Reflection delayed sail away from Cozumel for almost 90 minutes due to missing passengers

[Peteymil]

16 hours ago, hcat said:

We were  left waiting at a distant  Beach Club on St Maarten  for over an  hour....abt 10 of us,  It was a ship's excursion but some  flim flam was  going on between 2 drivers.  We had the  club  call the Port Agent.. and they did what was needed to send out another van..   we were told the ship would have waited but we made it back in time..

 

That's why we prefer ships excursions unless we can walk back on our own..that's a lesson learned when NO taxis were available from our location..  long walk but we did it!

 

  And we take our passports with us..just in case!

 

 

I will do a private excursion with a tour operator who has the long-standing business with guarantees of getting you to the ship or providing alternate transportation. I will not do an excursion from Port with someone I know nothing about unless I am allowing myself an extra three or four hours.

[Lastdance]

8 hours ago, the penguins said:

So can every passenger. The ship publishes the name and phone number of every port agent in the daily planner and we take the details with us. 

Exactly!  My DH and I always have that information too!  That is what I was trying to say, but you said it much better, along with sharing more information with those who, for whatever reason, did not know this. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Lastdance

[DaKahuna]

11 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Most likely this had to do with Tulum, CI, and the Water Shuttle!

 We took a ship sponsored tour to Tulum and it was a very long tour.  the whole group was making a mad dash to get back to the ship on time.  

 

[D C]

12 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Most likely this had to do with Tulum, CI, and the Water Shuttle!

Right. It's implausible to be 2 hours late for an excursion that didn't leave cozumel. 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, Lastdance said:

Exactly!  My DH and I always have that information too!  That is what I was trying to say, but you said it much better, along with sharing more information with those who, for whatever reason, did not know this. 

Sharing information is one of the great benefits of CC we have picked up a lot of good advice. We also like the general banter and the way the threads go way of subject.

[Texed]

40 minutes ago, D C said:

Right. It's implausible to be 2 hours late for an excursion that didn't leave cozumel. 

Unless their excursion included a stop at Carlos and Charlie’s.  😁

[Alabaster Cruiser]

We were on a Celebrity ship that waited about 4 hours for a single female in Barbados.  Once they found out she was safe her belongings were unloaded to the dock.

[Sam.Seattle]

So, did the passengers get back on at the next port?  

 

[AnnaNicole]

2 hours ago, Sam.Seattle said:

So, did the passengers get back on at the next port?  

 

The next port was Ft Lauderdale for disembarkation.  

[kokopelli-az]

I always like the pier runners.  Especially the ones who look they don't have a clue that they are late and are just sauntering toward the ship.  

[volk904]

I always take a picture of the port agent info for each stop just in case something were to happen.  I  also take a cell phone charger.   

[Bluewake]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:25 PM, songbird1329 said:

We were on a ship sponsored excursion last week in Panama.  155 of us in five buses.  They held the ship for 90 minutes until we got back.

Same thing happened to us on a partial canal transit in 2019.  We were on a cruise line excursion in which we took a small boat through the canal, going from the lake where the ship turned around to the Pacific side and then taking a bus back to the ship.  We were over an hour late getting back. The guide told us that it was very common for that particular excursion to be late and the ship always waited.    Although we tend to prefer private excursions, we book only those that are scheduled to get back to the ship at least a couple of hours before all aboard. 

[annnrl]

My husband went on a ship sponsored excursion in Costa Rica.  The tour bus was unable to get the 41 passengers back to the ship (all the other buses were smart enough to cancel the excursions) because the roads were closed because of landslides caused by rainfall.  They ended up spending three days in Costa Rica.  They had to walk almost four miles in calf high deep mud to get out.  They spent three days in the same smelly disgusting clothes.  It was a Holland America Panama Canal Cruise.  The passengers missed the entire canal. What Holland gave them in return was a joke. 

[songbird1329]

1 hour ago, Bluewake said:

Same thing happened to us on a partial canal transit in 2019.  We were on a cruise line excursion in which we took a small boat through the canal, going from the lake where the ship turned around to the Pacific side and then taking a bus back to the ship.  We were over an hour late getting back. The guide told us that it was very common for that particular excursion to be late and the ship always waited.    Although we tend to prefer private excursions, we book only those that are scheduled to get back to the ship at least a couple of hours before all aboard. 

Probably the same excursion we took.

[beachluver9]

This is the ugly fine print on ship sponsored excursions for our trip on the Infinity next month:

 

• In the unlikely event that your tour is significantly delayed, we'll make all the arrangements for you to return to the ship at the earliest opportunity with no expense to you.

 

It sure doesn't sound like they are planning to hang around for late arrivals including those on ship sponsored excursions!  This is the first cruise that has this included on the detail section of every excursion.  If they remove the promise that the ship will wait for a sponsored excursion that is delayed, then they have also removed the reason many are willing to pay a premium for their excursions.  Not good

[RichYak]

17 minutes ago, beachluver9 said:

If they remove the promise that the ship will wait for a sponsored excursion that is delayed...

I didn't know they ever promised this.

[Purplsmurf]

We have this itinerary booked for March so I know that the next port is FLL for disembarkation. My question is….how do they get all of their stuff once they get back to FLL? Does Celebrity just put all of their stuff in boxes or something so they can pack once they arrive? 

[Nashna]

Years ago, we were on a Carnival cruise with another family.  I booked a private tour with a highly regarded guide in Grenada who was also a member of the tourist board.  7 of our group decided to do snorkeling with the tour guide after our land tour.  They were instructed to snorkel around the bend and then meet up with the guide.  They misunderstood the direction, missed the bend and ended up snorkeling way longer than they intended.  When they realized their mistake, they started swimming as fast as they could.  Onboard, the rest of us started to panic when 4:00pm came and the group had not returned on the tender.   Our departure was scheduled for 4:30pm.  The guide picked them up by the shore at 4:00pm and still had a 20-minute drive to the pier.   Mondo, the tour guide, drove at top speed, he kept reassuring our family members that the boat wasn't going to leave without them.  Upon arrival at the pier, Mondo insisted that they try a local beer before boarding the tender.  When they protested, he smiled and said, my friend, the tender captain has been waiting for you and pointed out a man sitting at the bar.  They had a quick beer with Mondo and the tender captain.  The tender arrived back at 5:30pm and the ship promptly left with a group of very relieved family members.  I had t-shirts made for the lucky seven that said, "Mondo's Speed Snorkelers"...We didn't miss the boat!  Obviously, had Carnival been in control of the tenders, they would have been out of luck.