being left behind

[cruisemom42]

I would venture to guess the number is far fewer than that. With your figures there would be 2+ pax missing every ship at every port.

 

There's someone who is on staff with a major cruise line and used to post with fair regularity on these boards. He insisted there were passengers left behind on nearly every cruise and often at more than one port on a cruise. So I guess it does happen. I still think lack of personal responsibility is a major factor -- would be willing to guess more miss the ship at ports where the main activity is drinking and/or where a time change is involved. ;)

[dioxide45]

For missing the sailing at a port of call I'm inclined to agree. ;)

 

And those still in the mix after excluding alcohol-related will include folk who mis-remembered the back-on-board time, or at a change of time zone confused ship's time with local time or relied on the time shown on their phone/I-pad, or simply didn't allow wiggle-time for delays.

 

I have NEVER heard, thro Cruise Critic or anywhere else, and neither first-hand nor second-hand nor tenth-hand, of anyone on a private excursion missing a sailing. No doubt it's happened somewhere/sometime but you can be as confident as anyone can be that a tour operator will not allow you to miss a sailing.

 

JB :)

 

I would be inclined to agree. I would also think that the ship wouldn't be likely to leave even a private tour of 10-20 people behind. I would also expect a good tour operator to call the port agent and tell them of a delay and also their expected time that they will make it to the port. The port agent will then be likely to not let the ship leave. Realize also, in some ports it is an employee of the port that sails the ship out of the port, not the captain.

 

I would expect that the ports where the most people are left behind are Nassau and Cozumel. Perhaps St Thomas would be in the top three.

[paul929207]

Is there anyone out there that knows how to find out,

who the comedians will be for the up coming Carnival cruises.

I am sailing on Splendor in late Jan'16.. would like to find out who will be performing..Carnival was no help..told I would have to wait till I got on board.

Somebody has to know...lol :D

You really need to start a new thread in the Carnival section if you hope to get an answer.

[BTromboneFrack]

Back in 1991, on the Holiday, my DW and I were on the top deck, enjoying the party while the ship was getting ready to depart Cozumel. I love watching the lines being cast off, and it was very fun to see all the dock runners during the last half hour before departure. With about 10 minutes to go, the parade of runners had stopped -- until one couple was seen darting through the Cozumel streets with just a few of minutes to go. The Hoiiday's lines were cast off just they got to the dock, and then the crowd on the top deck started cheering for them. While sprinting as fast as they could, the hatch closed and we pulled away. The poor couple was left standing at the dock, about 15 feet from the doors that were closed just seconds before they arrived.

 

And then it happened----one guy leaned over the railing and yelled...."WHAT'S YOUR ROOM NUMBER?" It certainly was one of the funniest things I've ever heard on a cruise.

 

As it turned out, that couple ended up getting on a pilot boat -- probably at a big price - and joined us as we turned to go out to sea.

[cruiser64093]

I watched last month as we left port, minus 2 tardy pax. (Cozumel, you guessed it). I also found out later that the captain had booted off two unruly passengers there. So, minus 4 for us. The ship felt soooo much lighter... :)

[Hflors]

One time years ago dh and I were on a ship sponsored tour in Grand Cayman. There were two busses and at the end of the day one of the busses (of course the bus we were on) failed to come back and pick us up. We waited and waited in the parking lot for the second bus and then the tour operators came by and said she had already contacted the ship that we were back from the tour. She ran back to the boat we had been on and re-contacted the ship. Finally about a half hour to forty-five minutes later the bus finally arrived and picked us up. We were about two hours late getting back. The tender boat was sitting at the dock waiting for us. When we came along side the ship all the passengers above were yelling and laughing at us. We were very happy that we were on a ship's tour!

[SteveH2508]

<snip>

VP

 

Edited to add: pax are sometimes referred to as SLF by the airlines.... SLF = Self Loading Freight :)

 

I know that RAF helicopter pilots used to refer to us infantry types as 'ballast' (out of earshot of us though!)

[babygoo]

For missing the sailing at a port of call I'm inclined to agree. ;)

 

And those still in the mix after excluding alcohol-related will include folk who mis-remembered the back-on-board time, or at a change of time zone confused ship's time with local time or relied on the time shown on their phone/I-pad, or simply didn't allow wiggle-time for delays.

 

I have NEVER heard, thro Cruise Critic or anywhere else, and neither first-hand nor second-hand nor tenth-hand, of anyone on a private excursion missing a sailing. No doubt it's happened somewhere/sometime but you can be as confident as anyone can be that a tour operator will not allow you to miss a sailing.

 

JB :)

 

Thanks for all the replies, I guess this is what I wanted to hear :)

[Jimnbigd]

Some barely make it...

 

And some don't...

 

And for a real adventure, take a boat to the ship...

[Guest maddycat]

Some barely make it...

 

And some don't...

 

And for a real adventure, take a boat to the ship...

 

Thanks for the links. The videos were very entertaining.

[gooch47]

My favorite "missed the boat" story happened in Venice. The ship was pulling away from the dock when a water taxi came speeding up. The people got off and ran to where the gangplank had been, but it was too late. The ship just kept going. The taxi pilot pulled away and was quickly stopped by a police boat for speeding. We all booed the cop.

[GUT2407]

Never seen Stats but have been on ships where it has happened.

[islandterrace]

The Bad: Last spring we flew Delta to the Caribbean to catch a Transatlantic to Barcelona. Delta cancelled our flight out of JFK ten minutes before departure time. After our reschedule, we arrived with the ship at the dock, but they would not allow us through the gate because customs officials left early. We watched the ship sail without us around 11:00 PM. The driver who picked us up at the airport did not feel it was safe to drive to the next port at midnight. He found us a local room, picked us up the next morning at 7:00 AM and delivered us to the ship before noon. Customs would not allow us to board without ships ID card. Finally we got the attention of a ships officer, and he arranged our boarding.

 

The Good: We got a Saturday night city tour of Santa Domingo, a coastal excursion of the Dominican Republic the next morning, 40,000 Delta miles, with all out of pocket expenses reimbursed by Delta. Since we did not embark at the cruise origination point, ALL of our port charges were refunded.

 

Even though we are approaching our mid eighties, we are repeating the same cruise this coming spring. One difference, we are arriving and staying 4 days ahead of departure.

 

The preceding year our luggage was lost on the way to another Transatlantic cruise - that's another story -----

[mapsmith]

Some place on this site is a very detailed description of a gentleman who was left behind in Nassau. It all resulted in miscommunication among his group at Atlantis. He did describe the feelings and, more importantly, the processes that he underwent to get lodging, airfare, etc, to connect back with the party.

 

One of the most important tools at his disposal was a cellphone. Although he did not have a charger and wound up locating one in Nassau. Without the Cellphone, the rest of his group would have had no clue as to what was transpiring.

 

I found it a very engrossing story. and will ignore others in my group when it is time to head back and they say "We have plenty of time"

[notentirelynormal]

Some place on this site is a very detailed description of a gentleman who was left behind in Nassau. It all resulted in miscommunication among his group at Atlantis. He did describe the feelings and, more importantly, the processes that he underwent to get lodging, airfare, etc, to connect back with the party.

 

One of the most important tools at his disposal was a cellphone. Although he did not have a charger and wound up locating one in Nassau. Without the Cellphone, the rest of his group would have had no clue as to what was transpiring.

 

I found it a very engrossing story. and will ignore others in my group when it is time to head back and they say "We have plenty of time"

 

Here's the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121215

[Nanobot]

I know that RAF helicopter pilots used to refer to us infantry types as 'ballast' (out of earshot of us though!)

 

In the marine industry we commonly use the term 'super cargo' to refer to passengers.

 

Also, for this thread my experience is the ship will always stay to pick up passengers who are on one of the company's tours if it is late. The private tour operators want to make sure their reputation and business are unblemished too, so they make a valiant effort never to be late for sailing. The pier runners I have witnessed were always people who went on their own and lost track of time (mainly due to alcohol).

[Jimnbigd]

Sometimes people miss the ship because the ship stayed on ship's time (usually same time zone as the initial departure port), but the port-of-call is an hour earlier in time. So a 5pm departure, for example, would really be 4pm local time.

[MMW37]

I missed embarkation for my first cruise. 5 friends and I saved our pennies all year to go on a spring break trip our senior year in HS. One's parents made her book airfare through the cruise line, while the rest of us flew a discount airline. Guess which one made the ship? The rest of us got to Miami at 7 pm, and had to take a hotel stay and last minute flight to Nassau out of our spending money. It was an adventure! Joining the ship in the first port was no problem.

[WaveSplasher]

The Cruise Director on the Mariner told us that if you do not make it back to the ship in time, get ready 2 things. One is a passport. Second is a camera to take pictures/video of the ship sailing away in the sunset.

[GUT2407]

Sometimes people miss the ship because the ship stayed on ship's time (usually same time zone as the initial departure port), but the port-of-call is an hour earlier in time. So a 5pm departure, for example, would really be 4pm local time.

 

Yep amazes me how many seem to manage that one.

[GUT2407]

We drive to Port, about 2 hours.

 

We almost always go the day before, when that's out of the question we allow 4 hours for the trip and aim to be there before boarding opens (not our time slot but boarding in general) that gives us a real good buffer if anything goes wrong

[Vampire Parrot]

We drive to Port, about 2 hours.

 

We almost always go the day before, when that's out of the question we allow 4 hours for the trip and aim to be there before boarding opens (not our time slot but boarding in general) that gives us a real good buffer if anything goes wrong

 

My port is 75 minutes from home... it's on a route I've done many times. However, on quite a few occasions it's taken 4+ hours due to an accident - and on several occasions, over 10 hours due to a bad crash. That's because the route is on a motorway ,and if it gets closed then there is no way to get off the motorway. So it's then a case of just wait. And so - for a cruise or a meeting I absolutely cannot afford to miss I travel down the day before.

 

VP

Edited December 21, 2015 by Vampire Parrot

[cruznjan]

I was told that when passengers are late returning, the ship makes every effort to contact them via cell phone. This must have happened as we were late leaving a port. The gangway was down 30 minutes past the on board time. Shortly after that, two women showed up.

[GUT2407]

My port is 75 minutes from home... it's on a route I've done many times. However, on quite a few occasions it's taken 4+ hours due to an accident - and on several occasions, over 10 hours due to a bad crash. That's because the route is on a motorway ,and if it gets closed then there is no way to get off the motorway. So it's then a case of just wait. And so - for a cruise or a meeting I absolutely cannot afford to miss I travel down the day before.

 

VP

 

Yep we took three days once when all roads between Sydney and Newcastle were cut by brushfire.

[vacation luvver]

I was told that when passengers are late returning, the ship makes every effort to contact them via cell phone.

Really? When my friend and I were on a ship's excursion out of Portland, Maine, and the tour guide had the bus driver drive around in circles for several hours, telling us that the ship would wait for us no matter how late we were, the Explorer of the Seas did not call us on our cell phones. At the time, I didn't know what to do, so when we eventually returned to the ship, I asked if there was a phone number for us to call in the event that this happened again. I was told that there was no phone number for us to call.

 

Afterwards, I was told at cruisecritic that I could have called the port agent. But the ship's personnel never told me that. And, as I said, they never called me.