Passengers left in port .... Or we thought

So my wife and I just got off the Fascination yesterday. A wonderful cruise! On our second day four (4) passengers were left in Antigua, running as the ship was leaving port. Then suddenly, after cruising for 10 minutes or so, the ship turned back, docked again and allowed the four to board. This was my 10th Carnival cruise. I have seen people left before and never saw the ship turn back to retrieve anyone.

Is Carnival softening there stance on departure times?

They might have gone back because it was a Carnival excursion.

Maybe they were part of a Carnival excursion and someone on the ship messed up and let it leave before they got there.

Was there a young or vulnerable person in the group? Like someone who needed their medicine?

So my wife and I just got off the Fascination yesterday. A wonderful cruise! On our second day four (4) passengers were left in Antigua, running as the ship was leaving port. Then suddenly, after cruising for 10 minutes or so, the ship turned back, docked again and allowed the four to board. This was my 10th Carnival cruise. I have seen people left before and never saw the ship turn back to retrieve anyone.

 

Is Carnival softening there stance on departure times?

I don't know, but on my recent cruise the shipped stayed an extra 45 minutes in Mazatlan waiting on passengers. They also waited an extra 30 minutes in Puerta Vallarta for a couple that never did make it back to the ship.

My guess is it was a carnival excursion guest

when I was on MSC we ended up having to wait in port an extra 4 hours waiting for guests to get on the boat because they booked thru carnival - the delay did not effect any of other ports

My guess is it was a carnival excursion guest

 

when I was on MSC we ended up having to wait in port an extra 4 hours waiting for guests to get on the boat because they booked thru carnival - the delay did not effect any of other ports

????

Exactly why we only book thru carnival - the extra cost (sometimes) is totally worth the security of knowing you have a ship to come back to. One of my favorite things.

????

Was it possibly the captain?

It is the Captain's discretion with consultation with the office. Part depends on the overtime fees being incurred, the port pilot, the time to the next port, etc...

That's very unusual.

On the Fascination itinerary the ports are very close together. There would be no impact on the schedule in case of a short delay.

If the ports are not close, it is more important to leave on time so as not to be late to the next port. Fortunately for the folks in this case, the next port was close.

????

LMAO

I meant we had to wait for them because they booked thru MSC so I imagine its the same way with carnival

I was on the Fascination two weeks ago. I could swear we turned around one night during early dinner. Not sure though.

Exactly why we only book thru carnival - the extra cost (sometimes) is totally worth the security of knowing you have a ship to come back to. One of my favorite things.

The price gap between ship sponsored excursions and private has really shrunk over the past few years.

Besides the security of not missing the ship, there’s not having to give your CC info over to someone else and having your cruise expenses all in one place. We would gladly pay15-20% extra for all of this, but the ships excursions are often overcrowded cattle calls with a lots of waiting and opportunities to pay exorbitant prices for extras, like photos. And the excursions always seem shorter than what we do on our own.

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The price gap between ship sponsored excursions and private has really shrunk over the past few years.

 

Besides the security of not missing the ship, there’s not having to give your CC info over to someone else and having your cruise expenses all in one place. We would gladly pay15-20% extra for all of this, but the ships excursions are often overcrowded cattle calls with a lots of waiting and opportunities to pay exorbitant prices for extras, like photos. And the excursions always seem shorter than what we do on our own.

 

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Yeah the ONLY time I book through Carnival is when I have no choice like HMC Cabanas/Villas. The only other time I would ever consider it is if it was in a port where the excursion was way far away like Belize. Besides that, no way. There is so much more to do and better excursions on your own. If you leave plenty of of time to get back you're not going to miss the ship. I refuse to hand Carnival money for a subpar excursion. I don't prepay private excursions where I don't have to either, and if it does require it, I make sure that if the ship doesn't dock that it's refundable. Haven't had an issue yet. You are doing yourself a great disservice by sticking to the cruise line.

If someone in the group at the pier had young kids left on board in the kids program then they would go back. They wouldn’t expect those kids to cruise by themselves without their parents. That’s the only situation where I could see them turning around.

Exactly why we only book thru carnival - the extra cost (sometimes) is totally worth the security of knowing you have a ship to come back to. One of my favorite things.

That security only matters if you are booking an afternoon excursion. If you are returning at 1 pm and the ship leaves at 5 pm there is no chance of being late.

If someone in the group at the pier had young kids left on board in the kids program then they would go back. They wouldn’t expect those kids to cruise by themselves without their parents. That’s the only situation where I could see them turning around.

Yeah, they would. Disney even has. If no adult from their family is present, a kid's club crew member is assigned to them 24/7 and the hourly babysitting rate charged to the parents.

That security only matters if you are booking an afternoon excursion. If you are returning at 1 pm and the ship leaves at 5 pm there is no chance of being late.

Not true... a few years ago there was a fuel truck accident in montego bay that closed traffic for over 8 hrs. We were on a private excursion, but since every excursion was stuck in it, carnival waited. They even opened the cruise port to not having to be checked before getting back on the ship to get people through faster.

I was terrified sitting in that traffic knowing how stuck we were.

Only 4 Passengers on a Carnival excursion?

If someone in the group at the pier had young kids left on board in the kids program then they would go back. They wouldn’t expect those kids to cruise by themselves without their parents. That’s the only situation where I could see them turning around.

If someone in the group is on a private excursion, or just off the ship....leaving the kids on board, how would Carnival know?

If someone in the group is on a private excursion, or just off the ship....leaving the kids on board, how would Carnival know?

When they don’t ding back in, they can see who is associated with them in the cabin and/or linked to the booking. The kids wouldn’t have dinged out and, therefore, should still be on the ship. They also send someone to the cabin to retrieve Passports and other things from the safe to leave them with the Port officers.

No idea about turning around for parents, though. But Carnival knows who is missing and who isn’t.

They were NOT on a Carnival excursion ...