Were you on the Disney Wonder in Nassau on March 28?

I was on the Norwegian Getaway. When we docked in Nassau we were parked by the Disney Wonder and the Disney Dream.

We were returning to our ship at around 4:30, plenty of time for our 6:30 onboard time. As we were in line to get through security, they were asking if anyone was on Disney Wonder. The family of five right behind us said yes. Security guard says, "your ship just left". The dad laughs and says ha ha. Guard says, "no really, come with me". Dad looks terrified, he follows the guy over to where the Wonder was, and yes, we saw it pulling away. Mom is frantic, she wails "what are we going to do".

Just curious, what exactly happened? I didn't stick around to find out. The guard said the ship would not wait, but then we later saw that as it was maneuvering to turn around, it stopped completely. Did a tender boat take this family out to the ship?

Lesson learned, always be on board with plenty of time. I find the ships usually depart about 30 minutes after they say everyone should be back on board, so they apparently probably had a 4:00 onboard time and were 30 minutes late. I bet those parents will never make that mistake again.

Wasn't on that cruise, but we've seen it happen a couple of times. It's interesting to stand on the deck and see someone racing for the ship.

Bottom line, the DCL ships have a scheduled departure time (usually 30-60 minutes after the "all aboard" time. If someone's KTTW card has not been swiped in, they make an effort to reach the cabin and make an "all call" announcement ("Will a member of the Smith family from deck 5 please contact Guest Services?" No response, not booked on a DCL sponsored excursion, the ship WILL depart.

The guest is responsible for the cost of what they do next. If the ship "just departed," we've seen them climb on a small boat which takes them to the ship and they climb aboard. I suppose they can arrange transportation to the next port (if applicable). Bottom line--on DCL, "All Aboard" means just that. You have to be on board before the last person who is under DCL's care on a sponsored excursion/bus from airport/whatever.

Another example....you arranged your own air (we do, but not on day of cruise). Say your flight is delayed. You get to Port Canaveral and go to whatever transportation to the cruise terminal you've arranged. Another family is in a similar situation but they booked air thru DCL and DCL knew they would only miss the ship by a few minutes, so decided to delay the departure till Disney transportation got them to the terminal. As long as you get to the terminal before the other family, you will be allowed to board. . Again, watch from deck and see DCL bus come in and people run into terminal! At least that's what we've seen. But we're those hyper people who arrive a day early.

I was on the Norwegian Getaway. When we docked in Nassau we were parked by the Disney Wonder and the Disney Dream.

 

We were returning to our ship at around 4:30, plenty of time for our 6:30 onboard time. As we were in line to get through security, they were asking if anyone was on Disney Wonder. The family of five right behind us said yes. Security guard says, "your ship just left". The dad laughs and says ha ha. Guard says, "no really, come with me". Dad looks terrified, he follows the guy over to where the Wonder was, and yes, we saw it pulling away. Mom is frantic, she wails "what are we going to do".

 

Just curious, what exactly happened? I didn't stick around to find out. The guard said the ship would not wait, but then we later saw that as it was maneuvering to turn around, it stopped completely. Did a tender boat take this family out to the ship?

 

Lesson learned, always be on board with plenty of time. I find the ships usually depart about 30 minutes after they say everyone should be back on board, so they apparently probably had a 4:00 onboard time and were 30 minutes late. I bet those parents will never make that mistake again.

I can't find an itinerary for the Wonder to be in Nassau on the 21st. Are you sure it was the 21st? On the 21st she was scheduled to depart on a 5 night Western Caribbean cruise from what I can find.

I did find that the Wonder & Dream were both in port on the 28th of March. Also the Getaway. Maybe that's the day you were there?

Yes, sorry, I meant the 28th. Not sure why I said 21st. Any way to edit the thread title?

Yes, sorry, I meant the 28th. Not sure why I said 21st. Any way to edit the thread title?

Only for the first 20 minutes. Then it's set.

Anyway, the reason I asked was because I was looking up roll call/cruise meet threads to see if anyone had posted anything since coming back, and it lead to trying to figure out which cruise it was.

I haven't found anyone who has reported any problems on those places.

And here is the fun part. Most people don't take their passports into port because all you need is a photo ID and sea pass card. Most folks use their drivers license. But now you are stranded in a foreign country with no Passport and no way to back into the United States! Now in addition to the stress of watching your ship sail away without you, you now get to go to the US Embassy, wait in line to get the form to get an emergency passport and pay the fee. Takes about an hour to get one once you turn in the form. Yes that is another line. All in all it makes for one bummer of a day. This happened to my neighbor because he just had to have one more drink at Senior Frogs! LOL that was an expensive drink...

And here is the fun part. Most people don't take their passports into port because all you need is a photo ID and sea pass card. Most folks use their drivers license. But now you are stranded in a foreign country with no Passport and no way to back into the United States! Now in addition to the stress of watching your ship sail away without you, you now get to go to the US Embassy, wait in line to get the form to get an emergency passport and pay the fee. Takes about an hour to get one once you turn in the form. Yes that is another line. All in all it makes for one bummer of a day. This happened to my neighbor because he just had to have one more drink at Senior Frogs! LOL that was an expensive drink...

Did your neighbor have a passport? That was left onboard? Or were they traveling with birth certificate and DL?

It's my understanding, that if you don't reboard in time, the cruiseline will check your room/safe to see if you have passports there, and leave them with the officials at the port (ship's agent?) to be picked up.

Only for the first 20 minutes. Then it's set.

...

... unless you have special powers like mine.

Edited.

... unless you have special powers like mine.

Edited.

;) ha, ha

Did your neighbor have a passport? That was left onboard? Or were they traveling with birth certificate and DL?

 

It's my understanding, that if you don't reboard in time, the cruiseline will check your room/safe to see if you have passports there, and leave them with the officials at the port (ship's agent?) to be picked up.

No way! Not going to happen. The ship's crew is just a tad busy getting the big old ship out of port, to send someone to the room, open the safe, or search around the room for a passport, to pass off to someone onshore.

By the time they make the all-call, they've already pulled the gangway and are letting go of the lines.

The only thing they do is make an announcement onboard, to see if the missing people are there or not.

Where would you get an idea like that?

No way! Not going to happen. The ship's crew is just a tad busy getting the big old ship out of port, to send someone to the room, open the safe, or search around the room for a passport, to pass off to someone onshore.

 

By the time they make the all-call, they've already pulled the gangway and are letting go of the lines.

 

The only thing they do is make an announcement onboard, to see if the missing people are there or not.

 

Where would you get an idea like that?

Amazingly enough, from responses here on Cruise Critic and other forums

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40443470&postcount=29

http://www.cruisemates.com/forum/1425201-post6.html

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=22699706&postcount=2

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29963492&postcount=9

I have no experience with it myself, so I try to keep informed via other sources.

I've not had the misfortune to miss a ship, either...thank goodness. But I've heard them do an all-call....and pull away almost instantly.

I've seen people running....and read reports about DISNEY cruises where someone DID miss the ship....and they had to go get replacement passports at the Embassy.

So I see on those threads, they weren't Disney....

Except for the post about HAL, they're all pretty old posts, too. And they're also not first-hand experience posts. So I guess it's anyone's guess as to whether they do it or not.

I hope I never find out......because I wouldn't trust even those couple of posts....or any.

I did have a few friends who cruise a lot...a lot! ....say they've heard this can happen, too. But no one I've talked to has first hand knowledge.

If it's true, then I sincerely apologize. I just couldn't see how they could go hunt down a passport and hand it off so quickly.

But if I ever come back really late and find someone digging in my safe, I'll know why!

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I've never heard of DCL opening a safe and giving a passport to a third party if someone misses the ship.

I HAVE been aware of them opening a room safe in a medical emergency situation with the guest's permission and delivering the passports to them at the medical facility. I'm also aware that they will pack up the whole room and deliver the contents to the hospital once it has been determined that the family will not be departing with the ship when it leaves port.

I think sometimes the ship pulling out right on time a leaving people behind depends on the personality of the captain.

On the Oasis of the Seas back in 2011, I saw us leave 6 people in St Martin. At the captains circle someone asked about leaving people behind and the captain said "It is my call, and I don't like leaving people behind, but I am not going to hold up 5000 people just because someone is ignorant of time and I end up leaving people behind quite a bit, in fact we left 6 behind yesterday." Then he told a joke about having your camera so you can take a picture of the ship.

On Freedom of the Seas in 2012 the captain said that it "happened, but was pretty rare." Then on Oasis again in 2013 the captain (different than before) said it had been "years" since he had left someone at port.

Ever since we saw the people left in St Martin, my wife and I always setup shop where we can watch them pulling the gangways, etc. On Disney Magic in 2011 we could here the crew talking at each port, every time someone got on they would give a count of those not on board yet. And they would start rushing people well before all aboard time. Once it got to the final few people, they would start pulling ropes. As soon as the last person got on, it was less than a couple minutes before we were pulling out. We left each port before the published all aboard time, but we didn't leave anyone behind.

I've seen them leave people behind quite a few times, on Disney and NCL. One of the perks of an aft verandah. Once we saw a small boat bring someone to the ship. The other times, honestly, the people were standing out there alone....I never saw any port authorities hand them anything that might have been a passport. Never saw anyone there at all.

BUT...I was reminded that often times an authority would still be onboard after the ship sails, and leave via their own skiff. THIS person could have someone's passport to take back.

During dinner (in the dark) on our NCL cruise last January, we watched through the windows as the skiff was lowered. Looked scary to me!

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I've seen them leave people behind quite a few times, on Disney and NCL. One of the perks of an aft verandah. Once we saw a small boat bring someone to the ship. The other times, honestly, the people were standing out there alone....I never saw any port authorities hand them anything that might have been a passport. Never saw anyone there at all.

BUT...I was reminded that often times an authority would still be onboard after the ship sails, and leave via their own skiff. THIS person could have someone's passport to take back.

During dinner (in the dark) on our NCL cruise last January, we watched through the windows as the skiff was lowered. Looked scary to me!

 

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That would be the pilot. I can see the pilot bringing passports ashore and giving them to the ship's port agent. It's the agent who will usually help the stranged ex-passengers get to the ship via tender, tug or plane.

On Disney Magic in 2011 we could here the crew talking at each port, every time someone got on they would give a count of those not on board yet. And they would start rushing people well before all aboard time. Once it got to the final few people, they would start pulling ropes. As soon as the last person got on, it was less than a couple minutes before we were pulling out. We left each port before the published all aboard time, but we didn't leave anyone behind.

This is pretty standard. Yes, the computer shows a countdown of how many people are remaining off the ship. And pulling out a few minutes early doesn't matter IF everyone is on board.

The joke about having your camera ready if you aren't on board at the stated time is normal...the CD tells it from the stage almost each DCL cruise.

Sure, it is the captain's call whether to wait a few minutes or take off at the stated time. What we've seen on DCL is pretty reasonable. If there is a line of people boarding (and sometimes that takes a few minutes!) they obviously will wait. If they haven't seen or heard from the people missing, the captain has no way to know whether they are 30 seconds or 3 hours late! And we've also heard a DCL captain make a STRONGLY worded public announcement before the second port when people had been left behind at the first port. When I said something to him about the wording of the announcement, he replied that if 2500 people could make it back to the ship on time, there was no excuse for the 3 who didn't.

That would be the pilot. I can see the pilot bringing passports ashore and giving them to the ship's port agent. It's the agent who will usually help the stranged ex-passengers get to the ship via tender, tug or plane.

I couldn't think of the correct name! :o Too late at night after a busy day and my brain was fried. Thanks!

This is pretty standard. Yes' date=' the computer shows a countdown of how many people are remaining off the ship. And pulling out a few minutes early doesn't matter IF everyone is on board.

 

The joke about having your camera ready if you aren't on board at the stated time is normal...the CD tells it from the stage almost each DCL cruise.

 

Sure, it is the captain's call whether to wait a few minutes or take off at the stated time. What we've seen on DCL is pretty reasonable. If there is a line of people boarding (and sometimes that takes a few minutes!) they obviously will wait. If they haven't seen or heard from the people missing, the captain has no way to know whether they are 30 seconds or 3 hours late! And we've also heard a DCL captain make a STRONGLY worded public announcement before the second port when people had been left behind at the first port. When I said something to him about the wording of the announcement, he replied that if 2500 people could make it back to the ship on time, there was no excuse for the 3 who didn't.[/quote']

 

 

 

In addition, it isn't the Captain's fault if they have to leave people....they pay fines if they stay in port past the time the cruise line has paid for.

 

I've heard the "jokes" about having your camera ready, too.

 

The funniest one I ever saw was a woman in St Thomas, running to the ship so overloaded with shopping bags that she could hardly move. Then she got angry because they didn't lower the "nice" gangway, but little more than a wooden plank, AND didn't help her with her bags. Quite a few of us were watching from Deck 4 and truly laughing our tails off. :D

 

The funniest one I ever saw was a woman in St Thomas, running to the ship so overloaded with shopping bags that she could hardly move. Then she got angry because they didn't lower the "nice" gangway, but little more than a wooden plank, AND didn't help her with her bags. Quite a few of us were watching from Deck 4 and truly laughing our tails off. :D

I have to love it! Total lack of personal responsibility. If the "nice" gangway was already up, she was LATE! And if she was late, she is lucky that she wasn't left behind.

It really is funny to watch the antics of late arrivals. We learned that if they do a "Will a member of the XYZ family...." announcement happens, go to an outside deck and watch the action. Without the announcement, go to a spot where you can see the gangway and laugh at the late comers or "almost late" peeps.

I'm probably crazy, but when we go off on our own, I always plan on being back 75 minutes early. That's an hour in case I've messed up any time changes and 15 minutes to get from the terminal area entry to on board the ship.

Another interesting one was DCL's first stop in Cartagena. EVERYONE was late. They only had one gangway open and the line of people went all the way outside the port gates. There were even crew members out there. Christiaan was about to pop a blood vessel. I've never seen him so angry, yelling to get another gangway open....it was pretty hairy. (Well, not hairy for Christiaan...LOL)

Even ship tours were late. I have no idea how that got so messed up.

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BTW: I wasn't blaming the captains. I work for an airline, I have gotten many seats on planes because people were ignorant of time. But from my experience some captains are more willing to wait an extra 10 minutes and some leave right on the dot no matter what. I just think it is interesting the different philosophies, even between captains on the same (massive) ship.

Disney Will Not leave port if a child is onboard and both parents happen to be ashore.

ScottDVC