Last to board ship

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

On my Emerald cruise we had flights and transfers booked through Princess,

 

Now the flight in front of mine out of Edinburgh went direct to Barcelona but

 

Princess sent me on the next one which went via London and straight into

 

heavy fog, landing in fog so thick that you could not see anything was an

 

experience, however being stuck for hours with sailing time approaching can

 

become stressful we were happy Princess would wait, and sure enough we had

 

the best checkin ever as we were in the last little group to board, seeing only a

 

handful of cards behind the only check in person left in the big hall was an odd

 

feeling.

 

So we boarded after muster, so my question is how late have you boarded,

 

how late do you think Princess would wait for a person with there own

 

transfers compared to a Princess transfer, now coming from UK our booking

 

gives us many rights, so if ship had sailed we were not worried, as Princess

 

would have to look after us.

 

 

yours Shogun

[Griller]

Well in April several years ago we had a cruise booked on Golden Princess from San Pedro roundtrip to Hawaii, 14 days, and the first stop after leaving San Pedro was 4 days later in Hawaii.

Due to work commitments and flight schedules I stupidly booked our flights from Orlando to arrive around noon at LAX on the cruise departure day.

What could go wrong? After all it wasn't winter and we were not coming from, going to, or transiting a Northern state with poor weather.

And the Southwest flight had a great record for being on time. Got to love Southwest with 2 free checked bags.

 

Well I'll tell you what went wrong - we had a stop at New Orleans where we did not have to change planes - but taxi-ing out on our takeoff run at New Orleans we got a flat nosewheel tire. The captain told us the engineers found an aircraft bolt in it, must have fallen off some other plane!! He kept us well informed.

3 and a half hours to get a new wheel/tire fitted and signed off. Then we had to refuel, then the crew were out of hours. Had to get a new crew. Sat in the plane sweating, not because it was hot, just in fear of missing the ship.

 

We arrived on the ship just as the Lifeboat Drill was starting.

Less than 30 minutes later we sailed off into the sunset to Hawaii for a great cruise.

We won't do that again, in future we will fly in a day early no matter what if the next port isn't close.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Griller

[Shogun]

Hi Griller,

 

You story made be remember why Mrs Shogun wanted everything through Princess last year we stopped off on route to see friends in Canada, left for the airport with hours and hours to spare, just to find a major accident on motorway,

result was we were last to board plane, they kept calling our names, as they kept saying doors closing.

 

So made ship in plenty of time but if we had missed the flight serous expense would have occurred as no more flights that day.

 

 

yours Shogun

[Griller]

I guess that's one more reason why travel insurance is usually a great idea.

You can buy an annual travel policy in UK at a very low cost ( way cheaper than in US) which apart from medical insurance etc could cover missed departures - however some policies only cover a missed departure from your original departure point - in your case your UK airport, not the Canadian one which was a subsequent departure.

So its worth making sure you have missed departure cover for ANY missed departure during your whole trip.

I have no idea whether Princess' cruise insurance covers missed ship departures during a cruise?

I never took up their insurance but might in the future if I get older.

[Shogun]

Hi Griller

 

Insurance is cheap here, we have the highest level of policy offered by the company, we use not sure of all the small print as mrs shogun deals with it, but has millions of medical and return to uk cover, there is a cruise section with init as well, cost is only pennies per day.

 

 

yours Shogun

[Griller]

I pay about £100 a year for our UK annual policy, I am a dual citizen with another passport from the British Isles (covers a multitude of sins) and find it much more economical than US insurance.

it doesn't cover pre-existing medical conditions though, much more expensive for that cover.

That's where the Princess insurance might be useful one day in the not too distant future.

[Josy1953]

I pay about £100 a year for our UK annual policy, I am a dual citizen with another passport from the British Isles (covers a multitude of sins) and find it much more economical than US insurance.

it doesn't cover pre-existing medical conditions though, much more expensive for that cover.

That's where the Princess insurance might be useful one day in the not too distant future.

 

Try Insure and Go for insurance, we pay £120 for annual insurance which covers pre-existing conditions and includes cruise cover.

[Shoalwater]

you need to be medivaced? Home or the UK? Mine says it will pay to take me "home", the address used to purchase the policy.

[skf]

Well I'll tell you what went wrong - we got a flat nosewheel tire. The captain told us the engineers found an aircraft bolt in it, must have fallen off some other plane!! He kept us well informed.

3 and a half hours to get a new wheel/tire fitted and signed off.

My story is not related to cruising but I was reminded of it by this horror story...

We were flying Air Gaspé back to Mont-Joli Québec from Port-Menier on Anticosti Island, where the runway was gravel. The first plane ( DC-3) got a flat on a wing tire halfway down the runway. The second plane (DC-4) had to go back and get a spare and a wing-jack. Pilot somehow managed to land and after everyone was done kicking the new tire it was time to get to work and put the jack under the wing. The jack did not fit because it was designed to lift the plane with a full tire, not a flat. What to do? "We will send a worker to the tractor shed and bring back a bottle-jack to put under the axle!" Voilà, all went well until even the tractor jack could not be placed. What to do encore? "We will dig a hole in the runway for the tractor jack!" Finally it was done and we were off for the mainland. Good thing we landed first in DC-4 because when DC-3 landed its brakes froze on the runway.

The RCMP went out for the baggage, the airport turned off the runway lights, and we went to the motel at the airport, arriving at 11:30 PM...our scheduled arrival was at noon.

Very late Steve

[beg3yrs]

Hi All

 

so my question is how late have you boarded,

 

how late do you think Princess would wait for a person with there own

 

transfers compared to a Princess transfer, now coming from UK our booking

 

gives us many rights, so if ship had sailed we were not worried, as Princess

 

would have to look after us.

 

 

yours Shogun

 

Our second international embarkation was almost a disaster. This was long before I was a CC member and so I didn't know better.

 

Spent a week on the Greek island of Rhodes before our cruise. On the day of embarkation (you can see this coming), I had flights from Rhodes to Athens to Rome to Genoa. This involved two different airlines and the tickets weren't linked so we had to pick up and re-check bags in Rome (boy was I a novice back then). Weather in Rome was bad so our flight was delayed. Called Costa Cruises from the plane (still on the ground) and let them know. Finally got to Genoa, grabbed bags and found the craziest Italian taxi driver that got us to the port driving like you mostly only see in the movies. We had called Costa again when we arrived at the Genoa airport. Pulled into the cruise terminal and there was nobody outside (but the ship was there). Doors flew open and about 5 staff ran out, grabbed our bags and our documents. We were instantly escorted direct to the ship and were handed our room keys while we were walking. The boarding ramp was pulled away the instant we stepped onto the ship.

 

From that day on we have never flown in on the day of embarkation...

 

As far as how long Princess would wait, I think if you are already on a Princess transfer from the airport, I think they'd wait as long as possible as it is now on them to get you to the ship. If you are on your own transfer, I think they'd wait only if they could without any major hiccups to their own schedule and costs.

Edited October 25, 2015 by beg3yrs

[Pierlesscruisers]

how late do you think Princess would wait for a person with there own transfers compared to a Princess transfer, now coming from UK our booking gives us many rights, so if ship had sailed we were not worried, as Princess would have to look after us.

 

I suspect that the answer to your question would be based on a number of factors such as the Captain involved, sailing time/location of next port, whether the arrival time at the airport for the late flight is kown or not, whether the passenger(s) used Princess Air or not, and how much was known about how late arriving the person(s) involved will be. Probably a lot of other factors that I didn't list also are possible/probable factors.

 

I've seen the ships departing Seattle sail on time even while it was known that not all passengers had arrived, I've seen them wait for passengers. What the difference is between them waiting and not waiting I don't know although the previously mentioned possibilities certainly might have been fators. I do remember one time when 6 buses from Canada were delayed for 4+ hours at the border. Four of the buses made it, one was sitting in the front of the terminal and one was on the next pier over (made the wrong turn entering the port) as the ship pulled away from the pier.

 

Tom

Edited October 25, 2015 by Pierlesscruisers

[ShipFish]

I suspect that the answer to your question would be based on a number of factors such as the Captain involved, sailing time/location of next port, whether the arrival time at the airport for the late flight is kown or not, whether the passenger(s) used Princess Air or not, and how much was known about how late arriving the person(s) involved will be. Probably a lot of other factors that I didn't list also are possible/probable factors.

 

All of these and you can add factors regarding the port that they are boarding in too: is there issues that mean the ship must leave on time (tide, weather), is it departing from a country where legal/paperwork requirements force a strict cut off time for boarding?

 

It was mentioned above the factor of how much is known about how late arriving the person(s) will be: take sure you have a cell phone number listed in your booking contact information and have this phone on you. Often once it gets down to the last few cabins left to arrive the ship will try to contact to find out where they are - calling someone who replies that they are "on etc street/bridge and approximately x minutes from the port" is more likely to be waited for if it is possible to.

Edited October 26, 2015 by ShipFish

[Pierlesscruisers]

All of these and you can add factors regarding the port that they are boarding in too: is there issues that mean the ship must leave on time (tide, weather), is it departing from a country where legal/paperwork requirements force a strict cut off time for boarding?

 

It was mentioned above the factor of how much is known about how late arriving the person(s) will be: take sure you have a cell phone number listed in your booking contact information and have this phone on you. Often once it gets down to the last few cabins left to arrive the ship will try to contact to find out where they are - calling someone who replies that they are "on etc street/bridge and approximately x minutes from the port" is more likely to be waited for if it is possible to.

 

That lasst part of your message is very true. We often get calls at the pier from people who are late telling us exactly where they are. That information is a big help. There is no winner when any person misses their ship.

 

Tom

[Times Prince]

Hi All

 

On my Emerald cruise we had flights and transfers booked through Princess,

< ... > , and sure enough we had the best checkin ever as we were in the last little group to board, seeing only a handful of cards behind the only check in person left in the big hall was an odd feeling.

 

So we boarded after muster, so my question is how late have you boarded,

 

how late do you think Princess would wait for a person with there own

transfers compared to a Princess transfer, now coming from UK our booking

gives us many rights, so if ship had sailed we were not worried, as Princess

would have to look after us.

yours Shogun

Shogun,

 

You had a similar experience to ours, which we posted in 2007 - also for Emerald Princess. But when we arrived at the port, check-in was over.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=682464&page=2

 

An excerpt:

When we finally arrived, the ship was still there and here was another Princess rep to take us in hand – running with us to the entry door of the terminal which was … locked. We then sprinted to the end of the building closest to the ship, entering through a loading dock (behind a truck that was backing up to that dock!). With the quickest security check we have ever experienced, we went through barricades up the stairway to the only remaining gangplank. There we were met by a waiting Senior Purser’s officer who welcomed us and personally handed us our cruise cards so we could be badged into the ship’s security system at entry. He led us to the Purser’s desk where we completed check-in and he communicated to the bridge "they're onboard!". His manner communicated pure delight that we had arrived onboard Emerald Princess.

 

Following the brief check-in we got in line to register our “lost” luggage – but before we reached the head of the short line we looked to our right to see, coming up the gangplank, ALL of our luggage. WHOO – HOO !!! We had made it !

 

We totally agree that if one keeps Princess informed of delays they will do everything they can to help. And even if we miss the ship, Princess EZAir will get us to the next port - not a bad deal unless it is a Transatlantic. :D

[AKman2495]

Hi All

 

On my Emerald cruise we had flights and transfers booked through Princess,

 

Now the flight in front of mine out of Edinburgh went direct to Barcelona but

 

Princess sent me on the next one which went via London and straight into

 

heavy fog, landing in fog so thick that you could not see anything was an

 

experience, however being stuck for hours with sailing time approaching can

 

become stressful we were happy Princess would wait, and sure enough we had

 

the best checkin ever as we were in the last little group to board, seeing only a

 

handful of cards behind the only check in person left in the big hall was an odd

 

feeling.

 

So we boarded after muster, so my question is how late have you boarded,

 

how late do you think Princess would wait for a person with there own

 

transfers compared to a Princess transfer, now coming from UK our booking

 

gives us many rights, so if ship had sailed we were not worried, as Princess

 

would have to look after us.

 

 

yours Shogun

 

I have never been later than 1:30 pm or so. And that was off a Princess airport/tour while on a B2B.

 

However, I was on the Crown last year and we delayed sailing out of FLL for almost 1 hour while waiting on 6 passengers. The captain kept us informed of their progress and finally, we hear an announcement for them to report immediately for a special muster drill, just prior to sailing.

[Shogun]

Hi there

 

we had our own muster, quickest ever, the guy asked if we had cruised before, been on this ship before, asked us what procedure was, said you know what to do

and that was it, we also got a letter saying to watch safety video, check escape route from cabin etc.

 

 

yours Shogun

[macky2]

DH and I were the very last passengers to board the Coral Princess out of Whittier some years ago.

 

We didn't know better and booked same day flights from LAX to Anchorage. Thankfully we also booked the Princess transfer from the Anchorage airport to the ship.

 

Just about everything that could go wrong went wrong. Alaska airlines was having a mechanics work slow-down and so we sat in the plane leaving LAX for a good hour before take-off waiting for a mechanic to sign off that the plane was good to go. Then we missed our connection from Seattle to Anchorage. We were rebooked on a later flight and were the last passengers aboard the last Princess bus to Whittier.

 

Then the bus had a problem at a one way tunnel since we were running later than planned. We finally made it to Whittier and there was no one in the huge embarkation tent except one lone Princess employee who checked us in. We were literally the last passengers to board and the on ramp was closed behind us. DH says it was about 10:30 pm when we finally boarded.

 

We had missed the muster drill (and dinner) completely and our room steward told us we would do the muster drill the next day. We never did muster, but thankfully the cruise was without problems.

 

Live and learn.

 

Kathy