Passengers missed Enchantment of the Seas in Belize

[lucy2800]

Hi all,

I booked a family of five on the Enchantment of the Seas sailing for the five day July 31, 2006 sailing. It just so happens that they missed getting back on the ship in Belize! Finally, they talked Royal Caribbean into letting them get back on the ship after hiring a tender to catch up with the ship. The story is unbelievable, and is probably going to prove as being the biggest adventure and costly excursion this family ever had. I know that many passengers were video taping the "rescue" as they caught the ship by tender, and as the Enchantment crew helped each of the five family members get back on board. The family would love to have a copy of your video if you were filming that day as a fellow passenger. Please contact me if you have what we are looking for. Lucy2800@aol.com

Thank you!

[vmom]

Wow...what happened that they missed the ship?

 

I was trying to plan our day in Belize. Many of the excursions are for quite lengthy periods of time and a distance away. I often book excursions with private companies, but was wondering what to do since it seems everything to do is either a distance away and/or an extended time is involved.

 

Don't want to miss the ship as your clients did. I'm not a risk taker.

[Treven]

Wow...what happened that they missed the ship?

 

I was trying to plan our day in Belize. Many of the excursions are for quite lengthy periods of time and a distance away. I often book excursions with private companies, but was wondering what to do since it seems everything to do is either a distance away and/or an extended time is involved.

 

Don't want to miss the ship as your clients did. I'm not a risk taker.

Then can you say, "ship-sponsored excursion"?

[CaptData]

VMom book it with the ship so that they will try to wait for their excursions. They keep in touch with them by radio so if something happens the ship will know. I did this in San Jaun, we were 30 mins late getting back. Right after we got back they pulled in the plank and did top speed for an hour to get to where they should have been by that time.

 

Here is MHO, if I am going to be more then 30 mins from the ship I will take the ship's excursion at the higher price. When the excursion is very long and it would be close to the 30 min before sail time I take ship's excursion. If we are in port for 10-12 hours and the excursion is 5 hours in the morning or early afternoon then I would do local. If I do local than I make sure that the excursion finishes at least one hour before the time I need to be back.

 

Example docked 7 am - 7 pm - local excursion must be back by 5:30 pm. The on borad time would be 6:30 pm (30 mins prior to sail time).

 

Example docked 1pm - 6 pm (very short time because you have to be back by 5:30) I would only use ship excursions here.

 

Example Tender 7am - 7pm I would book local but not long excursion as tenders will fill up- fast near the end. I would plan to be at the tender by 5pm.

 

Example tender 7 am - 3 pm. Must be back by 2:30 for last tender. If I did local here I would be back by 1:30. Any long excursion here should be with cruiseline.

 

Example tender 1pm -5 pm All excursions would be through ship.

[vmom]

Thanks for the advice. Seems like most of the excursions in Belize are either a distance away or several hours long. Likely best to take the ship's excursions as you advise. Tender ports always make me nervous.

 

Did you read on one of the other boards...10 people were left behind at the ruins in Tulum because they didn't come back to the bus when they were supposed to...and it was a RCCL excursion, not a private excursion. Even on a ship excursion, its best to always be aware of time.

[andnickali]

Did you read on one of the other boards...10 people were left behind at the ruins in Tulum because they didn't come back to the bus when they were supposed to...and it was a RCCL excursion, not a private excursion. Even on a ship excursion, its best to always be aware of time.

 

I did a ship sponsered excursion to Universal Studios during an unplanned stop in Port Canaveral last year. I debated getting a car and going on my own (there were 4 of us), but in the end knew I would be on pins and needles about getting back to the ship on time.

 

The bus hired by Carnival stated they would leave Universal Studios at a specific time and it would be the responsibility of the passenger to catch a cab back to the ship. We arrived 15 minutes prior to the departure and were the LAST four on the bus. It was obvious that everybody was onboard (not an empty seat to be found) yet the bus waited until exactly 6:00 and then it pulled out.

 

So- beware of the time even on a ship's trip.

[dougp26364]

I've been told by more than one bus driver that the difference between a tourist and a hitch hiker is 5 minutes. If you're 5 minutes late getting back to the bus, then you're on you own. Of course there are always those who either don't pay attention to what time they're told to be back, don't keep an eye on the time or just don't care.

 

Things can certainly happen when you're onshore that are not expected. I've seen several people miss the ship over the last few years. Some their own fault, some the fault of the vendor and some the victim of a traffic delay or other unforseen incident. Having had one vendor in St. Thomas cut it a little to close for comfort (trying to put to many extra's into the tour for a bigger tip), I stick with ship sponsored excursions now.

 

I've always wondered about the cost of taking that tender out to the ship. Would you mind sharing just how expensive this extra excursion cost you?

[dirtgirl]

I was the one who posted about the 10 people left in Tulum on the Aug. 27th Mariner cruise. The guide stressed at the beginning that it was an express tour, confirmed that we were all on ship time, and explained the importance of being on time. As it was, because we waited 15 minutes for these people, they had to radio ahead and hold the ferry for us. It would be an $80 cab ride from Tulum to the ferry, then they would have had to pay for the ferry, then a cab in Cozumel to get to the pier, then a tender to the ship. I wouldn't want to be them!:rolleyes: The guide got into an argument, in Spanish, with some of the friends of those left behind. They threatened to get off the bus as well, but didn't.

 

I saw one couple heading down to the beach. I bet that is where they lost track of time.

[wrinklesandme]

Lucy2800

 

We were on that cruise with the passengers that missed the ship in Belize. Right before we left, the captain announced that 5 people were not checked on-board yet and that if they made it to the pier within 20 minutes, that they could meet us out at the pilot station. About 15 minutes later the captain came on and stated that the people did make it to the pier and he invited us all to come topside at approximatly 6pm to welcome them aboard!

 

We watched as the boat they charterd (Marley's Charters) came along side the ship and they lowered life vests to the passengers. We then watched as a rope was tide around each family member and they climbed aboard. Unfortunatly, we did not get a video of all this. Being all of 5'4", I couldn't see too much over the railing and didn't want to be the next one rescued. I don't remember seeing anyone in our vicinity with a recorder. We were on deck 6 watching.

 

I just was in complete awe the whole time and was saying my "thank you" prayers that it wasn't me.

 

So, how much did they pay for the charter? We were curious about that. Someone mentioned about $150 per person. Why were they late? Were they on an excursion or on their own?

 

We did an excursion through Coral Breezes and made it back to the pier with 90 minutes left until the last tender.

 

I'm sure this is a vacation they will not soon forget. Hope they have recovered and can laugh about it now.

[hstrybuf]

We did an excursion through Coral Breezes and made it back to the pier with 90 minutes left until the last tender.

 

I'm glad you mentioned this. I was just wondering about that as we have booked with CB as well. Thanks!

[Diane&4girls]

We, fam of 5, missed the Mariner in March in Cozumel. We did our own tour to Xcaret but the last ferry coming back to Cozumel from Playa del Carmen got cancelled due to Pres Bush's departure from Cancun that evening. I'd checked the ferry schedule 100 times and all was well until we arrived at the ferry dock and the sign read "next ferry 10am", which was the next morning! I tried for 30 minutes to reach the ship agent's in PDC but the line was busy so I called the ship and spoke with the Purser. He told me if I could hire a boat, they'd wait for us for 2 hours, pending approval from Capt Johnny.

 

So, long story short, I hired a guy with a sea-plane who took us to the Northern part of the island ($85 pp), about 1/2 mile off the coast. RCI sent a rescue boat after us and all is well.

 

Remeber, this was NOT a ship-sponsored excursion.

[seamama1]

Well, ship happens, doesn't it?

 

I have seen people left behind in Cozumel/Jamaica and Grand Cayman.

 

I was a Tour Director for many years in the 80's and early 90's and escorted tours all over the world by motorcoach and cruise ship. I cannot tell you the number of people that are consistently late or who miss the coach or ship. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them, what measures you take, some people walk around in a world of their own. I never waited more than 15 minutes...couldn't..there were 35-40 others who arrived on time and were ready to go....they paid their money too......

 

Before I would leave a passenger, the driver, local TD and I would RUN through and to every place nearby where we tried our hardest to find people...but there is a time when you have to fish or cut bait. I hated leaving people! Fortunately on the international tours especially, the passengers were all well-armed with all local and international contact phone numbers - the hotels being used on the rest of the tour, etc. It was up to them to catch up with us at that point.

 

Age has nothing to do with it either....irresponsible people come in all ages....experienced travelers and non-experienced. I must say though, it was the inexperienced travelers who were the maddest and the nastiest when they caught up.....guess they expected a baby-sitter. They also didn't think the "fine print" referred to them specifically -- and somehow it was all our fault that they weren't back on time. Some of these occurances were actually pretty funny!

 

I could tell you such stories...you wouldn't believe...........:p

[MortgageChick]

We always do our own excursions and are very careful about return times. In Puerto Vallarta last year, when it was obvious the 3 hour excursion was turning into 6 hrs( at around the 5th hour) , we insisted that the bus driver radio for a vehicle to take us back to Puerto Vallarta, which he did. The rest of the passengers on the tour were from local hotels.

 

We left a couple behind in Iceland in 2002, on the Carnival Legends Maiden Crossing. They did not stay on ships time and had a taxi drop them off at a remote waterfall. Not sure where they thought the next taxi would come from. They flew back to New York to pick up their bags. SOme people get injured and end up in hospital, others get lost, some are just plain stupid. Hard lesson.

 

In 2003 in Cozumel, on the Enchantment, we had a lady and her 9 year old daughter watch from a restaurant by the pier as the ship left,she hired a motor boat to bring her out to the ship and she and her daughter did the long climb up the side of the ship . First time cruiser, and asked other people what time the ship leaves, they said 7pm, unfortnately they were on another ship-

duh!

 

If we ever miss the ship, and if my husband doesn't kill me, we will only have ourselves to blame. Always take ashore credit card with at least 5K available, bank machine card, picture id and/or photocopy of passport. I read stories of people who go ashore with $100 and no credit cards. No that would be scary to be stranded with no money and no ID.

[andnickali]

On my first cruises we were one of those tourists that only carried a little bit of $$$$ and no credit card!

 

Now that we are older and wiser we take at least one credit card and our id. It would be an expensive lesson to learn if we had to put that card to use!