Missed The Ship's Departure In Port ...

[ladysail2]

:confused: What happens in a case like this.....the ship docks at the same island, but in two different ports, for example, one day at Hilo, the next day at Kailua Kona. What happens if passengers 'miss' the ship leaving Hilo, knowing full well the ship will be on the other side of the island the next day? By not having to board the ship, the passengers can partake of night activities and simply stay in a hotel overnight.

Has anyone every heard of this happening?

Just a thought. Thanks.

[babylene]

The cruiseline encourages you to take their air because it includes transfers, which from Heathrow to Dover, can be quite costly. Why then wouldn't they wait for you if the air that they arranged didn't get you there on time? I don't get it!

[lovingmom]

Thank you Dave. So, the last tender time and all aboard times are not exactly the same!

Correct? I am just trying to plan my excursions and want to make sure I leave myself plenty of time to get back to the ship at Grand Cayman. Does anyone know when the last tender time would be for the Mariner at Grand Cayman?

[ladysail2]

lovingmom, the tender times are clearly marked on the gangway before you leave the ship, and also at the tender station on Grand Cayman. When you get over to the tender station, just ask the Mariner rep what the last tender time is. Passengers have to be back on ship at least 30 minutes prior to the ship's leaving; I would suspect that the last tender time is about 45-60 minutes before the ship pulls up anchor. Another thought...lots of people will want to take the 'last' tender. It could be full. They won't leave you behind if you get there on time, but you don't want to give yourself extra anxiety, and the tenders do hold alot of people. I actually have been on the last tender out of Grand Cayman on the Mariner of the Seas. My anxiety was while I was still in the stores...knowing that last tender time was only 15 minutes away!! :eek: Phew, but I made it.

 

Babylene, I think the cruise line's obligation is to get you on the ship when you take their air. It doesn't mean that they will get you to the departing port. I have seen where the cruiseline puts people up in a hotel and those affected meet up with the ship at the next port. I don't know why the ship doesn't wait either? I would be awfully disappointed to have to wait till the next day to start my cruise.

[hebeeast]

Sometimes the Cruiseline must leave the dock at the scheduled time that is dictated by the dock. We one time had to move out of the dock area and then sit and wait for returning trips who were escorted by speed boat to our ship. I hear climbing aboard under rough seas can be at lot of fun.

[stephy1]

I think it really depends on where you're sailing from and how far the first port is, etc. If you're sailing out of San Juan generally speaking the next port isn't going to be that far away that they can't hold the ship for you.

However, when we took a HAL ship out of Seward, Alaska a couple of passengers took HAL air but didn't make the ship. So HAL flew them into the next port to catch up with the ship, and paid for all their expenses. I actually spoke to one of the passengers and he said they were very nice, but he was upset that they didn't hold the ship for 40 minutes. They only missed the ship by 40 minutes! So there are no guarantees

 

Stephanie

[ztalumni]

On our cruise this past March- we had rccl - do our air and got cruise care- very smart of us- because we were the last flight to come in to Ft Lauderdale and there was a huge back up on the interstate- luckily we had book the transportation from them and they had held a station open before you board the ship for us on this flight- we got on board just as the mustering was going on. There were some people on our flight that had booked their own air and not gotten cruise care- they took a taxi and I saw them pull up next to the ship as we were leaving- I saw them board the ship in San Juan- they had paid for their own air from Miami to San Juan and caught it there. I got talking to some people who had booked from rccl and had the cruise care and they said they missed the boat and royal caribbean paid to fly them to catch the boat in san juan and paid for their hotel there- our first day was at sea- so they got to spend an extra day at san juan on rccl. I guess it pays to get cruise care insurance. tiff

[Shirley and Les]

:confused: What happens in a case like this.....the ship docks at the same island, but in two different ports, for example, one day at Hilo, the next day at Kailua Kona. What happens if passengers 'miss' the ship leaving Hilo, knowing full well the ship will be on the other side of the island the next day? By not having to board the ship, the passengers can partake of night activities and simply stay in a hotel overnight.

Has anyone every heard of this happening?

Just a thought. Thanks.

Ladysail,

Somewhere on the old board I heard of someone doing exactly this to be able to stay with friends overnight on one of the Hawaiian islands. They were denied boarding at the second port since they were USA citizens and there is an USA maritime law that doesn't allow this. I do not remember the exact circumstances nor the final outcome. If you were going to do this, I would do some detailed research in advance.

Les

[bersue]

We had airplane and bad weather problems. Kept trying to switch flights to make it on time for cruise. We kept in constant contact with cruise line. We did book air through them. When we finally arrived cruise help were pacing waiting for us. Said if luggage didn't come soon we would have to leave it. I of course said no way. They actually went behind luggage doors looking for it.

 

Luggage came and they hurried us to a full size bus. only 4 on it.when we arrived at terminal guests were doing life boat drill. We entered through cargo area as all other doors were pulled in. All they kept saying was hurry. We didn't even check in, they just grabbed our documents and said go. Next day we took care of things.

 

very scary.

[greygypsy]

We have almost missed at two ports - both in Europe. In Villefranche, we had a wonderful dinner down the coast about 30 miles. I even stopped drinking wine halfway through so I would be sober to drive back over somewhat unfamiliar roads. Took the wrong turn off from the toll road and ended up in Old Nice, absolutely lost. I needed to get to the lower Corniche and couldn't figure out how. A nice native kindly showed us the way, then got confused about driving THROUGH the castle (if you ever get there you will know what I mean), and had to park the car, drop the rental keys at the local hotel, and we barely made it to the last tender. Lesson learned - when driving a rental car, get back early and preferably before dark! Second time was in Rome. Nice day on our own having taken the train. Got back to train station in plenty of time (we thought) to catch train back to Civitivecchia. Train was late, train came in on different track (announced in Italian only - a nice local told us when it was obvious we were waiting at a track with no train!) and then the train was delayed at least another 30 minutes before it left. Anxiously watching the time as the train approached, we arrived 20 minutes before the ship was due to leave - and, of course, no taxis!! Well, the good news is the train station is relatively close to the port so we ran/walked and got there with a whopping 5 minutes to spare. Lesson learned - well, not sure, since the next time there we still took the train, but we did plan on getting back an hour earlier than before, and there were no problems. The one advantage if missing the ship on a typical Western Med cruise is it is easy to catch up to the ship via train, so as someone already mentioned always carry ID and credit cards ashore. Bigger problem in the Caribbean - can't take a train to next port of call, and some places not serviced well by planes. As previous poster noted, fascinating to watch folks bribe the pilot to take them to the ship as it is leaving and make the jump aboard!

-

A few simple rules - always fly in at least a day early. When on shore, always plan on getting back at least two hours early so you have wiggle room if problems come up. You don't need to only schedule ship's excursions. And have some fun!! Jeff

[pjsugg]

A few years ago we were on NCL in Hawaii and had the opportunity to go to the bridge leave early Am at the most difficult port with a friend and the Captain. While there, his diver (newly employed) missed the boat. Usually fired employ was not for reasons I shall not disclose. But as the Captain was advised by Port to Captain... you're diver has missed the boat.

 

Norweigan Captain sternly replies: He is a diver....Tell him to svvimm!!

 

Pilot Boat takes him to ship and he climbs aboard!!

 

Patti

[Ships R Great]

I think it must depend, partly at least, on the captain. On Century 7/3/04 we had two near misses. First, the last tender in Grand Caymon was waiting its turn to be hooked up to the pulleys to be raised to the ship when it turned around and went back to shore. It returned with two young boys and an adult. I don't know whether they would have done that if it had only been the adult.

 

Then in Key West we were watching stragglers hurrying to the ship. One lone lady rushed up to the gangplank right at departure time (they had already started to pull it onto the ship) but did not board. After about twenty minutes she pointed to two dock security people who were helping a young lady (!) down the pier toward the ship. I thought she was ill or injured until she raised her head and I could see she was rip-roaring drunk. The man standing next to us said that they were at his table. The older one was 30 and the younger one in college. They were sisters. He said the younger one was a teetotler at dinner. I guess she was celebrating the end of the cruise. She was very lucky to have her sister with her and even luckier the captain held the ship.

 

So it does happen that they will hold the ship but I am not going to test it.

[ladysail2]

Thanks for the answer, Les, I wasn't going to try it....just wondered what would happen. It does seem a shame to have to go back on the ship, just to get off of it the next day. But that is the way the cruises work. For me, I don't do bingo, shows, or audience participation, but would like to go do a night land tour. It sounds more interesting to do that while on an island than spending money in the ships' lounges.

 

Thanks again. :)

[stretch]

What happens if you take sea/air from the cruiseline and the plane doesn't get you there on time?

Generally, they will hold the ship, if the plane is expected to arrive in a reasonable amount of time, and also depending on how many pax they have on that flight. If the planes arrival is delayed too long, the cruise line will have a Rep. at the airport and arrange to have them catch up to the ship at the next port. Of course, all expenses will be covered by the cruiseline, including lodging and food, and I would expect a certain amount of onboard credit to be issued. The best advice is to fly into the departure city a day before and not be rushed.

Stretch

 

Oh, by the way, I've got some great pics of a young couple that was left on the dock in St. Thomas and a really good shot of their ship (Century), sailing off into the sunset. We were on the Explorer of the Seas and finally got them to wave "bye" to us as we (the last ship leaving the port) pulled away from the dock.

[jdlewis]

I have found that the times for arrival and departure that come with your info on booking are not always accurate. The accurate times were the ones that came with the daily "newspaper" delivered in the evening for the next day.

For embarking and disembarking we always arrive the day before and check the time locally the morning of departure. I also found that X was very accomodating for people that had flight times to make on disembarkation day.