The good old days before security became a way of life

[Peter D]

With the increased number of ports which are being accessed by the cruiseline industry, I had a thought about a unique marketing strategy that could be instituted ( but probably wont ). Navy ships visiting some ports have allowed escorted groups of individuals to board and have a glimpse at the sea-going environment.As a by-product, this fosters pride in the military and invariably gets more people focused on the Navy.

17 years ago on one of my 1st cruises aboard the Jason ( Eporitiki Line ) a group of people in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island were allowed to come aboard for a quick view of the ship. This also occurred when the ship docked in Quebec City and in Montreal.

The point that I am making is that as the cruise industry is becoming more competitive,there exists an untapped market of people who may have never considered taking a cruise, even with many of these ships coming into their own backyard. Perhaps encouraging tours of the ships could have the same positive results as experienced by Navy Ship Days in port.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

People being able to just tour a ship won't happen any more.

In the last couple of years all we have seen our special groups, like TA's, etc., and they had to go through security like the rest of us.

:)

[sail7seas]

It is very rare treat today if a passenger is given clearance to have a family member/friend come aboard the ship while in a given port. It has to be requested days in advance and very few "waivers" of that sort are allowed.

[Esme]

This happened on our Rotterdam cruise recently.

Ship arrived in Tortola and 2 female Customs people arrived to clear the ship. One was new and came without any documentation, so the Captain refused her entry to the ship. The other official had to make a quick phone call to her superior and they had to wait for another official to arrive with proper documentation, thus holding up all the passengers from leaving the ship. Good for the Captain. He wasn't going to let just anyone on the ship.

So there is no way that the public would be allowed to visit cruise ships any longer. All those TA's and groups would have been invited to tour the ship and they would have to show proper documentation or they wouldn't be let on.

I can remember the days when we would get off our ship and go visit the other ships docked beside us. Sad to say, but those days are long gone.

[debblue]

i remember being on a hal ship and when docked ,getting a pass from the front office to visit the other hal ship that was docked along side of ous, what a great time that was then, i also remember being able to board the ships while docked in ny , paying a $1.oo and going aboard to sit at a lounge have a drink paying of course, then heading to the dining room for dinner before leaving the ship at 4pm. what memories you have brought back to me. funny and also very sad how times have changed......i also remeber the captain telling passengers over the pa system all non sailing passengers please leave the ship it would start at 3:15 and every 5-10 minuttes you would hear that, our group would leave about 3:45 and stay at the pier until the ship sailed.