How long will Carnival wait...

[Trish12345]

We left Charlotte on an 8am flight to San Juan once. The flight is about 4 hours direct, ship left at 10pm. The port was waiting on us around 9:30pm, last ones to board the ship. Ship said they were expecting us & knew we were late, flight was ours, not Carnivals. The airline, let's call them 'NewBessStairways' had chronic problems that day & could not spare a plane even tho we are at a hub.:mad:

We always fly/drive in a day early now.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

If it's weather related and effects numerous pax they will wait as long as they can. I met a guy who had an accident on the way to the port and they waited several hours for his party but they did stay in contact the whole time.

[Celandine]

memories of my first cruise.... and not good ones.

 

 

Not sure if we were late, but we were like the last or one of to board.

 

Later flight (I was 15 so I didn't really have the details going in)

 

We had a Carnival transfer from the airport... pretty much from the time we landed we were rushed rushed rushed through everything...

 

we just got on, went right to our room and they called for muster drill.... we were so scattered and not relaxed at all...

 

 

it sucks. We do whatever we can to avoid this now (but still fly in the day of)...... we do book cruiseline transfers, which I think helps a tiny bit (kind of like booking a cruise line sponsored excursion)

 

 

They key is to be in contact with the ship the second you think you might be late....

 

 

BUT.... they DO NOT have to wait for you.......... as I tell my students, You are not special, the rules will not be broken for you (regarding eating in my classroom)

[sharecruises]

I went thru the nail biter with my gal who made it to port with a few minutes to spare...she almost missed the ship

 

for all those who are telling the OP of your success 15 years ago, on Royal, during a snow storm, using Carnival booked air....

 

what will YOU say to them if they miss the ship??

 

It's easy to tell people what they want to hear on a message board..but the fact is that they need to adjust to the ship, not the other way around.

 

If you want them to "feel good" go ahead and say it will be alright...

 

so far only one person and myself told them the truth...chances are they aren't gonna wait for your personal affairs to get done, rearrange your schedule or maybe miss the ship. Hope they have passports

 

Ships don't wait...and nowadays they are even more rigid. 15 years ago ships were smaller and it was before 9/11 don't forget

[RuthlessBoss]

All your "wait" stories are fine, they involved Carnival criteria.

What the OP wants is to do whatever it is he wants to do, lives in shout distance of the port, yet wants the ship to wait (for whatever) to do it. This cruise is not a spur of the moment thing, he needs to alter something and get to the port like everyone else. I think he has an old post that mentions leaving in a few days. Time to rearrange a few things.

[kornuttle]

Thanks to everyone and their stories. I appreciate all of your input and honesty. However, the judgement is definitely not appreciated. I said I had issues that are unknown to CC because I didn't want it to be anyone's business but my own. I asked simple questions to see what my worst case scenario would be and have some solid facts referring to Carnival's departure regulations.The whole point of CC is to express your cruise questions, feelings, experiences, etc. If you're not going to answer the question to the best of your ability then don't write anything because I'm sure no one here enjoys the judgement, it's not what we're here for.

[sharecruises]

Thanks to everyone and their stories. I appreciate all of your input and honesty. However, the judgement is definitely not appreciated. I said I had issues that are unknown to CC because I didn't want it to be anyone's business but my own. I asked simple questions to see what my worst case scenario would be and have some solid facts referring to Carnival's departure regulations.The whole point of CC is to express your cruise questions, feelings, experiences, etc. If you're not going to answer the question to the best of your ability then don't write anything because I'm sure no one here enjoys the judgement, it's not what we're here for.

 

NO Judgement and I don't know/care why you feel you might be late

....just posting facts

 

they won't wait for you..

hope you make it on time and have a good cruise)

[Lejardin]

NO Judgement and I don't know/care why you feel you might be late

....just posting facts

 

they won't wait for you..

hope you make it on time and have a good cruise)

 

yet you felt you STILL had to comment even after the OP asked otherwise....:rolleyes:

[wrigley80]

DON'T RISK IT!!!!! Too many people often say, "I wonder if the ship will wait for me." Why take that chance. We always fly in or drive in the day before our cruise. You pay all that money for your cruise..........don't take the chance of waving to it as it sails away from the dock without you onboard :eek:

[DentL]

they won't wait... several years ago we got stuck on a plane out of philadelphia. we had a 7 am flight that got delayed for 8 hours... back and forth to the de-icing machine just in time to not be cleared for take off happened 1 ( or 5 too many times) .

 

When we flew into Ft. Lauderdale... boy was it a site to see... flying over our cruise ship that just departed. :p

 

unfortunately it seemed as though many other passagers on our flight were also going on cruises... most of us missed the ship. We were incontact witht he cruise the whole time and if we were to make it there by sail time we would have been able to get on.

 

Funny thing- we always fly in the day before but due to special circumstances we didnt for this cruise. and we now are firm believers of cruise insurance ( as we did not have any)

[kornuttle]

Ouch!!! I can't imagine actually missing your cruise!! That's awful! Again, thanks for the stories and facts guys! Now I know exactly what time I would have to be at the port for check in and factor in possibility of traffic and whatever else comes along on top of the things we already have to deal with without missin' the boat! Hey, you can't help what life throws at you but thanks to CC you can make sure it doesn't get in the way of your cruise!! :D

[gatour]

You BROKE two ribs and you still went on the cruise? I find that hard to believe.

 

 

We missed the turnoff over to the cruise port for our Valentine cruise about four years ago....we drove about 60 miles out of the way....then my Husband asked me to get a map out of the back (no GPS then) I had my seat belt on and reached over the arm rest to get the map.....I broke two ribs....heard them snap and the pain was awful!!!:eek: By this time I knew we were doomed and the ship would leave without us!:( We called Carnival and they were so kind.....they guided us by phone all the way back and stayed on the phone with us the whole time asking every few minutes where we were.

Thankfully we made it and boarded about 30 minutes before the ship set sail.....I know now you have to be there at least two hours ahead.....so even though we live about two hours from one port and less than an hour from Tampa.....we always drive up the day before...Was just too close that time and we were very lucky!! Yes' date=' the ribs were very painful during the cruise, but I was determined that nothing was going to keep us off that Valentine cruise!:D;):)[/b']

[cruiserguy11]

I'm so paranoid about car trouble. We are driving to Boston (Glory) from Chicago,family (4 of us) wants to take the minivan because of the room but,I say we are taking the new car. Toyota minivan has almost 100,000 miles and Jeep has 8,000 miles. We will be stuffed in the thing but chances of a breakdown are much less. I take NO risks.

 

You really should take the Toyota. Much more reliable, even with those miles, than a Jeep. (Check Consumer Reports.)

 

We're driving from WA state to Miami in October to board the Liberty. In our 100,000 mile Toyota Prius. The morning of the cruise we'll still be 130 miles away. (Final night before cruise is in Fort Pierce.)

 

I'm not the least bit worried. And I'm a worrier.

[Drew's Wife]

You BROKE two ribs and you still went on the cruise? I find that hard to believe.

 

 

Not sure why you find it hard to beleive..:confused:..I'm not in the habit of making up or fabricating stories for any reason....

 

In the past 15 years I have broken both feet, (twice) my left anke, (surgery and pins that time, my right knee, right arm twice, the long bone in my left leg (three weeks before my wedding, and then a total of three ribs....I broke one while talking on the phone:o.......It's a case of " very rare" brittle bone disease. A form of osteoporosis gone wild!

 

So after I broke the ribs, I was diagnosed with "senile osteoporosis" and put on Reclast. I remember when I saw that on the drs. form, I asked for a copy because I laughed and told the nurse that I had now been called senile at 55 years old!:D

 

If I counted right that is 12 broken bones by the time I was 55! Now why would I make something up like that.....to amuse you?? Trust me there is nothing funny about it. There was actually nothing they can do for a broken rib....they don't even tape you anymore due to the fact it can cause a lung rupture much easier than to have them non binded, Guess I won't even mention the cruise that I lost a contact lens in the back of my eye and it was like that for three days until I could get back on land and to the ER to have it extracted....that cruise was much worse than the rib!:eek:

 

So unless you have "walked in my shoes or plaster cast" please don't indicate that I am lying.

 

Have a good evening!!

[sharecruises]

yet you felt you STILL had to comment even after the OP asked otherwise....:rolleyes:

 

 

?????? what on earth do you mean by that??

 

Maybe some people want the OP to "feel good">> let's all give them the warm fuzzy answer

 

here we go >> "Hi there...just go when you feel like it...you are important, Carnival will wait for you... You are the important one, your personal affairs matter the most and the other passengers, port workers and coast guard won't mind a bit"

 

Happy? No skin off my nose if OP misses their cruise really

No skin off your nose is it

let's all just tell people what they want to hear

 

Is that what YOU want??

 

how did the OP "ask otherwise"?? did they ask for people to not tell the truth??

I told them the truth...I tried to be helpful...if people want to post one time stories of how ships waited for them

fine....not a risk I would take and not something I would suggest

[topofE]

I can see where half of you all are coming from with the "don't give false hope" and I agree. But, the OP DID ask if anyone had any close calls. People have.

On my first cruise, we had a huge family reunion on a cruise out of San Juan. My whole family (from MI and ND and PA) made it there that morning but my friend and I (from AK) got in late. Very late. We were sure we had missed the cruise and in fact, kinda moped through the airport feeling sorry for ourselves until we saw the Carnival transfer person who asked who we were and literally rushed us out of the airport. We hauled butt to the port and boarded into some cargo area under the ship. Everyone's luggage was split up into sections and we ran aboard probably an hour after the ship was supposed to depart. We had booked through a very seasoned PVP and our flights were through Carnival. I know we were the last two and that they were only waiting for us two. But I guess there could've been other issues as to why they waited.

 

With that being said, if OP misses their cruise and people want to know what I'd "tell them". NOthing. It sucks. I'm certainly not saying to twiddle your fingers and get drunk in the terminal before moseying over to the boat. But "close calls"? I had one, they waited. I'm sure it was pure luck. My family was roaming the boat looking for us assuming we had gotten there earlier and were off partying somewhere on the ship already. By the time we got there, everyone was crabby from the ship leaving late!

[RuthlessBoss]

@ Angela: Haha that would be ideal and was the initial plan but things didn't quite work out that way this time! We planned on leaving the house at 10 getting there at 10:30, enjoying the scenery and early check in at the Queen Mary...breezing on to the ship, having a delicious lunch and sippin' cocktails all the while. Instead I'm worried about how late they will take us!! :eek:

So, you are talking Queen Mary (i guess that's loosely connected to Carnival), I'd want to be on board early too.