Do the ships really often leave people behind?

[golfadj]

We make sure that private tours are scheduled to be back 90 minutes before sailaways and no worries.

[Frank12]

We've been on several sailings that have left folks behind.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

It is one of the things they should publish as entertainment. We usually get a drink and watch the "runners". We have seen quite a few being left behind. The sadest ones are when they had kids with them! Too many risks with independant tours, flat tires, etc. Not taking a chance and would rather spend a little more for peace of mind! Our ship-sponsored tour was late on one sailing and thankfully the ship was still waiting for us!

[gfy012]

Do your research. A reputable indepentant tour operator will not make you late to the ship. And it's not about the money saved, it's about more for your money. Research does not cost a thing.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Do your research. A reputable indepentant tour operator will not make you late to the ship. And it's not about the money saved, it's about more for your money. Research does not cost a thing.

 

Yes, however, things happen! Accidents, breakdowns, etc. Not willing to take that chance!

[jzcruiser57]

You can tell when people have not made it back to the ship. Shortly before sailing you will hear them paging folks and having them call the sevice desk. They are checking to see if they somehow boarded without swiping their card.

[TPLGT]

The ST.T incident I just talked about...it was just 5 middle aged/older ladies shopping in town. They just lost track or time, or weren't sure when the ship was supposed to leave.

 

That utterly ridiculous! No excuse for this to happen.

[gfy012]

Yes, however, things happen! Accidents, breakdowns, etc. Not willing to take that chance!

 

LOL! Yes you should stick to the ship excursions.

[vivavegas]

I sure don't want to be the "test case";):p

[gelo7]

It happens, tough to say how often. If the cruiselines keep track of such things they aren't going to make those files public. We've seen it (that we know of) 3 times I think. Real drunk couple on Coz (got the story from their friends that did make it back). Once in Grand Caymen, independent excursion that didn't make it back in time. Once in St. Thomas, a girl ran down just as they were pulling up the gangway, said she still had 5 people that were shopping in town. The officer said 'get on or stay here with them, but either way we're leaving now' (we were on a balcony right above). She stayed, arms crossed, watching the ship leave.......

Wow, if I had hustled back to the ship, and they decided to keep shopping, I would have been on that ship. If it was my family, they would have been running right with me. But no worries, we are always back on board at least 3 hours before ship is due to depart.

[bobandsherry]

Yes, on John Heald's facebook page he quite often reports that they are leaving port short a few passengers.

 

John reports lots of things, he also fabricates some things to. If you have a chance to cruise with him you may hear that The Salmons were left behind at two ports while Magic was in Europe. Strangely they missed the boat on other cruises as well.

 

You may also hear the story of a man named Dick Little, he seems to cruise often with John, but his appearance changes.

 

He's an entertainer, keep that in mind as you follow him.... :D

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[wenbarb]

I tried to be left behind on Half Moon Cay, but they found me and dragged me back...

 

Lol Wow if you want to be left behind, super place to do it.

[Havingfun2010]

I was on a school field trip one day to Disney, and was a chaperone. We all were told when and where to get to the bus. All the male chaperones were at the bus at the beginning of the 30 minute window. The female groups slowly made there way. However, there was this one mother, who had her group show up 20 minutes late. She made the entire bus wait, along with all of the parents that were waiting for the buses to get back, etc.

 

The moral of the story is that it does not matter if it is a ship, or anything else, some people will just not watch the time, and be responsible and expect the rest to wait. The ship does not wait. It does not leave people behind. Those people choose to be left behind by making bad choices

[MicksMom]

We were on The Conquest last summer & saw The Valor (or maybe it was The Liberty...) leave 2 couples behind in Coz. They blew the horn over & over. We watched several officials from their ship & ours talking. They brought out what looked like passports & a wallet & handed it over to crew from our ship & they finally left about 30 minutes late. About 20 minutes after their ship left, the 2 couples came walking up. The officials were waiting for them for a long time. They were escorted on to our ship. They appeared to be in their late 30's/early 40's & sober. We saw one of the couples waiting for the gift shop to reopen. The guy didnt look very happy. They were in swimsuits & T-shirts when they boarded our ship.

 

I can only assume it was Up To them to get from Galveston to home or their car in Fl.

[jakeHOU97]

You can tell when people have not made it back to the ship. Shortly before sailing you will hear them paging folks and having them call the sevice desk. They are checking to see if they somehow boarded without swiping their card.

 

Hmm....when we were on the Magic a few weeks ago there were about a dozen people paged right when we were leaving Nassau! Must've been Senor Frog drunks, loaded down shoppers and the rain that day must've been a problem.

Also, when we were leaving Galvestonon day 1, we left about 20 minutes late for a shuttle that was late....does that often happen?

 

Unfourtantely, I didn't think of watching pier runners last....I'll defintetly look next time.

[GoNCruisnFamily]

We leave on Saturday on the Liberty. In Puerto Rico, there is a really interesting cave/national park that I looked at doing as a private excursion. After getting feedback from the San Juan board here, I decided not to take the risk. Apparently traffic there & back can be dicey. I do NOT want to be stuck in San Juan with my husband and kids. I would never hear the end of it! I also don't want to miss scuba diving in Grand Turk the next day!:o

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Unfourtantely, I didn't think of watching pier runners last....I'll defintetly look next time.

 

You will NOT regret it! This is by far the best entertainment on the ship! The best are the "drinking" ports like Nassau. I have always said that they need to start charging people for every 5 minutes they are late.

[spunkyhungry]

I was on a Princess cruise once, and a few people were late. The ship actually waited for them.

[jlk806]

Im having a blast reading these stories! I know me and my girlfriends I am cruising with will have a blast watching anyone run to the ship. We wont have a balcony room, so hopefully we can find a good deck spot! LOL

[kayhold]

What's fun is standing near a beach bar and blowing into a conch shell and watching the super drunks freak out, thinking it's the ship leaving.

[boatnick]

Liberty 07, on a private excursion in Costa Rica we were running late but had enough time, then ran into traffic. The festive mood on the bus turned to sweating silence as the time flew by. About 5 min. to shoving off a call to our guide said the ship was delayed an hour, he said we could shop for a while at the dock. No way, we all rushed back on board. Found out later a bus full of seniors were robbed and to the surprise of the thieves one of those seniors was an x navy seal that killed one of the robbers as the other fled the scene. The ship was delayed for 2-3 hours as the investigation and release of the hero went on.

That port was skipped by Carnival for a few weeks.

[mikefox2hotmail.com]

Port runner watching is great sport! We have seen it quite often. One of the most awesome things we have seen cruising was on a trip to Mexico (PV I think). As another ship was leaving port, two young women ran up the pier. The ship (maybe Holland ship?) STOPPED, backed-up about 100 feet and picked them up! Passengers on both ship were cheering!!!

[carbreylynn]

I've always wondered, what's happens if someone is left behind who doesn't have a passport? Like if they were on a carnival excursion, how would that work??

[larkz]

On my last cruise, two passenger names were announced over the intercom when they did not return to the ship on time. This was in Cozumel, which is an excellent place to watch pier runners, by the way.

 

I had my video camera, and used the 35X zoom to watch the ship's personnel down on the pier, as they carefully documented and handed over wallets, cash, and other items belonging the two missing passengers. These were items that I understand would have been retrieved from the room safes. The port authority accepted the documents, put their x'es on the dotted lines on some paperwork, said goodbye, and we sailed away.

 

Perhaps luckily for the stranded passengers, the next stop was Belize, which isn't too hard to reach by road from the Mexico mainland. I have to give Carnival credit for making an effort to confirm that these people had not made it back to the ship on time, and for trying to ensure that they had the documents they needed to find their way to the next port or to home.

[elcuchio24]

You will NOT regret it! This is by far the best entertainment on the ship! The best are the "drinking" ports like Nassau. I have always said that they need to start charging people for every 5 minutes they are late.

 

Ever had a late departure (10pm) from coz? Oh man, what a scene! The people coming down the pier at 9pm looked like extras from The Walking Dead!:)