Has anyone missed the ship while on a private tour?

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

We were in Malta a few years ago and everything seemed great. Little did we know that the government had turned off cell phone service. Seems a high level official was involved in the assassination of a journalist.The hoho bus wasn't coming for our friends and after waiting an hour, they flagged down a taxi to take them to port. As we sailed away, all the lights on the island went off. This was the government's attempt to squash the organized protests. Still, everyone made it back to the ship. Things happen!

Wow, that is some story!

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, capriccio said:

We saw this in Tallin but not due to the late arrival of an excursion as far as we could tell.  Instead the passengers had been shopping.  Repeated calls were made for 4 missing passengers to no avail.  The gangplank was being pulled in and the lines were ready to be released when one of the missing passengers came running down the pier saying there the other 3 were at the beginning of the dock.  Luckily there was a small car on the pier (visiting the British naval ship docked opposite) that reacted immediately zooming down the pier.  While the driver stuffed the passengers (and their shopping bags) into the car, the ship's crew extended the gangplank.  The entire 'rescue' mission took less than 3 minutes.  The ship began to pull away from the pier as the gangplank was pulled back aboard.

When did that happen? We were in Talinn in 2007 on our cruise for our 30th anniversary. I remember tablemates telling a similar story about the crew "rescuing" passengers who were about to miss the ship (the Star Princess). The story I heard was that the passengers in question had actually taken a ship's tour, but lingered and did not board the ship after the tour ended.

[Wendy-Europe]

Oh no - the pier runners are real - no one has to fake that! We had a couple on our last cruise and the captain was very patient - it was in Bergen - the town is actually very clear and the ship is pretty much the tallest "building" in the place - you can't really miss it. One couple was called out several times more and more urgently after the "all onboard" time - sometime 1 hour after that the announcement came that they could be located via the emergency contact and they would be there in 10 minutes. Then you saw the car of the port agent drive to the other port gate and open it - from there came a police car with 2 policemen and the two missing guests.  The policemen got standing ovations , because all balconies were full of guests. The two late guests had to listen to some mockery.

We do shore excursions either ourselves - you should research very well what times to expect (we just had it in Invergordon that the time in port was not enough for a trip to Inverness by public transport - it was Sunday, there were anyway fewer trains and buses than on weekdays, because of many cases of illness, trains were also canceled. So you should not only research EVERY information, but also check it still up to date.

When we book an excursion, we do it with companies that are recommended and have experience - that is easy to see. There are always reviews online. These companies often give a guarantee that they will pay for costs and organization in the worst case if the ship is missed. These companies know the local conditions, the traffic situation and plan buffer times so that at the end there is either still time for shopping, an extra bonus visit etc. or just directly to the ship is driven.

And I know it also so that the companies stick together if necessary and help each other.

I had the case that I had booked a guide in my language, this became ill, the agency has sent an English-speaking guide. At the main attraction he met a colleague from another agency who speaks my native language and they agreed that we could go with this colleague so that my mother, who is not fluent in English, could easily understand the information. Yes - you are competition - but you still work in the same industry and today one has a problem and tomorrow the other - better to help each other.

[lisiamc]

These days we mostly cruise on smaller ships, with a fairly well-behaved crowd. But some years ago, when we often cruised on larger ships, I witnessed many people getting left behind. I like a good drama, preferably one with a happy ending, so I always watched for pier runners and cheered them on. I’m fairly sure most of them were ashore independently, or stopped after their excursion to shop or drink a quick Margarita on the way back to the ship and lost track of time. Most of these near and total misses took place in the Caribbean, so Señor Frog might get a small share of the blame!
 

An especially memorable race for the ship happened in Norway, when two crew members got left behind. We could see them belting down the hill as fast as they could run, as the ship sailed away. They were lucky, and were allowed to rejoin the ship at the next port. So being left behind does happen, but I would say it is almost never the fault of an independent tour company.

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

When did that happen? We were in Talinn in 2007 on our cruise for our 30th anniversary. I remember tablemates telling a similar story about the crew "rescuing" passengers who were about to miss the ship (the Star Princess). The story I heard was that the passengers in question had actually taken a ship's tour, but lingered and did not board the ship after the tour ended.

2009 on the Emerald Princess.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, capriccio said:

2009 on the Emerald Princess.

I guess this is not a one time experience.

[iancal]

Never.  

 

We only do private excursions.  Group or otherwise. 

 

Never even came close to missing the ship.

[Markanddonna]

I recall an event that happened to a group of entertainers who thought the rules didn't app!y to them. They arrived just as the ship left and were fired on the spot.

[rkacruiser]

17 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

I recall an event that happened to a group of entertainers who thought the rules didn't app!y to them. They arrived just as the ship left and were fired on the spot.

 

I have heard of that happening as well.

 

7 hours ago, lisiamc said:

An especially memorable race for the ship happened in Norway, when two crew members got left behind. We could see them belting down the hill as fast as they could run, as the ship sailed away. They were lucky, and were allowed to rejoin the ship at the next port

 

The crew members were fortunate not to have been fired.  I'd bet that they didn't get any shore leave for quite some time.  

[Markanddonna]

52 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I have heard of that happening as well.

 

 

The crew members were fortunate not to have been fired.  I'd bet that they didn't get any shore leave for quite some time.  

Maybe it was the difference between a good reason for being late (Norway) and the entertainers thinking they were too important to leave behind.

[cruiserking]

The best perk of booking a cruise sponsored excursion is the ship waits for you. We certainly have booked private tours in port. But, for long day trips I book with the ship. On two separate occasions the HAL Noordam waited for us, once in the Caribbean and another time in Monte Carlo, Monaco. 

 

It costs a bit more but, that peace of mind is worth every penny. 

 

Happy Cruising. 

 

Jonathan

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, cruiserking said:

The best perk of booking a cruise sponsored excursion is the ship waits for you. We certainly have booked private tours in port. But, for long day trips I book with the ship. On two separate occasions the HAL Noordam waited for us, once in the Caribbean and another time in Monte Carlo, Monaco. 

 

It costs a bit more but, that peace of mind is worth every penny. 

 

Happy Cruising. 

 

Jonathan

 

However.... 

 

I humbly submit that there are times the ship shore excursions are late getting back because they CAN be. Not as the result of an unforeseeable accident or problem but as a specific choice. 

 

When I was on a HAL cruise of the southern Med that included Israel, there was an overnight tour for passengers that included a hotel stay along with two full days of touring. (At the time I noted that -- as a solo passenger -- the cost for said tour would have been as much as the cost of my entire cruise!). Instead, I booked a private tour for the two days that allowed me to see as much, in fact more, than the ship tour. Both of our tours ended up in the city of Jerusalem on the afternoon of the second day. The difference?  I was just leaving the city with my private guide, headed back to the ship, when we ran into scores of tour buses stopping to let off cruise passengers at one of the city gates -- they were just arriving there at 4pm when we had a 7pm sailaway.

 

Long story short, I was back at the ship, showered, dressed for dinner and enjoying a cocktail when the captain announced that a number of ship tours would be late arriving back and the ship's departure was delayed for 2 hours. Later, it was delayed again. Turns out it was the cavalcade of buses full of passengers on the overnight tour that were late.

 

The same thing happened again in Alexandria, a few days later on the same cruise. (Again, I took a private tour, but ship tours had a long day trip to Cairo and back.)

 

A year later, I asked a question of a ship officer who had previously been with HAL and had since changed to a different line -- how could it happen that so many busloads were back late when there were supposedly such dire consequences for a late return?  His answer:  the ship did not want to kill this cash cow -- too many people paid too much money for these tours. Had HAL told the buses in Israel to come back to the ship immediately and skip Jerusalem, you can imagine how the front desk would've been overwhelmed with unhappy passengers demanding refunds.

 

Since that time, I've viewed "late returns" by ship tours with a jaded eye. It's a choice, at least in certain cases. Someone at HAL was clearly in communication with these many buses, telling them to complete their tours rather than rush back to the ship and be on time. Makes it a bit of a mockery for the rest of us who manage to return per schedule...

[Hlitner]

Cruisemom,  Very interesting story which makes sense.  But I also noticed you mentioned having a "cocktail" which we think is a very good thing :).  If we ever get to meet the first round is on us :).

 

Hank

[urbanhawk]

I've heard stories of pier runners in Belize.  Need to tender from ship to shore to ship. .It would sad, but funny😇, seeing the pier runners running,  as the last tender (and full), sailing away. I've never been a pier runner, but there's always a 1st time!!

 

[Mary229]

I do all varieties.  Ship tours, lots of independent wandering, private group and private tours.  It is based on data available regarding distance, road conditions, reliability, etc….  Cost is not a primary consideration, itinerary and service are .

 

 I have had ship tours that were going to be late and I left and managed my own return. I would do so with any tour.   It is rude to keep other passengers from their travels.   And yes, I have seen plenty of people arriving late with one couple being left behind in Costa Rica, not a bad place to be left.  

[Markanddonna]

12 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

However.... 

 

I humbly submit that there are times the ship shore excursions are late getting back because they CAN be. Not as the result of an unforeseeable accident or problem but as a specific choice. 

 

When I was on a HAL cruise of the southern Med that included Israel, there was an overnight tour for passengers that included a hotel stay along with two full days of touring. (At the time I noted that -- as a solo passenger -- the cost for said tour would have been as much as the cost of my entire cruise!). Instead, I booked a private tour for the two days that allowed me to see as much, in fact more, than the ship tour. Both of our tours ended up in the city of Jerusalem on the afternoon of the second day. The difference?  I was just leaving the city with my private guide, headed back to the ship, when we ran into scores of tour buses stopping to let off cruise passengers at one of the city gates -- they were just arriving there at 4pm when we had a 7pm sailaway.

 

Long story short, I was back at the ship, showered, dressed for dinner and enjoying a cocktail when the captain announced that a number of ship tours would be late arriving back and the ship's departure was delayed for 2 hours. Later, it was delayed again. Turns out it was the cavalcade of buses full of passengers on the overnight tour that were late.

 

 

If you take any two tours: one the ship excursion on a bus and one a smaller, private tour on a van, the ship bus group will almost always have that one couple lagging behind in the gift shop while everyone else in waiting for them (fuming) on the bus. It takes a big bus a longer time to do anything with the number of passengers to account for, and their bus has to be parked far away. All this makes a ship's big bus excursion for inefficient and the reason for these delays.

[lisiamc]

4 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

If you take any two tours: one the ship excursion on a bus and one a smaller, private tour on a van, the ship bus group will almost always have that one couple lagging behind in the gift shop while everyone else in waiting for them (fuming) on the bus. It takes a big bus a longer time to do anything with the number of passengers to account for, and their bus has to be parked far away. All this makes a ship's big bus excursion for inefficient and the reason for these delays.

We had a problem with two fellow cruisers on an independent excursion a few years ago. They turned up late for everything, because they wanted everything done on their personal schedule. The rest of the group got tired of waiting, and there was heavy pressure on the guide to just leave them behind. He was nicer than the rest of us, and refused to leave them, but we were not able to do one of the planned parts of the excursion because of the two inconsiderate people.

[Markanddonna]

Just now, lisiamc said:

We had a problem with two fellow cruisers on an independent excursion a few years ago. They turned up late for everything, because they wanted everything done on their personal schedule. The rest of the group got tired of waiting, and there was heavy pressure on the guide to just leave them behind. He was nicer than the rest of us, and refused to leave them, but we were not able to do one of the planned parts of the excursion because of the two inconsiderate people.

I organized a three day private excursion when we were in Israel. The twelve to fifteen people all agreed to meet at a lounge early to depart the ship in a group, looked out for one another (pointed out the availability of restrooms,) and kept a kind but firm pressure on one another to be considerate. Our guide was often able to let us see an extra site because we were so "well behaved."  The person coordinating it needs to be put some rules in place to make things go smoothly. I am a former teacher who knows how to run field trips! 🙂 My students knew my rule "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be left behind."

[herbanrenewal]

In 30+ years travel I've been the late person on a tour bus but never missed the boat.

We were the late people on a Tuscany excursion. We were in a hilltown (I forget which one) and asked directions to the tour bus parking lot and a joker directed us to opposite end of town. The only good thing was that from that point we could see the Duomo and knew where to go from there. We ran the whole way back, but were about 20 minutes late. Which made the bus just late enough that our last stop in Pisa was too late to climb the tower. People were extremely angry at us - one couple tried to get us to reimburse them the cost of the day because the only thing they wanted to see was the leaning tower and we ruined it for them. We did make it back to the ship on time, but I still feel guilty for being late on the bus.

During an Amalfi coast private tour we were left off at a parking lot. Returning we missed  a turn and were lost. Finally we ran into another guy from our group who remembered seeing us "take a detour" on the way back - he went out and found us. We were 30 minutes later than planned returning to the ship, but since we planned for returning an hour early no problem with the ship.

GPS on cell phones now prevent my chronic poor sense of directions cause problems.

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, lisiamc said:

We had a problem with two fellow cruisers on an independent excursion a few years ago. They turned up late for everything, because they wanted everything done on their personal schedule. The rest of the group got tired of waiting, and there was heavy pressure on the guide to just leave them behind. He was nicer than the rest of us, and refused to leave them, but we were not able to do one of the planned parts of the excursion because of the two inconsiderate people.

 

Sounds like my worst nightmare....

 

I have just about given up even private tour sharing unless I have a good sense that the other party or parties are like-minded.  I'll never forget one time when I arranged a private tour for Ephesus and went to great pains to specify that we didn't want ANY shopping/factory stops. The wife of one participant wasn't happy about this on the day of the tour (even though I was quite clear in my original description).  She apparently went to the guide to ask if it wasn't possible to have at least one shopping stop and he was all too happy to oblige (without asking me).

 

In the end it was funny though. The stop was a leather factory with a "runway" show. Everyone except the woman walked in through the entrance, refused to take a seat for the show and walked out through the shop and out the back exit. The guide was nonplussed, he was having a smoke on the terrace when we all returned to the bus in about 3 minutes.  The woman was furious. Several of us had a good laugh later.

 

[Markanddonna]

Those factory tours and runway shows are something the tour planner needs to know about. JUST SAY NO.

 

BTW, did you know that many "Made in Italy" items sold in Florence are made by Chinese people with Chinese materials in cities like Prato (nearby Florence.) The town is like a village from China. Legally, they can put "Made in Italy" on their items.  A by-product of China's Belt and Road initiative. There are lots of articles you can check out on the internet. Buyer beware. Here is one.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/16/the-chinese-workers-who-assemble-designer-bags-in-tuscany

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Those factory tours and runway shows are something the tour planner needs to know about. JUST SAY NO.

 

BTW, did you know that many "Made in Italy" items sold in Florence are made by Chinese people with Chinese materials in cities like Prato (nearby Florence.) The town is like a village from China. Legally, they can put "Made in Italy" on their items.  A by-product of China's Belt and Road initiative. There are lots of articles you can check out on the internet. Buyer beware. Here is one.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/16/the-chinese-workers-who-assemble-designer-bags-in-tuscany

We could take it one step further.  Some of the "Murano Glass" sold in Venice is also imported from China (and elsewhere).  You can certainly buy the real thing, but one must be careful unless you are in one of the better shops.

 

Hank

[buchhalm]

Over the years, we have taken cruise company tours and private tours, split pretty evenly. Where private tours most often come into play is during repeat visits to the same port.

If you do a few Mediterranean cruises, you are likely to be offered the same cookie cutter highlights tours by (any) cruise line. In such cases we rent a car, do the private organised tour or use public transport. 

Missing the boat on most Med cruises - especially those up and down the coast of Italy - would not be much more than an annoyance. The ports are SO close together,  you nearly coukd ride a bicycle and still can sit on the pier waiting for the ship to come into the next port. 

As for the famous "pier runners ", this must become a rare event. I haven't seen any "new" clips on YouTube for a long time. 😉

[Markanddonna]

I think pier runners are mostly a Caribbean and Mexican phenomenon. I agree about the close ports in the Med. You could easily take a train if you miss.

[lisiamc]

21 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

I think pier runners are mostly a Caribbean and Mexican phenomenon. I agree about the close ports in the Med. You could easily take a train if you miss.

I think there may be some correlation with choice of cruise line, and the number of younger passengers. When we used to cruise often with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, we saw loads of latecomers scrambling to get back in time, in Europe as well as the Caribbean. I’ve seen one in Madeira, one in Greece, one in France, and a really memorable one in Turkey, where the late-coming couple came roaring up in the back of an old bakery van.

It used to be a favourite pastime of mine to hang over the railing like a big vulture and wait for the drama to unfold. I always wanted the stragglers to make it, but I enjoyed the show. Now that we mostly sail on smaller ships, our fellow passengers seem to be so much better at keeping an eye on the clock.