missed the ship they blamed them for it. Apparently no-one told them (inc the friends we were speaking to)when the last tender was even though it had been signposted and on the newsletter.

 

They only found out when they couldn't find their friends at dinner and when going to their cabin their room steward informed them. They got it in the neck when they got home.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

On our second cruise we flew in the day of embarkation and weather had us severely delayed. We were very fortunate that there were many others delayed and the Captain held the ship for us. It left the port within minutes.

We now fly in the day before and I'm trying to convince my wife that we should go two days before and hang out on the beach. Purely for logistical reasons. 🙂

 

Good planning deserves rewards.

[CruiseToSmile]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Good planning deserves rewards.

Would not enjoy passengers missing the departure on initial embarkation day. Weather, flight delays, traffic, all possible issues. Excellent suggestions to arrive a day early. Great comment about "good planning deserves rewards".  Much of this discussion is about once onboard and at a port of call. Everyone knows they must be back at the ship at a certain "ship's time".  If they don't know when they're due back, they are acting ignorant and shouldn't be debarking at ports.  We've seen drunks, shoppers laden with bags, and just plain self-centered folks sauntering to the ship well after time. The indulgence of a few makes for much inconvenience of the many (extra fuel, possible higher fees, delayed activities onboard, etc.)  Probably happens more on "party boat" lines that dock in areas at bars and easy access shopping. On one of our last cruises, we watched a group sway and saunter in 45 minutes after scheduled departure time (later than all aboard time), and then took an additional 20 minutes so they could stop and laugh every few steps while right beside our ship. Doesn't bother me that discourteous cruisers like this get left behind. This particular group was herded on and we departed immediately.  Bad example. But, we've seen similar situations where the offenders were left behind., especially in the Caribbean. No problem! We have heard of people who were delayed and had their guide or a policeman try to contact the ship. They made it.

[cindivan]

We were on the Symphony yesterday leaving Nassau. There were 5 ships in port and we were first to leave.  About 45 minutes after “all aboard” while we were sailing away  two people came running down the pier yelling for the ship to stop. They tried to flag down a ferry and another small boat going by. They stood ar the end of the pier screaming for a good 10 minutes. 

 

They were left.  Even if the captain wanted to I’m sure he couldn’t turn around. We had to stay on schedule to disembark this morning and it’s not like it’s a quick thing to dock. And I’m sure it would mess up the schedule of the other ships leaving as well. 

 

We were wondering if on a ship that big they would have the time to see if they could retrieve their passports 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by cindivan

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, cindivan said:

We were on the Symphony yesterday leaving Nassau. There were 5 ships in port and we were first to leave.  About 45 minutes after “all aboard” while we were sailing away  two people came running down the pier yelling for the ship to stop. They tried to flag down a ferry and another small boat going by. They stood ar the end of the pier screaming for a good 10 minutes. 

 

They were left.  Even if the captain wanted to I’m sure he couldn’t turn around. We had to stay on schedule to disembark this morning and it’s not like it’s a quick thing to dock. And I’m sure it would mess up the schedule of the other ships leaving as well. 

 

We were wondering if on a ship that big they would have the time to see if they could retrieve their passports 

 

Most ships follow a protocol if folks do not return to the ship.  Security Officers will enter their cabin and do a cursory search for a Passport, including opening the cabin safe.  If they find Passports they will normally be turned over to the port agent just prior to departure.  But we assume that this was a "closed loop" cruise which means there is a fair chance that those folks did not even have Passports.  If that is the case, special arrangements will have to be made to get them back inside the USA such as obtaining emergency Passports or requesting (and being granted) a special waiver from the Dept of State.

 

Hank

[Simon1902]

We nearly missed a ship in Venice. We had done our own thing and had got a water bus over to the Lido Island (we had been to Venice a few times and knew our way round and went over to the Lido to go to the beach, we had our 7 and 4 year old daughters with us). We gave ourselves plenty of time to get back but a number of water buses were cancelled including the more direct ones we wanted. In the end we got on one that stopped at every stop and we knew we were not going to be back at the ship on time so I tried ringing the ship but couldn’t get a connection. We thought about getting a water taxi but you can’t just hail one. We were about half way down the Grand Canal when my phone rang and it was the ship asking where we were and whether there were others with us. I said will you wait and they said yes. When we got to the end of the Gand Canal they rang again to check where we were. There is a ‘People Mover’ ,a type of monorail, that connects the Piazza Roma with the cruise port which we had to get. The ship said there would be a car waiting for us when we got off the people mover, there were 2. We jumped in the cars and they raced down the pier to the ship. Boarding was via one of the main decks so we had a lot of steps to climb so one of the pier staff picked up my 4 year old and ran up the steps with her. We were ‘clapped’ one to the ship. The ship was a Carnival one.

[MicCanberra]

On ‎12‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 5:30 AM, Simon1902 said:

We nearly missed a ship in Venice. We had done our own thing and had got a water bus over to the Lido Island (we had been to Venice a few times and knew our way round and went over to the Lido to go to the beach, we had our 7 and 4 year old daughters with us). We gave ourselves plenty of time to get back but a number of water buses were cancelled including the more direct ones we wanted. In the end we got on one that stopped at every stop and we knew we were not going to be back at the ship on time so I tried ringing the ship but couldn’t get a connection. We thought about getting a water taxi but you can’t just hail one. We were about half way down the Grand Canal when my phone rang and it was the ship asking where we were and whether there were others with us. I said will you wait and they said yes. When we got to the end of the Gand Canal they rang again to check where we were. There is a ‘People Mover’ ,a type of monorail, that connects the Piazza Roma with the cruise port which we had to get. The ship said there would be a car waiting for us when we got off the people mover, there were 2. We jumped in the cars and they raced down the pier to the ship. Boarding was via one of the main decks so we had a lot of steps to climb so one of the pier staff picked up my 4 year old and ran up the steps with her. We were ‘clapped’ one to the ship. The ship was a Carnival one.

You were amazingly lucky, glad they waited for you.

[donaldsc]

I am totally hard nosed w regard to leaving people behind.  If the time that the ship is supposed to leave is say 5 PM, it should leave precisely at 5 PM.  If someone is 1 minute late, that is tough.  Even if they are running down the dock - tough.  They knew the time that they were supposed to be back on board when they left the ship.  Same thing on tours.  If the tour guide says to be back on the bus at a specific time, that is when the bus should leave.

 

One way to teach people that being always late is bad is for them to suffer the consequences of being late.  

 

We have a friend who is going to be late for her own funeral.  One time she and her husband were going to take a vacation i  Hawaii.  We live in Las Vegas.  She got to the airport too late to make her flight to LAX even though the plane was still there.  She missed the flight to LAX which caused her to miss her flight to Hawaii which caused her to miss the first day of her vacation.  In addition, she had to pay for the missed flight and the flight she actually took.  She never did that again.

 

DON

[MicCanberra]

A hard lesson to learn, but sounds like deserved.

[broberts]

On 1/6/2019 at 1:02 PM, donaldsc said:

I am totally hard nosed w regard to leaving people behind.  If the time that the ship is supposed to leave is say 5 PM, it should leave precisely at 5 PM.  If someone is 1 minute late, that is tough.  Even if they are running down the dock - tough.  They knew the time that they were supposed to be back on board when they left the ship.  Same thing on tours.  If the tour guide says to be back on the bus at a specific time, that is when the bus should leave.

 

...

 

Cruise lines could improve the situation by posting all aboard times on website itineraries rather than departure times. New cruisers in particular often presume that they can board anytime before the departure time. Once in mind, it is often difficult to adjust to the idea that one really needs to be aboard well before the departure time. This is not to excuse the tardy, but to suggest a simple adjustment that might prevent some number of misses.

[thinfool]

9 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Cruise lines could improve the situation by posting all aboard times on website itineraries rather than departure times. New cruisers in particular often presume that they can board anytime before the departure time. Once in mind, it is often difficult to adjust to the idea that one really needs to be aboard well before the departure time. This is not to excuse the tardy, but to suggest a simple adjustment that might prevent some number of misses.

 

We sail mostly HAL and Princess...and very often there is an All Aboard time posted as we scan our cards at the gangway when we leave the ship for the day.

[broberts]

4 minutes ago, thinfool said:

 

We sail mostly HAL and Princess...and very often there is an All Aboard time posted as we scan our cards at the gangway when we leave the ship for the day.

 

Once aboard there is usually a note on the front page of the daily doings and a sign at the gangway. Plus announcements. I was talking about the itineraries posted on the web site. I checked all of the major lines and every site lists departure times only. None of the sites included a clear indication that passengers have to be aboard well before the departure time. While this is common knowledge if one has previously cruised, those new to cruising have no reason to know this. Once a time is fixed in mind it is often difficult to change to another time.

 

[MicCanberra]

I think the ships make the all aboard times abundantly clear in many ways and many times both written and verbal.

[broberts]

6 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I think the ships make the all aboard times abundantly clear in many ways and many times both written and verbal.

 

So why do the cruise lines persist in only listing departure times on their websites?

[MicCanberra]

5 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

So why do the cruise lines persist in only listing departure times on their websites?

So people can not be confused by multiple times.

[donaldsc]

2 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

So why do the cruise lines persist in only listing departure times on their websites?

 

As many people have told you, there is clear notification in the cruise daily and also clear signage where you leave the ship about the time you have to be back on board.  What do you want - that the crew tells everyone verbally as they leave that ship what time they have to be on board.  Perhaps they could also require that everyone sign a form as they leave indicating that they have been informed of the required time to be back on board.  

 

Come on.  People have to assume some responsibilities for their actions.

 

Sort of like what the lawyers have done to package labeling.  Did you ever notice that when you buy a bottle of peanut butter, the name of the product says "peanut butter".  Peanuts are the first ingredient in the list of ingredients.  There is also verbiage on the package that says "this product contains peanuts".  

 

Do you want the same idiocy on cruises.

 

DON

[broberts]

8 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

So people can not be confused by multiple times.

 

That is my point. On the website only departure times are shown. Once aboard one hopefully pays attention and learns that departure time is pretty meaningless, all aboard time is the important datum.

 

6 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

As many people have told you, there is clear notification in the cruise daily and also clear signage where you leave the ship about the time you have to be back on board.  What do you want - that the crew tells everyone verbally as they leave that ship what time they have to be on board.  Perhaps they could also require that everyone sign a form as they leave indicating that they have been informed of the required time to be back on board.  

...

 

I don't expect anything. Nor have I at any point suggested that once aboard there is not a clear indication of the need to be aboard well before departure times.

 

I simply made the suggestion that cruise lines might help prevent a few missed departures by posting all aboard times on website itineraries rather than departure times. 

 

Personally I think your idea of requiring signed acknowledgements upon leaving the ship ridiculous. But I guess some people really do want a nanny state. 

[MicCanberra]

Departure time is very important, especially if you want to watch the sail away.

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, broberts said:

 

So why do the cruise lines persist in only listing departure times on their websites?

 

Likely for the same reason that airlines only list departure times. Because it is, literally, the departure time.  You cannot expect to board an airplane 5 minutes before its departure time either -- yet somehow most people manage to figure it out.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, broberts said:

I simply made the suggestion that cruise lines might help prevent a few missed departures by posting all aboard times on website itineraries rather than departure times. 

 

Personally I don't think that would help mush, as those who miss the boat have many other reasons for being late and confusion over departure time and boarding times would be in a very small percentage of those.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Likely for the same reason that airlines only list departure times. Because it is, literally, the departure time.  You cannot expect to board an airplane 5 minutes before its departure time either -- yet somehow most people manage to figure it out.

true, same goes for buses and trains.

[sparks1093]

I booked my upcoming cruise last year and I couldn't tell you the departure times for any of the ports if I tried. Most people are probably the same.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I print out our itinerary and they have sailing times for each port.  Usually last boarding time is 30 minutes prior to that, but it varies.  That's why you read each days news sheet; it also always tells the time on signage as you debark.