Ever had a private excursion make you miss ship?

[dyslexic pirate]

I am curious as to whether anyone has experienced a privately booked excursion being late back to the ship so that the passengers were left stranded on the dock as the ship sailed off and left them.

 

The big selling point for all the cruise lines is that sense of security you will get by only booking excursions with them. This also seems to be the driving force behind why some people will only book a ship's excursion package.

 

After our first cruise we realized how much money we could save as a family with a little research by booking independently. NEVER had a problem and all the indies were very aware of final boarding times etc.

 

So...anyone experience an independent tour making someone miss the ship??? Is there really any validity to the fear instilled in the passengers that independent operators will make them late for final boarding?

[yogimax]

I've never heard of it, but it must happen occasionally

[DaytonCruiser]

All the years I have been on this site and I have never heard of anyone missing the ship that booked an excursion promoted here. If it had ever happened, people would be still talking about it :)

 

There have been a few close calls I have read about..:D

 

I would always suggest booking excursions that start early in the day and end an hour or so before the ship is scheduled to leave.

 

Most people miss the ship because they were drinking/shopping on their own and lost track of time.

[Froufie]

Almost happened to us in Belize - read here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=873220

[Yazoo cruiser]

We have not, but some people at the next table did in Jamaica. We docked in Montego Bay and they took a cab to Dunn's river falls in Kingston, about a 2 hour drive. Anyone that has been to Montego Bay knows the traffic at the end of a buisness day can be atrocious. They were coming back and the cab had a flat tire and had no spare. This was the last port of call on the cruise so we never saw them again. Some of their friends told us they had to fly back to the U.S.

[riderfan89]

We have not, but some people at the next table did in Jamaica. We docked in Montego Bay and they took a cab to Dunn's river falls in Kingston, about a 2 hour drive. Anyone that has been to Montego Bay knows the traffic at the end of a buisness day can be atrocious. They were coming back and the cab had a flat tire and had no spare. This was the last port of call on the cruise so we never saw them again. Some of their friends told us they had to fly back to the U.S.

 

This type of thing is the worry for me. Even a reputable tour company can run into issues with traffic.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We have not, but some people at the next table did in Jamaica. We docked in Montego Bay and they took a cab to Dunn's river falls in Kingston, about a 2 hour drive. Anyone that has been to Montego Bay knows the traffic at the end of a buisness day can be atrocious. They were coming back and the cab had a flat tire and had no spare. This was the last port of call on the cruise so we never saw them again. Some of their friends told us they had to fly back to the U.S.

 

We almost always book independent tours after some clunker ship tours; I've never actually heard of anyone missing the ship because of an independent tour, but I'm sure it happens, rarely.

 

However, the above example is not really what I'd call missing a ship because of taking an independent tour, but more poor judgement on choosing where to go and how to get there, either from ignorance or careless. With just a little research you can find out how difficult it can be to get from Montego Bay to Dunn's River Falls due to driving time, terrain and traffic. Also, it sounds like they just hired a cab; with most actual tour companies, at least you have some back up in case of a scenario like a flat tire.

 

For instance, in Belize, on a tubing expedition, our bus stopped to help another bus that had mechanical problems--loaded their passengers on with us until another bus came to take on the stranded passengers.

 

I'm not saying it never happens and can't happen, but with some research on reputable tour companies, independent touring can be quite safe and reliable. And, most of the time, better quality for the price.

[BettyBurrito]

I've got another "almost" story.

 

We had booked a Jeep Tour that ended at Rum Point Beach in Grand Cayman.

 

There was only one other couple in the tour with us driving their own jeep. They happened to be sailing a Royal Caribbean ship that left 1 hour later than the Miracle.

 

So once we were at Rum Point, my husband mentioned to the tour guide that we needed to leave a little early since our ship left an hour earlier than the other couple's. (Rum Point Beach is a heck of a drive from the port and it was a weekday so traffice was getting bad).

 

After about an hour at the beach, my husband got really nervous when the other couple didn't seem to take our situation seriously. They had waded out and were enjoying themselves. But we had to go. They weren't coming back and the guide was just hanging out.

 

My husband actually waded out to them to tell them we had to go.

 

So we all washed off the sand, packed up our gear and got in the van to go back to the port.

 

It took us so long to drive back. We arrived about 10 minutes before the last ferry arrived.

 

The other couple said, "Wow, we didn't think it was this far to the port!"

 

We've booked every excursion through Carnival since then. For me, the extra money is worth my peace of mind!

[vacruizer]

I've got another "almost" story.

 

We had booked a Jeep Tour that ended at Rum Point Beach in Grand Cayman.

 

There was only one other couple in the tour with us driving their own jeep. They happened to be sailing a Royal Caribbean ship that left 1 hour later than the Miracle.

 

So once we were at Rum Point, my husband mentioned to the tour guide that we needed to leave a little early since our ship left an hour earlier than the other couple's. (Rum Point Beach is a heck of a drive from the port and it was a weekday so traffice was getting bad).

 

After about an hour at the beach, my husband got really nervous when the other couple didn't seem to take our situation seriously. They had waded out and were enjoying themselves. But we had to go. They weren't coming back and the guide was just hanging out.

 

My husband actually waded out to them to tell them we had to go.

 

So we all washed off the sand, packed up our gear and got in the van to go back to the port.

 

It took us so long to drive back. We arrived about 10 minutes before the last ferry arrived.

 

The other couple said, "Wow, we didn't think it was this far to the port!"

 

We've booked every excursion through Carnival since then. For me, the extra money is worth my peace of mind!

 

We also had a close call in Grand Cayman - wonder if it was the same tour company? We were on the Miracle but were in a tour of mostly people from the Valor that due to differences in ship time and port times left two hours later than we did. We confirmed with both the guides and the owner that they knew our port times were earlier - no problem they said. As we came back from Rum Point (by boat) the guides were leisurely stopping to show off houses, iguanas, and scenery even though we were less than an hour from final tender time. Then we got stuck in traffic on the way back - as soon as we saw the tender pier we made the bus driver pull over and ran for it with less than 10 minutes to go. We were on the third from the last tender and the ship even sailed early. Scared the dickens out of me. We still book independent sometimes but make sure the time due back is LONG before we depart although the tour in Grand Cayman had promised us we'd be back two hours early to shop and that didn't come close to happening.

[float'n fanatics]

Oh yeah... we did an Shark/Stingray Excursion in Belize 2 years ago.

Had a fabulous time!

On the way back, we lost one of our 2 outboard motors and just started crawling back.

It was getting late, and I (seemed like I was the only one) started to really worry.

They had to call for another boat to come and meet us to pick all of us up and bring us back to the pier to catch the tender.

While we waiting, I got more and more worried, and had SO many scenarios running through my head.

The crew was great, and said if we didn't make it, they would take care of everything as far as getting us to the ship at the next port, but still... we had no money.

It's just not a good feeling.

We ended up catching the tender with about 30 seconds to spare.

I never felt such a sense of relief in my life, and although I never want to go through that again, we are booking this same excursion for our upcoming cruise in May!

I guess we are gluttons for punishment, but the excursion is THAT good in our opinion!