Revolting Pier Runner Videos

[atexsix]

I watched a "suggested" video on YouTube about Pier Runners, something I knew nothing about, I've only seen it happen once in all my years of cruising, the ship left without them while they were standing on the pier.  Sad.  But nobody was out on their verandah whooping and yelling and otherwise humiliating these poor people.  Maybe I'm more sensitive than most, but I find that to be so inappropriate.  Even more disturbing was these mass market ships in the video seemed to be egging on this sick form of entertainment. 

 

I'm sure people will disagree with me and I'm not trying to justify tardiness, but things happen in life, especially nowadays with umpteen covid requirements that change by the hour it seems.   

 

I haven't been able to get this tacky video out of my head, hence the vent, thankfully I turned it off after a few minutes.  

[KroozNut]

21 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I watched a "suggested" video on YouTube about Pier Runners, something I knew nothing about, I've only seen it happen once in all my years of cruising, the ship left without them while they were standing on the pier.  Sad.  But nobody was out on their verandah whooping and yelling and otherwise humiliating these poor people.  Maybe I'm more sensitive than most, but I find that to be so inappropriate.  Even more disturbing was these mass market ships in the video seemed to be egging on this sick form of entertainment. 

 

I'm sure people will disagree with me and I'm not trying to justify tardiness, but things happen in life, especially nowadays with umpteen covid requirements that change by the hour it seems.   

 

I haven't been able to get this tacky video out of my head, hence the vent, thankfully I turned it off after a few minutes.  

There is absolutely no excuse for pier running, no matter how much you may try. And the ship leaving at the scheduled time with stupid people standing on the pier watching... I say, bon voyage, you should have been a tad more responsible like the rest of the ship.

[Mary229]

When you watch a video on YouTube and it is “revolting” quit watching.  Watching is supporting, that is how the internet works 

[waiting2retire]

I am with the OP on this one. It is quite simply bad form to express delight in another human being’s misfortune. Even if the situation is entirely of their own making, they do not deserve to be publicly ridiculed and humiliated. 

[CruiserBruce]

Most, but not all, of the pier runners are due to their own causes, not the fault of the ship. Have even seen an employee be a pier runner...the ship allowed the employee to be transported to the ship by a tug (also have seen the same for two late pax), but the employee was terminated.

 

I don't see where the cruise line is encouraging people to cheer on, or cheer against, the pier runners.

[DrKoob]

I don't know that I would be cheering but I would be laughing. The ones that make me laugh the most are the ones who just saunter towards the pier. No running involved, like the world revolves around them. When we have been on a cruise where this has happened, we have missed seeing it but heard about it later. In almost every case it was someone who had acted totally entitled while they were onboard, spoke to crew members rudely and worse. Those kind of people deserve to be laughed at. 

 

But as Mary229 said, if you see a video you don't like on YouTube, turn it off. But not before giving it a thumbs down so you don't get a bunch more like it.

[rsldonk]

If 4000 other people can manage to be on time, and you can't, you deserve to be mocked.

[cruisemom42]

I don't "watch" pier runners and never have seen one (not in >40 years of cruising).  I certainly don't think the ship should wait for them on general principle. But that said I also think there is such a thing as compassion and empathy. There's also karma: As a DIY-er in various ports I am aware that it COULD happen to me. Not that it has (again, long time cruising), but I know that there are times when I am one traffic accident or one injury away from missing the ship.

 

Maybe it helps that I don't tend to do Caribbean cruises so I am not seeing people stumble drunk back to the ship from Senor Frog's. 🤣

 

 

[BobbiSox]

There has to be a cut-off time, of course. I was the last passenger to board once, due to my own bad planning. It was a very frightening, alone in a foreign country at night, and I couldn't speak the language. They were just about to close the boarding gate. Lesson learned. Since then, I get back at least an hour early.  

[Mary229]

The advice we have always gotten from HAL is to take a picture of the port information paying particular notice to the port agent.  That person will at least be able to set you in the right direction.  There are unions to be paid, berths to be rented and 2000 or more other passengers to move along.  Don’t be late, no one, except the captain and hotel director, are that important 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Mary229

[Mary229]

This brings up my first maxim of travel: if you can’t afford to get yourself out of a jam then you can’t afford to travel.

[iceman93]

My one experience similar to this was on an official HAL excursion in San Juan, PR.  We got back to the ship about two hours after scheduled all-aboard time; obviously it wasn't the fault of anyone on the excursion.  Luckily the tour operator was in constant contact with the ship, and of course the ship waited for us at the pier.

 

From the jeers and insults yelled down at us from passengers on the ship, I really lost some respect for my fellow HAL passengers.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, iceman93 said:

My one experience similar to this was on an official HAL excursion in San Juan, PR.  We got back to the ship about two hours after scheduled all-aboard time; obviously it wasn't the fault of anyone on the excursion.  Luckily the tour operator was in constant contact with the ship, and of course the ship waited for us at the pier.

 

From the jeers and insults yelled down at us from passengers on the ship, I really lost some respect for my fellow HAL passengers.

I am surprised at the jeers.  Our fellow cruisers were late from a HAL excursion in Costa Rico and the CD kept all guests informed of the situation throughout.  I think the announcements not only keep everyone compassionate but also acted as an advertisement for HAL excursions 

[cruisemom42]

17 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

This brings up my first maxim of travel: if you can’t afford to get yourself out of a jam then you can’t afford to travel.

 

I would suggest it's more than just a financial consideration -- for me the prime directive is "Be prepared." 

 

If I'm going off on my own, you can bet that I have a Plan B and sometimes a Plan C in mind if things don't go as planned. I have different levels of risk depending on whether the next port is in the same country and perhaps just a short train ride away (e.g., Naples to Rome) or if it is the last port before a trans-Atlantic (or even a couple of sea days).

 

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I would suggest it's more than just a financial consideration -- for me the prime directive is "Be prepared." 

 

If I'm going off on my own, you can bet that I have a Plan B and sometimes a Plan C in mind if things don't go as planned. I have different levels of risk depending on whether the next port is in the same country and perhaps just a short train ride away (e.g., Naples to Rome) or if it is the last port before a trans-Atlantic (or even a couple of sea days).

 

I was actually think of saying if you can’t afford it, financially and emotionally.  Totally agree.  Having traveled for a living for 30 years I know some people are just not cut out for travel.  There is no shame in that.  

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

 Don’t be late, no one, except the captain and hotel director, are that important 

Actually, the ship can sail without the captain, as there is another officer capable of being in charge of the ship. 
The ship can't sail without the doctor. 

[Mary229]

Just now, RuthC said:

Actually, the ship can sail without the captain, as there is another officer capable of being in charge of the ship. 
The ship can't sail without the doctor. 

I did forget about the doctor.  That is a law, right?

[FlyingCruiser2]

Have to reply to this from two separate views:

 

Yes, when we were young and went on 3 day weekend cruises from LA to Ensenada (other cruise line), it was entertaining to see the shenanigans just before we left.  Almost always they had regalia from Sr Frogs.

 

However, we were on the wrong side of this once too.  On Oosterdam in St Croix, we booked a snorkel tour not through the ship.  The tour showed we be back to the port by 1:15, with "back aboard time" of 3p and leaving at 3:30p we knew we'd have plenty of time.  It was an AMAZING snorkel trip!!  However when we came up from our second site, I look at my watch and it's 2:30p.  We are 45 minutes to the tour operator's dock, which is a 45 minute van ride to the port.  We had swimsuits, flipflops, $60 in cash and that's it.  Ship's next stop was Martinique. 

 

We were freaking out, to say the least.  There were 4 other people from our ship on the tour.  I spoke with the tour captain and he said they would drop the non-ship people at their dock, then take the snorkel boat to the port - saving about 30 minutes and he'd do his best.  He contacted the port and the ship and told us the ship had actually requested to leave a half-hour earlier if it could.  Panic.  The other people on the tour insisted  they just take us straight to port.  At our top speed of 7 whole knots, we pulled into the port at 4p.  All the lines had been cast except for one in front and one in back.  Thrusters were holding the ship to the dock.  We pulled up 20 feet from the stern and had to climb up onto the quay.  Running to the ship, we could see officers on bridge extension staring at us with binoculars.  People were on balconies, but no jeering - just a few claps.  There was no security still set up - they just hurried us on.  In the time it took to walk from the port side to the starboard glass elevators, we had already started moving.

 

 We could not stop shaking (and giggling) for an hour.  Went directly to pool bar and ordered doubles.  Still was shaking.

 

We were told by the Concierge that the ship would have left had we not been in the PS, but I'm not sure that was really the case.

 

So - it can happen.

[idiebabe]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I did forget about the doctor.  That is a law, right?

Yes and also a Trivia question!  😉

[ontheweb]

I was worried way back on our second cruise that our ship's tour was running very late. There were a few members of cruise director's staff on the tour (Mayan ruins followed by a swim) who assured us that since it was a ship's tour, there was no problem. Luckily, it turns out that they were correct.

[kwb101]

6 hours ago, rsldonk said:

If 4000 other people can manage to be on time, and you can't, you deserve to be mocked.

In German, there's the perfect word for this: schadenfreude, pleasure at the misfortune of others. 

[Aquahound]

Pre-COVID, there was a video floating around CC in which the obnoxious people shooting the video were loudly laughing at a couple left behind at the pier.  I don't care what the reason was for them being late but in my opinion, openly laughing at them takes an awfully shallow and insensitive person.  Cheering on pier runners who are going to make it is one thing but laughing at and ridiculing those who didn't make it in time is another.  

[deliver42]

Even if the people aren't on a ship tour, I've seen ships wait up to about 30 minutes for the late arrivals. Since they ask you to be on board 30 minutes before sail away, so you are one hour late, you deserve to be mocked. Maybe you won't do it again. Most of the time it's not because of a tour, but just shopping too long. No excuse.

[ScoutDiver]

IN 2013,   I was on a ship tour in Skagway that involved taking a ferry ride to Haines.    The tour ended and the operator put us on the ferry back to Skagway, but left us on our own to get back to the ship the ship from the ferry terminal/dock in Skagway.     

I had time but not a lot.  The Princess ship was next to the ferry terminal.   The route to get back to the Statendam was a long walk.   A princess labled shuttle/bus picked up us stragglers on our walk and gave us a ride aound to the HAL ship dock.   

 

The contracted  tour operator dropped the ball.   

[Mary229]

Well since we are telling war stories I can’t resist.  We were on a rail excursion many miles from port. We were transferred from Liverpool by bus.  The bus had a very hard time maneuvering in the destination village.  Upon time to return, a count was made, the guide asked if anyone was missing and off we went.  Some goof then and only then stands up and says oh, my wife is still shopping .   It took the bus 15 minutes to maneuver back to the parking location.  I kept quiet but my fellow passengers did not and gave that fellow a dressing down.  
 

my dad had a resort campground and he would always say “the guests leave their brain at the entrance.”