Has anyone ever actually missed the boat in port?

[Sneezykevina]

I'm just curious. I've only booked excursions through Carnival, for the simple reason that I'm terrified of missing the boat! That got me thinking, after all the reading I've done over the past two years (I'm new to this fantastic cruising thing!) I've never actually read anyone's stories of *not* making it back.

 

Maybe there's a story or two of what actually happens to the poor people who don't complete that "long run" before it's too late? :)

 

(25 more days to cruise #2!!)

 

Not in port but the first day she sailed. We flew to the Bahamas and met up with the ship.

 

Fog delayed us. Now if we fly in we go the day before. Driving is subject to change!

[Florissouri]

And I can guarantee there's a limit to how long they would have waited for you. After which you would have found your daughter's meds in an ice chest with the port agent, and your ship long gone. And then they would have made transportation arrangements for you.

 

And you know all this how?

[mzloolue]

Why in the world would they want you to miss the boat??

 

They want you to wait until they fill their van.

 

In Cozumel you get a cab and you go, but in the Bahamas they want you to get in a van and they want to get as many other people in the van as they can.

 

When my daughter was left on the dock she and her friend experienced the same thing.

The cab would not leave until they got a van full.

 

The taxis do a weird thing with tickets too.

 

Just be careful in Freeport or Nassau.

 

I was on a cruise last April with my sister some odd things happened with the taxis in Freeport.

We went to the taxi stand and a taxi driver woman took us to her van.

There were a bunch of other people in there and they said that they had waited for a while as the woman filled up her van.

We went to Junkanoo Beach(which is lovely, by the way).

 

When my sister and I wanted to leave and go back to the ship we went out to the taxi stand at Junkanoo.

The woman at the taxi stand said that we needed tickets.

We did not have tickets or know anything about tickets.

 

A woman at the taxi stand took our money and said that she would help us.:confused:

As we waited we talked to some taxi drivers who asked if we had tickets.

So we said that we did not, but the lady at the taxi stand had our money.

 

They asked us who had our money and then some drivers started yelling at the woman to give us our money back.

She gave us our money back.

 

Then a guy let us into his taxi/van although he told us that he was not supposed to take us without a ticket.

 

The whole thing was really weird.

We were very uncomfortable with it.

But at least I gained some understanding about what happened to my daughter that caused her to miss the boat.

 

Oh, when my daughter missed the boat it left exactly on time.

They did not wait one minute.

Dh and I were on deck watching for pier runners and we heard them call her name over the speakers.

By the time we got downstairs the boat was moving.

DH and I would have got off the boat if we could have, but there was not enough time.

 

Our daughter was 20 at the time and she is beautiful.

We were really scared.

 

We ran to her cabin and found security searching it.

We had to go to the security office and fill out missing person paper work while the security people talked over us to each other in their language.

It was obvious that they were talking about us.

 

Then they said that the purser had her on the phone and we felt were so relieved.

You know, we did not know if she had been in a accident or a victim of crime or God only knows what, so safe on the dock was wonderful.

The purser said that their agent on the dock had them and that he would help them make reservations to meet the ship in St Thomas.

 

All this had happened and we were still pretty close to the dock.

 

So, after a day at sea we get to St Thomas.

 

We waited until an hour before people needed to be back on board and no daughter.

We went to the purser's desk and talked to the lady.

We were very worried.

 

The Purser desk lady called Carnival's agent in Nassau and he said that he did not know where our daughter and her friend went.

He said that he just took them to a hotel and he did not know where she was.

We called the hotel and she had checked out the next morning.

Which was two days earlier...

 

Our twenty year old daughter was lost somewhere and we did not even know what country she was in.

Totally terrifying.

 

While I went to call home to see if anyone had heard from her (she had not called anyone at home), my dh got a list of airlines that fly from Nassau from the purser.

They let him use their phone.

Fortunately a lady at the airline was able to tell him that she had flown from Nassau to Miami, from Miami to San Juan, and from San Juan to St Martin.

The Caribbean is one of those can't get there from here places.

 

So another sea day and then St Martin and there she was.

When she came on board the purser's desk lady told her that she had better find us right away as we were very worried.

She did not have her cell with her,(security found it in her safe), and she thought that the agent on the dock in Nassau had notified us where she was going.

Dd said that Carnival's Nassau agent helped them make the plane reservations and that he definitely knew where they were going.

 

If you are curious about the monetary cost of missing the ship in Nassau it was $1600 dollars per person in air fare.

A night in a hotel in Nassau.

Three nights in a hotel in St Martin.

(one night they spent on planes and in air ports)

Plus food and taxis.

They had to wear the same clothes the whole time.

 

. . .

 

Anyway, back in St Thomas when I was calling home to see if dd had checked in with anyone I found out that my mother had become very ill and was in the hospital and was going to have surgery on debarkation day.

I was able to talk to Mom on the phone and since it was St Martin it was not roaming...

 

The next day, on the last sea day, my son decided to slide down the bannister and broke his tail bone.:rolleyes:

 

Anyone who says that a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work has no idea what they are talking about.

 

In between the episodes of blinding fear and worry we did have some fun...

Edited March 27, 2013 by mzloolue

[Surfwench]

Yes, that was me, sauntering down the pier at Coz... over an hour past sail time. Why? Because I had booked a Carnival excursion and they held the ship as promised. Rule one... only book a Carnival excursion is traveling a significant distance from the ship, this time Tulum.

[Surfwench]

They want you to wait until they fill their van.

 

In Cozumel you get a cab and you go, but in the Bahamas they want you to get in a van and they want to get as many other people in the van as they can.

 

When my daughter was left on the dock she and her friend experienced the same thing.

The cab would not leave until they got a van full.

 

The taxis do a weird thing with tickets too.

 

Just be careful in Freeport or Nassau.

 

I was on a cruise last April with my sister some odd things happened with the taxis in Freeport.

We went to the taxi stand and a taxi driver woman took us to her van.

There were a bunch of other people in there and they said that they had waited for a while as the woman filled up her van.

We went to Junkanoo Beach(which is lovely, but the way).

 

When my sister and I wanted to leave and go back to the ship we went out to the taxi stand at Junkanoo.

The woman at the taxi stand said that we needed tickets.

We did not have tickets or know anything about tickets.

 

A woman at the taxi stand took our money and said that she would help us.:confused:

As we waited we talked to some taxi drivers who asked if we had tickets.

So we said that we did not, but the lady at the taxi stand had our money.

 

They asked us who had our money and then some drivers started yelling at the woman to give us our money back.

She gave us our money back.

 

Then a guy let us into his taxi/van although he told us that he was not supposed to take us without a ticket.

 

The whole thing was really weird.

We were very uncomfortable with it.

But at least I gained some understanding about what happened to my daughter that caused her to miss the boat.

 

Oh, when my daughter missed the boat it left exactly on time.

They did not wait one minute.

Dh and I were on deck watching for pier runners and we heard them call her name over the speakers.

By the time we got downstairs the boat was moving.

DH and I would have got off the boat if we could have, but there was not enough time.

 

Our daughter was 20 at the time and she is beautiful.

We were really scared.

 

We ran to her cabin and found security searching it.

We had to go to the security office and fill out missing person paper work while the security people talked over us to each other in their language.

It was obvious that they were talking about us.

 

Then they said that the purser had her on the phone and we felt were so relieved.

You know, we did not know if she had been in a accident or a victim of crime or God only knows what, so safe on the dock was wonderful.

The purser said that their agent on the dock had them and that he would help them make reservations to meet the ship in St Thomas.

 

All this had happened and we were still pretty close to the dock.

 

So, after a day at sea we get to St Thomas.

 

We waited until an hour before people needed to be back on board and no daughter.

We went to the purser's desk and talked to the lady.

We were very worried.

 

The Purser desk lady called Carnival's agent in Nassau and he said that he did not know where our daughter and her friend went.

He said that he just took them to a hotel and he did not know where she was.

We called the hotel and she had checked out the next morning.

Which was two days earlier...

 

Our twenty year old daughter was lost somewhere and we did not even know what country she was in.

Totally terrifying.

 

While I went to call home to see if anyone had heard from her (she had not called anyone at home), my dh got a list of airlines that fly from Nassau from the purser.

They let him use their phone.

Fortunately a lady at the airline was able to tell him that she had flown from Nassau to Miami, from Miami to San Juan, and from San Juan to St Martin.

The Caribbean is one of those can't get here from there places.

 

So another sea day and then St Martin and there she was.

When she came on board the purser's desk lady told her that she had better find us right away as we were very worried.

She did not have her cell with her,(security found it in her safe), and she thought that the agent on the dock in Nassau had notified us where she was going.

Dd said that Carnival's Nassau agent helped them make the plane reservations and that he definitely knew where they were going.

 

If you are curious about the monetary cost of missing the ship in Nassau it was $1600 dollars per person in air fare.

A night in a hotel in Nassau.

Three nights in a hotel in St Martin.

(one night they spent on planes and in air ports)

Plus food and taxis.

They had to wear the same clothes the whole time.

 

. . .

 

Anyway, back in St Thomas when I was calling home to see if dd had checked in with anyone I found out that my mother had become very ill and was in the hospital and was going to have surgery on debarkation day.

I was able to talk to Mom on the phone and since it was St Martin it was not roaming...

 

The next day, on the last sea day, my son decided to slide down the bannister and broke his tail bone.:rolleyes:

 

Anyone who says that a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work has no idea what they are talking about.

 

In between the episodes of blinding fear and worry we did have some fun...

 

Oh, my goodness, I would have been sick with fear over my daughter. I'm so glad it turned out well in the end.

[NJoyCruise]

I read somewhere that ships pay a hefty fine is they do not sail away on time. Not sure if this is true...

 

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

[Elaine5715]

I was on a Carnival excursion to the Panama Canal that was late getting back. There were four full buses so yeah, they waited. However, a tablemate and her mother, both newbies, hired a taxi to drive them around and it broke down so they were back at the ship at departure time but since the ship was't moving, they thought it was waiting for them. No it wasn't.

[PatyCake]

Just so ya'll know...the people on the ship laughing are not the only ones. I live in Cozumel and my nephew works at Frogs. I go there some days just to watch the entertainment which is all the drunk tourists acting like fools. When he works at the one on the pier we get to watch the runners. We also like to laugh at the nasty balloon hats that some wear. Hey..cheap entertainment for us locals. LOL

[sparks1093]

I read somewhere that ships pay a hefty fine is they do not sail away on time. Not sure if this is true...

 

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

 

Not a fine per se but they do have to pay to be tied up to the dock. If they over stay then they have to pay additional fees to the port authority.

[sparks1093]

They want you to wait until they fill their van.

 

In Cozumel you get a cab and you go, but in the Bahamas they want you to get in a van and they want to get as many other people in the van as they can.

 

When my daughter was left on the dock she and her friend experienced the same thing.

The cab would not leave until they got a van full.

 

The taxis do a weird thing with tickets too.

 

Just be careful in Freeport or Nassau.

 

I was on a cruise last April with my sister some odd things happened with the taxis in Freeport.

We went to the taxi stand and a taxi driver woman took us to her van.

There were a bunch of other people in there and they said that they had waited for a while as the woman filled up her van.

We went to Junkanoo Beach(which is lovely, by the way).

 

When my sister and I wanted to leave and go back to the ship we went out to the taxi stand at Junkanoo.

The woman at the taxi stand said that we needed tickets.

We did not have tickets or know anything about tickets.

 

A woman at the taxi stand took our money and said that she would help us.:confused:

As we waited we talked to some taxi drivers who asked if we had tickets.

So we said that we did not, but the lady at the taxi stand had our money.

 

They asked us who had our money and then some drivers started yelling at the woman to give us our money back.

She gave us our money back.

 

Then a guy let us into his taxi/van although he told us that he was not supposed to take us without a ticket.

 

The whole thing was really weird.

We were very uncomfortable with it.

But at least I gained some understanding about what happened to my daughter that caused her to miss the boat.

 

Oh, when my daughter missed the boat it left exactly on time.

They did not wait one minute.

Dh and I were on deck watching for pier runners and we heard them call her name over the speakers.

By the time we got downstairs the boat was moving.

DH and I would have got off the boat if we could have, but there was not enough time.

 

Our daughter was 20 at the time and she is beautiful.

We were really scared.

 

We ran to her cabin and found security searching it.

We had to go to the security office and fill out missing person paper work while the security people talked over us to each other in their language.

It was obvious that they were talking about us.

 

Then they said that the purser had her on the phone and we felt were so relieved.

You know, we did not know if she had been in a accident or a victim of crime or God only knows what, so safe on the dock was wonderful.

The purser said that their agent on the dock had them and that he would help them make reservations to meet the ship in St Thomas.

 

All this had happened and we were still pretty close to the dock.

 

So, after a day at sea we get to St Thomas.

 

We waited until an hour before people needed to be back on board and no daughter.

We went to the purser's desk and talked to the lady.

We were very worried.

 

The Purser desk lady called Carnival's agent in Nassau and he said that he did not know where our daughter and her friend went.

He said that he just took them to a hotel and he did not know where she was.

We called the hotel and she had checked out the next morning.

Which was two days earlier...

 

Our twenty year old daughter was lost somewhere and we did not even know what country she was in.

Totally terrifying.

 

While I went to call home to see if anyone had heard from her (she had not called anyone at home), my dh got a list of airlines that fly from Nassau from the purser.

They let him use their phone.

Fortunately a lady at the airline was able to tell him that she had flown from Nassau to Miami, from Miami to San Juan, and from San Juan to St Martin.

The Caribbean is one of those can't get there from here places.

 

So another sea day and then St Martin and there she was.

When she came on board the purser's desk lady told her that she had better find us right away as we were very worried.

She did not have her cell with her,(security found it in her safe), and she thought that the agent on the dock in Nassau had notified us where she was going.

Dd said that Carnival's Nassau agent helped them make the plane reservations and that he definitely knew where they were going.

 

If you are curious about the monetary cost of missing the ship in Nassau it was $1600 dollars per person in air fare.

A night in a hotel in Nassau.

Three nights in a hotel in St Martin.

(one night they spent on planes and in air ports)

Plus food and taxis.

They had to wear the same clothes the whole time.

 

. . .

 

Anyway, back in St Thomas when I was calling home to see if dd had checked in with anyone I found out that my mother had become very ill and was in the hospital and was going to have surgery on debarkation day.

I was able to talk to Mom on the phone and since it was St Martin it was not roaming...

 

The next day, on the last sea day, my son decided to slide down the bannister and broke his tail bone.:rolleyes:

 

Anyone who says that a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work has no idea what they are talking about.

 

In between the episodes of blinding fear and worry we did have some fun...

 

There is something to be said for the jitney buses. Glad it all worked out.

[nurseingu]

 

Sent from my ADR6330VW using Tapatalk 2

[DevCruise]

They want you to wait until they fill their van.

 

In Cozumel you get a cab and you go, but in the Bahamas they want you to get in a van and they want to get as many other people in the van as they can.

 

When my daughter was left on the dock she and her friend experienced the same thing.

The cab would not leave until they got a van full.

 

The taxis do a weird thing with tickets too.

 

Just be careful in Freeport or Nassau.

 

My wife and I just got back from a cruise to both Freeport and Nassau. Makes me really happy that we didn't take any of those "taxis" to see more of the island than what we could see from the cruise terminal. Then again, I had read things on here before we went on the cruise so I knew to be weary....

 

We did do a ships excursion to Atlantis though....

[darth frosty]

[Florissouri]

The port agent in Barcelona told me a story about a family that got left behind after waiting for them for over an hour. They finally show up after the ship had pushed off so the husband/father dove into the water and started swimming towards the ship.

 

Which proves Ron White correct yet again...

 

"You just can't fix stupid."

[Florissouri]

A quick review shows 73% of "pier runners" are wearing back packs.

 

Coincidence?

[billie5]

If it was that many people, maybe it was an entire excursion that got delayed. If you are booked on an excursion through the cruiseline, they have to wait for you.

 

I remain amazed that this completely false information continuously reappears on Cruise Critic, especially as it is always pointed out to be incorrect.

 

On a cruiseline excursion, they DO NOT have to wait for you, and frequently do not. There are any number of reasons they will not, or can not, wait. The remaining itinerary, navigational challenges (even including low bridges !) which require departure in fixed time intervals, port schedules and requirements. While the decision is generally up to the captain, the final decision rests with the port authority.

 

What cruiseline excursions guarantee is that the cruiseline will take full responsibility to return you to your cruise, even if it requires overnighting and flying to a further cruise destination.

 

Of course, ships do delay departure to wait for returning cruiseline tours when the captain decides it is feasible, as is often the case.

[bedfordmom]

Had the unique opportunity of watching our ship sail without us without missing the ship. Confused? Don't be.

 

When we went on the Dawn to Bermuda a couple of years ago. For the first 1.5 days, the ship was tendering to Hamilton. The ship then moved to Kings Wharf for the remainder of the time. We were going to ride back with the ship but they actually encouraged us to stay in Hamilton and take the ferry or bus back. What a weird feeling we had watching the ship leave even knowing that we were going to meet up with it later that day.

 

But generally we book our own excursions unless they involve water and/or or ways that would make it impossible to make it back on our own should our transportation break or fail to pick us up.

[gapearl]

I've heard about a lot of these stories... But, I've always wondered, what happens when those who get left behind have their young kids in the kid's club???

 

Ron

 

I read a story here a while back about a couple that left their child (infant or toddler) in Camp Carnival and they missed the ship. They weren't able to catch up with the ship until it returned to it's home port, and the ship charged them babysitting by the hour for those days he or she was left in their care.

 

Mzloolue- wow, what a story! I'm so sorry that happened to your family but glad your daughter returned safely to you in the end. :)

[Florissouri]

I remain amazed that this completely false information continuously reappears on Cruise Critic, especially as it is always pointed out to be incorrect.

 

On a cruiseline excursion, they DO NOT have to wait for you, and frequently do not. There are any number of reasons they will not, or can not, wait. The remaining itinerary, navigational challenges (even including low bridges !) which require departure in fixed time intervals, port schedules and requirements. While the decision is generally up to the captain, the final decision rests with the port authority.

 

What cruiseline excursions guarantee is that the cruiseline will take full responsibility to return you to your cruise, even if it requires overnighting and flying to a further cruise destination.

 

Of course, ships do delay departure to wait for returning cruiseline tours when the captain decides it is feasible, as is often the case.

 

Well...The source of this information is from cruise line excursion representatives themselves and not Cruise Critic. Sure, there's probably some very rare circumstances in which the ship must sail, but they would be extenuating circumstances and not the norm.

 

My personal experience has been several ships waited for ship sponsored excursions that were late (one was well over an hour) and none that were left behind.

[jppmp]

Chill dude. :) See you only have 19 posts. Have you ever experienced the 'heckling' in person? If not, then don't really see how you can say anything. And I personally have never heard or seen anything mean spirited in the "heckling". Its always just worth a good laugh.

 

 

 

oh brother....post counts are really a good measure of whether or not someone has an opinion or valid point. because of comments such as this, i choose to comment as little as possible.

 

it's funny to me that because someone has a high post count then they must be correct about everything. seems to me that maybe some of the folks with high counts like to fancy themselves experts. but in reality don't know that much outside of just regurgitating what they've read in other posts.

 

thanks for your helpful observations.

[Caribbean_Dreamer37]

It has never happened to us, but I like to be on the ship at least an hour before it leaves.

[poison7fl]

I LOVE THE DRUNK WALK...

 

1. Get back to the ship a little early.

2. Man the rails pier side.

3. Watch the show.

 

I actually was at one of those restaurant bars near the pier a few years ago and one guy was totally wasted. Someone finally asked him what ship he was on and he said "Carnival Whatever.. it's right there" and they said "Dude, that is not your ship.. Your ship left 20 minutes ago". I think he sobered up pretty quick at that point as he ran down the pier, but it was already a few miles at sea.

[Sarrish]

Just before the ship gets ready to cast off we usually find a seat where we can see the dock. It seldom fails, the ramp goes up, the ropes come off, the thrusters kick in and someone comes running down the dock.:eek:

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Really .... ? Heckling? :rolleyes: I hope this behavior isn't typical of Carnival guests ... if so, we should christen Carnival with a new nickname ... rather than 'The Everyday Man's Cruise Line' ... maybe we should re-name it 'The Pubescent People's Cruise Line"?

 

Happens on other lines as well. Its not unique to Carnival.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Rottweiler Puppy

[kmc500]

Trust me, when you're one of the peeps on board being delayed from leaving because some moron didn't pay attention to the time and holds up the ship's departure, you will join the hecklers. :)

:D

 

As will I! It is amazing how many times we have had to wait for late arrivals on shore excursions. Nice for once not to have wait for the inconsiderate and lazy among us.

 

Kevin C