Lost on a ship’s excursion?

[D. B.]

Onboard Constellation in the Med.

yesterday I was on an 8 hour ships shore excursion fro Lenovo. In involved multiple Bus rides and a long Boat ride And a short Train ride.

   After getting Off the train ride 2 guests were unaccounted for and could not be found. It seems they did not get off the Train?

  After all efforts to locate them were exhausted we carried on with our 1 1/2 bus ride back to the ship. 
I was thinking about the X policy with guests on ships excursions returning late or guests missing the ship’s departure but in this case it seems to be the guest’s responsibility?

  The excursion got back to the ship 2 hours before it Sailed.

This morning I went to the SE desk and ask if the guests Did get back before the ship sailed? Yes they did!  Good thing as today is a sea day before we arrive at Malta tomorrow.  Getting from Lenovo to Malta could have been expensive!

   Remember that you should take A cell phone photo of the Port Agent Information section of you Celebrity Today paper (or the paper itself) as it shows the Ships Port Agents contact information!

getting lost in a foreign country without that and missing the ship could be stressful and expensive lesson?

[Georgia_Peaches]

How hard is it to keep up with the group?  Scenarios like you described tick me off enough to avoid ever booking a tour excursion involving large groups of people. Glad they made it back but what a waste of time for the guide (and group) while the couple was MIA. 
 

Great reminder about the port agent info. 

[Silkroad]

4 hours ago, D. B. said:

Remember that you should take A cell phone photo of the Port Agent Information section of you Celebrity Today paper (or the paper itself) as it shows the Ships Port Agents contact information!

getting lost in a foreign country without that and missing the ship could be stressful and expensive lesson?

Great reminder! We both take photos of the Port Agent information, just in case. It wouldn’t be fun to watch our ship sail away from a US port without us either. 

[Silkroad]

54 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

How hard is it to keep up with the group?  Scenarios like you described tick me off enough to avoid ever booking a tour excursion involving large groups of people. Glad they made it back but what a waste of time for the guide (and group) while the couple was MIA

I agree with you 💯  We have taken only a few ship excursions for this reason. I will say that we have seen a couple of delays due to injuries that were not serious, but did impact the injured persons’ ability to return to the meeting place as quickly as anticipated. In both cases, the injured person sent someone ahead to the meeting place so the rest of us would know they were coming. 

[TowandaUK]

Some years ago we were on a celebrity excursion in Athens. We stopped at a park under the acropolis for a period of time. One person (lone traveller) did not return at the appropriate time. Our guide made a thorough search of the area to no avail. Despite waiting some time she did not return. Our guide put an alert out to all the other tour operators along with a description. We continued on the tour. The lady was eventually located by another group and rejoined us later at the Plaka before returning to the ship. I was always wary of making sure I returned as required, but made doubly sure after this. 

[Homosassa]

Some passengers book a shore excursion with the intent of  using the excursion as transportation and leaving the tour permanently to do their own plans.

 

Unfortunately, they do not tell anyone that they are leaving and the group ends up waiting for them.

 

There are also those who feel that their needs should be met above anyone else's needs and assume that the tour will wait for them.

[1025cruise]

What's even worse is the ship's tours that stop at every gift shop, and you have that one person that needs to browse while pretty much everyone is waiting on the bus for them.

[CNSfromHI]

12 hours ago, D. B. said:

...2 guests were unaccounted for and could not be found...

 

Remember that you should take A cell phone photo of the Port Agent Information section of you Celebrity Today paper (or the paper itself) as it shows the Ships Port Agents contact information!

We experienced something similar on an excursion in March in San Juan, PR. At various times, this particular couple kept everyone waiting because they would wander off by themselves. At one spot, the guide had to backtrack along our route after these two didn't show up at the meeting place at the appointed time. Took him almost 15 minutes and he seemed mighty irritated when he came back. 😃

 

It happens, I guess, and I won't bang on about it. Really just wanted to thank you for the suggestion of photographing the port agent info in the paper. Great idea!

 

cjr

[mom says]

Somewhat off topic, but could the OP tell me where Lenovo is? That's a port I'm not familiar with. Could it be the ship docked in Livorno?

[hcat]

8 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

What's even worse is the ship's tours that stop at every gift shop, and you have that one person that needs to browse while pretty much everyone is waiting on the bus for them.

And then using the bathrooms or grabbing a snack....taking their sweet time..very selfish!

[Lena11033]

Last year we did a tour in Athens to the Acropolis - apparently some people didn't read the excursion details and didn't realize they would be walking to the top of the hill. They discussed everything with the guide and agreed to a meeting point - we do the climb and come back - they weren't there. We waited, then we had to start walking looking for them. They decided to 'go for a walk' so we wasted about 20-30 minutes looking for them. Then half the tour was mad because we hadn't eaten AND we had to now take a longer route back to the Plaka to the restaurant. 

 

Needless to say they weren't popular in our group for the rest of the tour.

 

This was after we started off late waiting for 1 person - left without them, got to the end of the port and had to turn back to get them as they decided to turn up. As soon as she was on the bus fell asleep because she was drunk/hungover from the night before. It was quite a tour 😅

[Baynanno1]

We silently applauded a tour guide on a bus tour long, long ago before discovering cruising.

 

On the first day, couple of older ladies wandered back to the bus about half an hour after the appointed time. They said words to the effect of "we will take as long as we like to see all we want to see."

 

Our guide announced that as a result of their tardiness we would all now miss - naming a couple of itinerary stops between that area and our hotel, because all large group tours run to a timetable.

 

Needless to say they were not tardy again!

 

On another occasion I was on a ship's tour from Portofino to Cinque Terre (my third and worst visit there).

There was a small group of younger self important cruisers with absolutely no regard for time instructions given by our guide, or the experience of their fellow cruisers.

So, the tour was pretty much cut short for the rest of us, as after the first misdemeanour, the guide gave us meeting times which turned out to be well ahead of when we actually needed to meet up for the next leg - via boat or train - neither of which will wait for stragglers.

What should have been reasonable times in each of the towns ended up as not much more than a quick walk through for the rest of us who took notice of the meeting times and as a result spent much time standing at our meeting points waiting for the stragglers - every time!

 

 

[D. B.]

9 hours ago, CNSfromHI said:

We experienced something similar on an excursion in March in San Juan, PR. At various times, this particular couple kept everyone waiting because they would wander off by themselves. At one spot, the guide had to backtrack along our route after these two didn't show up at the meeting place at the appointed time. Took him almost 15 minutes and he seemed mighty irritated when he came back. 😃

 

It happens, I guess, and I won't bang on about it. Really just wanted to thank you for the suggestion of photographing the port agent info in the paper. Great idea!

 

cjr

You’re welcome! D.B.

[soniam]

A lot of people don't really have consideration for others. They don't even realize that this is rude and a problem. Also, some people may just not understand the instructions, possibly not understanding the language. It sucks for everyone else though. I guess there's always the case that someone wasn't feeling well but didn't know how to contact the tour guide; however, I bet this is kind of rare.

[the penguins]

13 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

We silently applauded a tour guide on a bus tour long, long ago before discovering cruising.

 

On the first day, couple of older ladies wandered back to the bus about half an hour after the appointed time. They said words to the effect of "we will take as long as we like to see all we want to see."

 

Our guide announced that as a result of their tardiness we would all now miss - naming a couple of itinerary stops between that area and our hotel, because all large group tours run to a timetable.

 

Needless to say they were not tardy again!

 

On another occasion I was on a ship's tour from Portofino to Cinque Terre (my third and worst visit there).

There was a small group of younger self important cruisers with absolutely no regard for time instructions given by our guide, or the experience of their fellow cruisers.

So, the tour was pretty much cut short for the rest of us, as after the first misdemeanour, the guide gave us meeting times which turned out to be well ahead of when we actually needed to meet up for the next leg - via boat or train - neither of which will wait for stragglers.

What should have been reasonable times in each of the towns ended up as not much more than a quick walk through for the rest of us who took notice of the meeting times and as a result spent much time standing at our meeting points waiting for the stragglers - every time!

 

 

One reason why we always book a private guide and share the cost with one other couple. No waiting around, we walk with the guide at our pace stopping for coffee and cakes as needed. Lots of choices, our go to organisation is Toursbylocals. Get out, explore and enjoy.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

On 5/6/2023 at 2:50 AM, D. B. said:

Remember that you should take A cell phone photo of the Port Agent Information section of you Celebrity Today paper (or the paper itself) as it shows the Ships Port Agents contact information!

They now list that contact info in the app under the announcements section. Here's an example for Bonaire:

 

We actually had to call the Port Agent in grand Cayman when our independent excursion was running late. However, his response was less than helpful. Basically he said we "should" make it on time and to "hurry up". We ended up making it back on the second to last tender.

[all2me]

On a recent cruise excursion we had 2 lovely people in their 90’s which is wonderful…however this tour was accurately described as “difficult”. They were in good shape for there age….however no way could keep up. Since I am a retired therapist who worked with older population…I took her hand and then he could walk safely with his cane. They had no business to be on this tour. It was also very hot. They carried no water and she had flip flops on. I was kind and patient…as was my husband…but explained to be very aware of any tour descriptions! I so wish everyone would.

I know things can happen to anyone!! Just be aware of your limitations before signing up. 

[hrhdhd]

I've had inconsiderate people on private tours, too. It's a roll of the dice.

[the penguins]

32 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

I've had inconsiderate people on private tours, too. It's a roll of the dice.

To a large extent this depends on your definition of a private tour. In our experience these tours can be divided into 2 types 

Type 1: where the tour is actually similar to a ships tour but has fewer passengers and usually a smaller vehicle. On these tours passengers have no control over the programme and have no idea who their guide will be. The main attraction seems to be a lower price than the ship charges.

Type 2: where you book with a specific guide and you can tailor the tour to your specific requirements. With this type of tour you walk with your guide (no following behind and trying to keep up). The tours can be tailored to your exact requirements. 

Type 2 is our choice usually sharing with 1 other couple and occasionally with 2 couples.

[Baynanno1]

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

One reason why we always book a private guide and share the cost with one other couple. No waiting around, we walk with the guide at our pace stopping for coffee and cakes as needed. Lots of choices, our go to organisation is Toursbylocals. Get out, explore and enjoy.

 

We have had some excellent experiences with Guides of Tours by Locals in various parts of the world.

Also with Dark Rome Tours and with a local company in St Petersburg, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

[LeeW]

Just almost left a guy on the beach on Nevis.  We were told a 1:15 return time and were on a large bright yellow catamaran.  He was off buying a T shirt down the beach and came running back when we were heading out.  Late getting back from excursion by 15 minutes and got to ship 2 minutes before all aboard on Equinox (most folks on excursion were behind us).  First time I have seen cat excursion that didn't do a head count after snorkeling or beach.

[Mark_K]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:20 PM, mom says said:

Somewhat off topic, but could the OP tell me where Lenovo is? That's a port I'm not familiar with. Could it be the ship docked in Livorno?

I’m not sure, but there’s a big laptop computer factory there.

[sanger727]

On 5/7/2023 at 12:36 PM, all2me said:

On a recent cruise excursion we had 2 lovely people in their 90’s which is wonderful…however this tour was accurately described as “difficult”. They were in good shape for there age….however no way could keep up. Since I am a retired therapist who worked with older population…I took her hand and then he could walk safely with his cane. They had no business to be on this tour. It was also very hot. They carried no water and she had flip flops on. I was kind and patient…as was my husband…but explained to be very aware of any tour descriptions! I so wish everyone would.

I know things can happen to anyone!! Just be aware of your limitations before signing up. 

 

And then people wonder why some tours have age limitations.

 

I had a similar experience on a land tour. The tour was of Peru with Machu Picchu. There was a couple in their 80s and the husband was clearly disabled and needed assistance walking. No idea what these two thought they were doing on this tour but we had to cut our first city walking tour short because he couldn't do it. Luckily, the tour agency added a second guide for the machu Picchu tours (because of him) so they could do the tour by themselves and not hold us back.