Missing the Boat - on Purpose

We're about to embark on a Med cruise for the ports or towns of Barcelona, Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Kotor, Athens, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Istanbul.

We all know that with cruising one is automatically denied nightime touring, dining and entertainment, and the plain ol' romance of a beautiful or exotic city after sunset.

We're both fairly well-traveled (we's comfortable with European trains, planes and ferry procedures) so wondered if anybody has ever just said, "Know what, let's just enjoy ourselves and stay the night!" A number of those cities have easy access to the next port - obviously Florence to Rome and even an island outpost like Santorini has easy access to Crete by ferry.

If one takes their passport and informs the ship beforehand of their probable plans what are your thoughts of being (or even have you been?) a little adventurous for a few extra drachmas or rubles just to enjoy - what do they say in New Orleans -- some lagniappe?

No desire what so ever. There's something very unsettling about watching the ship sail away with all of your valuables, clothing and stuff while stay behind in port.

I supposed people do it on occasion, I don't think it's a great idea. What if there's a problem with weather and the ship doesn't make the next port, then you have fly to another location.

You purchase a cruise because the ability to visit multiple locations with ease. The downside you don't get to spend overnights very often, but, it's a great trade off when you can cruise on a luxury liner and see the world in style.

Jonathan

We're about to embark on a Med cruise for the ports or towns of Barcelona, Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Kotor, Athens, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Istanbul.

 

We all know that with cruising one is automatically denied nightime touring, dining and entertainment, and the plain ol' romance of a beautiful or exotic city after sunset.

 

We're both fairly well-traveled (we's comfortable with European trains, planes and ferry procedures) so wondered if anybody has ever just said, "Know what, let's just enjoy ourselves and stay the night!" A number of those cities have easy access to the next port - obviously Florence to Rome and even an island outpost like Santorini has easy access to Crete by ferry.

 

If one takes their passport and informs the ship beforehand of their probable plans what are your thoughts of being (or even have you been?) a little adventurous for a few extra drachmas or rubles just to enjoy - what do they say in New Orleans -- some lagniappe?

I suspect that the cruise line would be fined for knowingly allowing people to deliberately miss the ship to stay longer in port and meet up in a later port. In the US at least, that would be a breach of their operator's permit that requires them to not be in the business of providing ferry service to and from ports. I suspect other major countries have similar laws. If you tell the cruise line ahead of time, they may be forced to deny you boarding or have you removed from the ship when they find out.

Don't even think about it.

Why would you delay the entire ship of personnel and passengers as they try to find you. Ever here those names called and and then the ship is late leaving.

If you don't want to go on a cruise go on a land based vacation and go wherever you want.

On the ports of call boards you'll find reports from experienced cruisers who've done this. Rome/Florence seems to be an opportunity taken by at least a few. You might consider posting there to get more helpful advice....:rolleyes:

You do need to let the cruise line know in advance of your plans. It should not be a problem in most of the places you'll be visiting, but the ultimate say-so is theirs.

JMHO Missing the ship "on purpose" does not sound like a good plan.

When there are cities/ports where we want to spend more time, we do that on our own in the days before and/or after the cruise.

I am not sure the ship would be comfortable with your idea - they probably could not stop you - and certainly could not if you did not give notice. But, in that case you would have delayed sailing - impacting perhaps a couple of thousand other people (of course if you are a practitioner of the "my vacation, my rules" theory, they would not matter).

Then there is also the potential problem you might have as result of being an illegal entrant - you would not have complied with whatever country's immigration procedures, and might face some penalty - you might want to know what that would be before incurring it.

Yes, a tempting thought - but it warrants some serious thought.

We're about to embark on a Med cruise for the ports or towns of Barcelona, Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Kotor, Athens, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Istanbul.

 

We all know that with cruising one is automatically denied nightime touring, dining and entertainment, and the plain ol' romance of a beautiful or exotic city after sunset.

 

We're both fairly well-traveled (we's comfortable with European trains, planes and ferry procedures) so wondered if anybody has ever just said, "Know what, let's just enjoy ourselves and stay the night!" A number of those cities have easy access to the next port - obviously Florence to Rome and even an island outpost like Santorini has easy access to Crete by ferry.

 

If one takes their passport and informs the ship beforehand of their probable plans what are your thoughts of being (or even have you been?) a little adventurous for a few extra drachmas or rubles just to enjoy - what do they say in New Orleans -- some lagniappe?

In Europe it is done all the time. You just need to arrange it with the ship ahead of time.

...

We all know that with cruising one is automatically denied nightime touring, dining and entertainment, and the plain ol' romance of a beautiful or exotic city after sunset.. "Know what, let's just enjoy ourselves and stay the night!"...

At times it sounds like a nice idea but let's hope somebody thinks this one out before acting on it. Besides the logistics of catching up with the ship there is also the immigration issue - one is no longer "in transit" but now also staying overnight in that country.

One advantage to cruising is seeing ports that are nice but might not have rated a dedicated trip. If the port is that charming and inviting it's worth a revisit. No, for all the reasons mentioned, I would not deliberately miss the ship.

In Europe it is done all the time. You just need to arrange it with the ship ahead of time.

Is this from actual knowledge?

It is possible to get off the ship early, and get off in one port and get on in another port but you need to request, in writing, in advance a "trip deviation" approval from the cruise line.

You to this well in advance of your departure. We have gotten off in Laharve France while the ship continued on to Southampton England, we did not in this case plan on returning to the ship. The cruise line knew this, we paid our final bill the night before we departed. We have also gotten off in Ashdod Israel, stayed over night and rejoined the ship in Haifa Israel. In both cases we have a requested for a trip deviation which was approved in writing. In the case where we planned to return to the ship, we needed to provide information on where we would be staying while off the ship and contact information.

Call the cruise line or talk to your TA about what you wish to do.

Is this from actual knowledge?

As I posted above, this is something discussed on the ports of call boards.

Yes, it is allowable (and doable) in many ports. Some places are easier logistically than others.

An unfortunate heading to your thread, but you clearly don't intend to "miss" the sailing, you intend to skip the sailing with the ship's knowledge and consent. :)

Europe has Cabotage rules, same as the US, but neither you nor the ship would be violating them and there are no immigration or customs problems with most of your ports since most are " Schengen" countries with open borders. Not sure about Kotor.

The Turkish ports are the odd ones out - if you make your own way to or from a Turkish port you may need a Turkish visa (though some ferry passengers have the same dispensation as cruise passengers), and you will need one if you overnite ashore in Turkey. Simply resolved by buying one on arrival (20USD), but I suspect there may be other difficulties.

As other posts, you need to consider the risks of your ship not porting where you plan to rejoin it. Rome (Civi.) has an excellent reputation as an all-weather port, but there are other risks - a mechanical failure, industrial action, etc.

Ditto the risks of the ship not porting where you plan to disembark. OK, that simply aborts your plans, but you may have incurred irrecoverable costs such as a hotel or train reservation.

Edited to add .... If you're considering an island as one of the ports, the same caveats apply with an intended ferry crossing - if its cancelled your only Plan B involves a long swim ;)

As well as confirming with the cruiseline ahead of time, do reconfirm with guest relations aboard and with gangway security when you leave. Wouldn't do any harm to also let your cabin steward know. Messages don't always get passed on, so best to do your bit to avoid confusion and concern.

It's done. We've considered it ourselves but dismissed it as not worth the cost, complications and risks.

Just MHO as always

JB:)

Thanks everybody for weighing in -- for or against -- on my hypothetical question (er, except "riddle" who obviously didn't read the last para of my post and seems to harbor an overabundance of vitriol or is just plain mean-spirited).

Anyway, so long as -- again to restate -- we'd pre-inform the ship and they don't take umbrage with it, nothing written here would lessen my inclination to favorably consider taking an extended land day off-ship (although frankly, if I already paid for my cabin, I probably wouldn't want to pay for a duplicate hotel room). Bless you if it's not your personal choice, or if it scares you to even think about it, but it's possible I simply may be different than you. That's OK isn't it, riddle?

This is not exactly the same thing, but pretty similar:

Let's say your last port of call before debarkation day is Victoria. Debarkation is in Vancouver. Would it be OK to stay in Victoria and fly home from there? Flight times and prices could make that better than flying home from Vancouver, plus Victoria is a fun city to stay at two nights. Vancouver, meanwhile, is more like a "get off and go home" port.

I assume the policy on that is the same in Europe as it is in Canada.

It's done all the time.

Be sure to get permission in advance from your cruise line by e-mail so you will have it in writing. When you are on the ship, confirm with the Front Office of your plans to be sure they will have appropriate customs/Immigration people present. It is not a good idea to 'just miss the ship.'

If you plan on doing this let the ship know so they are not holding the ship & looking for missing persons

It is common in Europe to do this but do get prior permission from the cruise line & remind the purser on the day you are staying on land

Keep in mind ships miss ports for any number of reasons and it is not uncommon. You might find the ship misses the port you plan to reboard....... or may miss the port where you want to get off and stay. You could lose money if you have a hotel reservation you do not keep.

We did this in Italy. We got off in Livorno, spent the night in Florence, and took the train to Rome the next morning. We explored Rome, and then took the train to Civitavecchia to meet up with the ship.

We set the whole thing up with RCCL before we left, and since the cruise line held our passports, we had to wait for the ship to return them to us before we left the ship in Livorno. (Passports are required to check into hotels in Europe.) Getting back on the ship took a little bit of time, since new seapass cards had to be issued. All in all, it wasn't that difficult, and we would do it again.

A couple of words of wisdom, though...have back up plans. And then have back up plans for your back up plans. If we had missed the ship in Civitavecchia, it would have been our responsibility to meet up with the ship in Athens. We even had a car rental reserved in Florence, just in case the trains had gone on strike on the day we were trying to get to Rome. (Which is quite common in Italy...)

Do your research, and you should be fine.

We're about to embark on a Med cruise for the ports or towns of Barcelona, Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Kotor, Athens, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Istanbul.

 

 

 

We all know that with cruising one is automatically denied nightime touring, dining and entertainment, and the plain ol' romance of a beautiful or exotic city after sunset.

 

 

 

We're both fairly well-traveled (we's comfortable with European trains, planes and ferry procedures) so wondered if anybody has ever just said, "Know what, let's just enjoy ourselves and stay the night!" A number of those cities have easy access to the next port - obviously Florence to Rome and even an island outpost like Santorini has easy access to Crete by ferry.

 

 

 

If one takes their passport and informs the ship beforehand of their probable plans what are your thoughts of being (or even have you been?) a little adventurous for a few extra drachmas or rubles just to enjoy - what do they say in New Orleans -- some lagniappe?

Not Europe, but one Celebrity cruise I looked at on the West coast of South America had an optional shore excursion which involved leaving the ship for several days for a trip to Machu Pichu, then catching up with the ship. I think you would have little issue with, e.g. Your Florence/Rome example. But NOT as in "missing the ship on purpose" but rather as a planned variation with advance coordination with the cruise line.

I suspect that the cruise line would be fined for knowingly allowing people to deliberately miss the ship to stay longer in port and meet up in a later port. In the US at least, that would be a breach of their operator's permit that requires them to not be in the business of providing ferry service to and from ports. I suspect other major countries have similar laws. If you tell the cruise line ahead of time, they may be forced to deny you boarding or have you removed from the ship when they find out.

 

Don't even think about it.

You do know that not the whole world has the Jones Act or PSVA [or whatever it is].

As others have said, this can be done on some itineraries. And as others have also said, it's good to have a Plan B, Plan C, D, etc. On our recent Transatlantic, our ship missed two ports in the Mediterranean due to bad weather. Both decisions were made fairly late in the game, and if someone was trying to re-join the ship, they wouldn't have known that the port call was cancelled until partway through the day they were going to re-board. On another Mediterranean cruise, the order of the port calls was changed, also at fairly late notice, due to anticipated political protests.

So, with the knowledge that although normally everything goes as expected, it can be a gamble, it can be done. (It would be paying for a hotel room when I'd already paid to stay on the ship that would put me off. I'm a tightwad sometimes.)

As others have said, this can be done on some itineraries. And as others have also said, it's good to have a Plan B, Plan C, D, etc. On our recent Transatlantic, our ship missed two ports in the Mediterranean due to bad weather. Both decisions were made fairly late in the game, and if someone was trying to re-join the ship, they wouldn't have known that the port call was cancelled until partway through the day they were going to re-board. On another Mediterranean cruise, the order of the port calls was changed, also at fairly late notice, due to anticipated political protests.

 

So, with the knowledge that although normally everything goes as expected, it can be a gamble, it can be done. (It would be paying for a hotel room when I'd already paid to stay on the ship that would put me off. I'm a tightwad sometimes.)

That would be my big worry a missed port or two. Then what?

Keep in mind ships miss ports for any number of reasons and it is not uncommon. You might find the ship misses the port you plan to reboard....... or may miss the port where you want to get off and stay. You could lose money if you have a hotel reservation you do not keep.

Ports are missed very occasionally -- I would not say it is "not uncommon". The larger ports are very rarely missed indeed. After reading these boards for more than 10 years, I can only recall twice when Civitavecchia was skipped, for example. Naples, Venice, Livorno, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Piraeus are also very, very seldom missed. (Piraeus generally not a concern except due to the Greek political situation and attendant strikes/unrest).

Smaller Greek isles that may have smaller ports, tender ports, or other places where the wind/weather have an impact may have a slightly higher risk of being missed -- still I wouldn't say it is "not uncommon".

A couple of words of wisdom, though...have back up plans. And then have back up plans for your back up plans. If we had missed the ship in Civitavecchia, it would have been our responsibility to meet up with the ship in Athens. We even had a car rental reserved in Florence, just in case the trains had gone on strike on the day we were trying to get to Rome. (Which is quite common in Italy...)

 

Do your research, and you should be fine.

Again, I take issue with saying train strikes are "quite common". Would you call something that occurs less than 1% of the time common?

Most Italian trains run as scheduled. Strikes are nearly always announced in advance. Anyone considering using the trains should check the sites where these announcements are posted. And should also keep in mind that often strikes affect only a small area, usually last only a few hours or a day at most, and most important, many are called off prior to actually taking place!

I've just returned from another 10-day trip in Italy, which I visit often. I nearly always use the trains when I am there. I've used everything from the slow Regionale trains to the IC (Inter-City) trains to the fast express trains (e.g., Rome to Naples, Rome to Venice, etc.) I have never had any problem using any of these trains other than experiencing the occasional slower-than-scheduled trip on a regionale train.

That's not to say that strikes don't occur, and that it wouldn't be inconvenient if they did occur. But it's fair to say that if you check in advance, the chances you will be surprised by a strike are extremely RARE.

As I posted above, this is something discussed on the ports of call boards.

 

Yes, it is allowable (and doable) in many ports. Some places are easier logistically than others.

I was simply questioning the "all the time" assertion. Of course stay-overs WITH APPROVAL of the line are acceptable - they would hardly approve if local regulations did not permit it.