Vacationing family stranded in Bahamas

[candigirl41]

I guess I am wondering like everyone else how come there were only two families. However, why was there a tour bus there to take them back to the dock. If they had missed it, they would have had to get back to the dock on their own.

 

Candi

[dan40]

Another strange thing about this story is that the dolphin swim was at the Atlantis Hotel. The Atlantis is less than 3/4 of a mile away from the ship docks. By road is it farther away than that, but by SIGHT, the ships are easily seen. And a water taxi from the hotel to the dock takes about 5 minutes.

Seems like a lot more needs to be known.

[momsbusy]

We've been to Atlantis many times. You can see the cruiseships from the resort.

[Pegs222]

On our cruise to Alaska last week, every day when we were in port, they were calling for someone on the intercom system to call Guest Services. The night we did not leave until 11:00pm they were blaring it all over the ship and into the Staterooms until 11:00pm. Some people were already in bed at that time. If they had not come on board the ship why would they be calling them unless some of their party may know where they are. Did they mysteriously slip through all that security?

[Legend]

I don't think Carnival is admitting any fault whatsoever. They are merely helping these people return to the US. I think it was very generous of the cruise line as it was stated they were not on a ship sponsored shore excursion.

[CalmCruiserNC]

Why were only two families left behind? If this was an excursion I think it would have been a larger group.

 

EXACTLY what I was thinking -- these people must have ventured off on their own ...

[Cruise, J.D.]

Interesting story and it does appear Carnival is conceding some fault, but why were these families not checking the time for themselves? I don't care if I am on a Carnival excursion or not - I am going to do some self-help if we are cutting it close. There is no "hold-the-ship guarantee" in the cruise contract for Carnival excursions even though it appears in promotional information.

[adonisr]

I have first hand knowledge of Glory leaving a pair on the dock.

I also know that the ship did not wait even one minute.

 

A few days ago there was a video on here of Glory leaving a pair on the dock and the shadow of the ship passed over them as they ran, so they apparently missed the boat by maybe a minute.

 

The ship has no requirement to "wait even one minute". You are CLEARLY told what time to be back on board - that means ON BOARD, not standing in line to board or even worse, running toward the ship on a 300 yard pier. Too many people have the attitude "it's all about me" and think that time requirements do not apply to them. As far as I'm concerned, if you are not on a ship sponsored tour bus, and you are not on board on time - it's your problem. The shipp should blow the horn and push away - while those of us on board on time stand at the rails and laugh at you.

[browneyes7]

Why were only two families left behind? If this was an excursion I think it would have been a larger group.

 

 

That's what I was thinking, also!:confused:

[Kurbanfan]

I don't think Carnival is admitting any fault whatsoever. They are merely helping these people return to the US. I think it was very generous of the cruise line as it was stated they were not on a ship sponsored shore excursion.

 

The article said they booked their excursion thru Carnival.....

 

Interesting story and it does appear Carnival is conceding some fault, but why were these families not checking the time for themselves? I don't care if I am on a Carnival excursion or not - I am going to do some self-help if we are cutting it close. There is no "hold-the-ship guarantee" in the cruise contract for Carnival excursions even though it appears in promotional information.

 

ROFLMAO!!!!!

[rene194215]

One thing I want to bring up- I thought the ship will sound its horn when it is close to leaving? This happened to us once, we were back later then we wanted to and the ship would be leaving in about 15 min. We usually liked to get back sooner then that because we had the early seating for dinner. I cant say for the other ports because we would be taking showers when we pulled out of port.

 

Does anyone know if this is true, horn blowing shortly before pulling out of port? If so, I would think that you would hear it if the ship is 3/4 of a mile from Atlantis?

[OhioJeff]

One thing I want to bring up- I thought the ship will sound its horn when it is close to leaving? This happened to us once, we were back later then we wanted to and the ship would be leaving in about 15 min. We usually liked to get back sooner then that because we had the early seating for dinner. I cant say for the other ports because we would be taking showers when we pulled out of port.

 

Does anyone know if this is true, horn blowing shortly before pulling out of port? If so, I would think that you would hear it if the ship is 3/4 of a mile from Atlantis?

I dont think you can count on that happening, plus with multiple ships in port, how would you know its your ship leaving.

[missabbi]

I booked an excursion through Carnival for my Miracle cruise in September....to the Atlantis. It states the excursion is for 5 hours. Apparently, the buses run every half hour back and forth to the port, but you must be on a bus to the port to make it back to your ship on time. The buses can still be running after your time is up. They probably lost all track of time....which is their fault. When we go to the Atlantis, I will make sure I am on the bus that gets me back to the ship at least an hour before it's supposed to leave. If I decided to hang around until the last bus leaves and my ship is gone...well, I'm SOL. :D

[marshhawk]

When our ship the Sensation was in Nassau, the information we received was we were sailing at 6 a.m.. My watch is always a little fast(never want to be late for anything) so you can imagine my surprise when I awoke at 5:45 a.m. and the ship was out of the harbor. I was hoping that they checked the passenger list before sailing:D. I watched the lights of the harbor get smaller, and fell back asleep.;)

[CruiseLover824]

Yeh its pretty obvious that carnival did take some blame just by the fact they put them on another ship and apologized to the couple, and we all know a cruise line doesn't do that unless they are admitting responsibility for the incident.

 

Still is a strange story and I don't think we are getting the whole thing.

 

 

There was a story that John Heald posted on his blog a while back about some girls who were left behind in Cozumel. They had spent a looong afternoon at Carlos and Charlies, and simply lost track of time. They missed their ship--I believe it was the Valor. Carnival, although it was in no way their fault, ended up putting them on a different ship to get them back to Florida. They too had to find a ride back to Miami from Tampa.

 

I saw two people in Roatan almost miss our ship last April. It appeared that they had ventured off on an excursion of their own. They rolled up on an ATV and had to make a mad dash to the ship. The ship didn't leave on time, but instead waited for these two to return. Everyone knew their names because of the 40 announcements they were making over the PA system looking for them. Everyone was shouting their names as they ran onto the ship. Just glad it wasn't me!

 

We did see some people get left behind in Cozumel in April. The ship's crew seemed to be waiting as long as they could as they kept announcing the names of the missing people on the PA. Just as the ship was pulling away from the pier, you could see some folks running down the pier, only to met by Carnival security. The security guy turned them around and walked them back to the gate. This time the ship left pretty much on time, and didn't wait much past the time we were supposed to sail.

[RRLLAL]

My 2 cents.

 

I think they were on a Carnival excursion. Wanna bet they were on one of those 5 hour excursions where the dolphin encounter was part of it, then you spend the rest of the time exploring Atlantis (on your own)? The tour bus was probably an every 30 minute thing or something that included other ships. When the dolphin part got postponed due to weather, they muct have assumed they would still get a full 5 hours at Atlantis instead of understanding that the ship was still going to leave on time, thus cutting the total excursion time to something less. They went off wandering, boat left and they took the tour bus back, which wasn't probably only for the Glory and that one single group of excursioners.

[CruiseLover824]

 

Does anyone know if this is true, horn blowing shortly before pulling out of port? If so, I would think that you would hear it if the ship is 3/4 of a mile from Atlantis?

 

Yes...it is like a last call for those on shore.

 

As I was waiting for the ship to leave Cozumel, they blasted the horn once--might have been about 15 mins. before sailaway. Then, as the ship was getting to pull away from the pier, they blew it 3 times.

[Timmys_mom]

My take on this is that they went on a ship sponsored tour that got delayed, however, they were still able to do their dolphin swim a little late. After the swim they hung around Atlantis. Just because they tell you the ship won't leave you behind if you are on a ship sponsored tour, does not give you the right to putz around the resort, thinking they will hold the ship until you are done looking at the fish in the aquarium (which was not part of the excursion).

 

They should have done the dolphin swim and got back on the bus. I lay this one at the feet of the passengers, not Carnival. Do these people not wear a watch on shore?

[beachbum6264]

Why were only two families left behind? If this was an excursion I think it would have been a larger group.

 

Sounds to me like the rest of the excursion group made it back to the ship in time, I doubt that there were only those 2 families on the excursion. So the Glory had no reason to wait for them, since the excursion WAS back on time, these people were at fault for not returning with the rest of the excursion. Sorry, that's just my opinion, FWIW. Take respsonsiblilty for your own actions, don't look for someone else to blame. If you know what time a bus is scheduled to leave, then be there at that time. If you miss it, it's nobody's fault but yours. I don't think Carnival was accepting blame when they gave them passage back to Florida, I think it was just good public relations.

[triplee]

Hi folks,

 

We took a Carnival tour to Feed the Stingrays in Grand Cayman. After feeding the stingrays, the tour let us off on a small island where we ate lunch and lounged around. We were told to be at the pier to be picked up by our tour boat, at 1:20. (boats are not allowed to remain tied up at the pier) Shortly before our appointed time, we began to get ready to walk to the pier. We noticed another boat cut in front of our boat and TIED UP to the pier. The boat owner left his boat tied to the pier for 40-45 minutes, causing us to board our boat long past the appointed time. (Boat captain was steamed!)

 

When we arrived back on Grand Cayman, we boarded a bus to take us back to the tenders. A person was waiting for us and RAN us to the front of a huge line and put us on a tender back to the Inspiration. The ship was scheduled to leave at 3:00 p.m. and we boarded the ship at 3:20! Had we not been on a Carnival tour, we would have missed the ship.

 

That is why we book tours through Carnival. If anything unforseen happens, Carnival will wait!

 

Lee

[shellann]

My 2 cents.

 

I think they were on a Carnival excursion. Wanna bet they were on one of those 5 hour excursions where the dolphin encounter was part of it, then you spend the rest of the time exploring Atlantis (on your own)? The tour bus was probably an every 30 minute thing or something that included other ships.

 

Bingo! And the fact that they did hitch a ride on the Destiny means there would probably have been other tour buses returning from Atlantis even after the Glory sailed.

[tedjazz]

They should have done the dolphin swim and got back on the bus. I lay this one at the feet of the passengers, not Carnival. Do these people not wear a watch on shore?

 

That's the rule, always the fault of the passenger, not Carnival...it's in the contract. ;)

[SmogMonster]

My 2 cents.

 

I think they were on a Carnival excursion. Wanna bet they were on one of those 5 hour excursions where the dolphin encounter was part of it, then you spend the rest of the time exploring Atlantis (on your own)? The tour bus was probably an every 30 minute thing or something that included other ships. When the dolphin part got postponed due to weather, they muct have assumed they would still get a full 5 hours at Atlantis instead of understanding that the ship was still going to leave on time, thus cutting the total excursion time to something less. They went off wandering, boat left and they took the tour bus back, which wasn't probably only for the Glory and that one single group of excursioners.

 

I think RRLLAL post is the explanation that makes the most sense. It explains how the shore excursion staff could promise them that they still could do the swim and make it back to the ship. The shore excursion staff making these promises "multiple time" had no way of knowing the passengers where going to wander around Atlantis after they finished swimming.

 

Also, they must have been VERY late. Getting a ship out of Nassau harbor takes quite awhile since most have to back out away from the pier, do the turn around thing and then head out past the lighthouse. I bet they were over an hour late.

[kthy66]

As I was waiting for the ship to leave Cozumel, they blasted the horn once--might have been about 15 mins. before sailaway. Then, as the ship was getting to pull away from the pier, they blew it 3 times.

 

3 Horn blasts are sounded as the ship is backing from a pier/port. So you definitely want to beat the 3 blasts! ;)

[Georgiagolfer]

They were on Glory.

 

When you hear that someone has been left behind be sure to notice which ship.

And that it is most often Glory...

 

Really? DW and I have sailed on Glory 3 times, and I can't recall anyone being left behind at a port, although it could have happened.