Not missing the ship on private excursion

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, MCC retired said:

What time would you actually have to arrive at this resort , to depart noon or so , to even make this excursion worth doing ?

I was wondering that also.

[tonit964]

I think that the people that do this have the mindset that there is no way the ship would leave without me.

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

I think that the people that do this have the mindset that there is no way the ship would leave without me.

Normally I would agree with you, but the OP is asking the question so that he won't miss the sailing.  I give him credit for asking.

[tonit964]

16 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Normally I would agree with you, but the OP is asking the question so that he won't miss the sailing.  I give him credit for asking.

I realize what the OP was asking. 

I was talking about the other posters and their experience with seeing people either miss the ship or close to missing the ship. Those folks that do that, in my opinion think the ship would never leave without them.

[Daniel A]

58 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

I realize what the OP was asking. 

I was talking about the other posters and their experience with seeing people either miss the ship or close to missing the ship. Those folks that do that, in my opinion think the ship would never leave without them.

I agree 100%.    It's either that or they just don't care if they hold up a few thousand people - or - they aren't bright enough to understand what 'all aboard' means. 

[brucedodge]

FWIW, we have only done private touring at cruise ports for 20 years and many cruises, though occasionally it's been impossible to do a private tour to a specific place (such as the Copper Canyon in Mexico).  Many factors are in play and for those who take cruise line tours, I completely understand the reasoning behind taking them.

 

Here are some of the factors we use:

 

1.  Only go with a reputable private tour person or company.  In all the years we've only been disappointed once and we didn't set it up.  We also normally like to go with very small groups, say about six or eight, or even by ourselves.  And we make sure the vehicle has plenty of elbow room, even paying for a bigger vehicle at times.

 

2.  When we go to multiple destinations, we almost always go to the furthest one first, and then work our way back.

 

3.  As has been stated, always get back to the port area early.  Our limit is one hour early, but that can vary, and we'll get back much earlier depending on circumstances.  Last month we took an early train from Cadiz to Jerez de la Frontera (about a 45 minute ride) and spent a good portion of the day there.  BUT we took a train back with two later trains as a backup, plus we were willing to spend whatever a taxi would charge as a further backup.  

 

4.  Take money, credit cards, and documentation with you in a secure way.

 

5.  And finally, when leaving the Canaries, Madeira, or the Azores for Florida, NEVER be late.  😀

 

Bruce

[ram1977]

Personally we like to do our own excursions rather than ship excursions, but we always make sure we leave enough of a time buffer. It's not worth the risk of having the ship sail without you.

[frugaltravel]

I agree with Brucedodge.  I almost always do independent excursions or independent activities in port.  I always plan on being back in the vicinity of the cruise ship one hour before all aboard time.  I can stay around the port area browsing or taking photos if I want to stay in port a while longer.  The only time I even got close to arriving back near all aboard time was when I rented a car in New England.  Took a fall color drive.  On the way back there was some accident that delayed me by about 30 minutes.  I still had about a 30 minute buffer and got back to the ship with time to spare.  Since it was a late all aboard time (9.30pm), I was the last one to board the ship.  But it was well worth the experience.

 

If someone would get stressed out about the possibility of missing the ship, then cruise ship excursions are the best for them.

 

[5:00_Somewhere]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:04 PM, Daniel A said:

If you are on a private excursion, wouldn't the tour operator know when to get you back to the boat?

 

I think it's already been answered, but I also agree that we always try to leave extra time to get back to the ship on private excursions and, while we've never been left behind thus far, we had a couple of close calls, one of which was in Grenada. We had left plenty of time, but for some reason we never got an answer for the traffic coming back to the city out of the mountains was just horrendous. At one point we were we were close enough to the port, but still stuck in traffic, that we very seriously considered jumping out and running for it. We did make it on time, but just by the skin of our teeth.

 

And another example, by way of answering DanielA's question, although the private tour operators should know the ship's schedule - and while, in our experience, most of them are very good about it - there are some who may be a little less vigilent and/or who may have a higher tolerance for near misses than you.  We (foolishly) did a private tour a couple of years ago from Livorno, Italy, stopping in both Pisa and Florence. Florence is quite a drive from Livorno; a good 80-90 minutes if all goes well. We actually fibbed and told the tour guide that our all-aboard was an hour before it actually was to try and assure we'd make it back in time. Nevertheless, he informed us at one point he knew the actual all-aboard time and that we'd be fine.  Without boring you with the excruciating details, the trip back to the ship was a nail-biter for us, especially when we got stuck in traffic getting to the port area with the clock ticking.  During the trip back the guide promised us he'd get us to the ship 15 minutes before all-aboard - which was cutting it way too close for our comfort - but, sure enough, he ended up pulling up to the entry gate exactly 15 minutes before all-aboard, and one other couple pulled up as we were walking to the ship, but we were the last 4 people aboard before they pulled up the gangway and we will never make that mistake again.

 

I do not recommend "fibbing" about all-aboard time (as we tried), but rather simply telling the guide when you want to be back if there is any concern, and otherwise leaving plenty of time to account for waiting to get a taxi, traffic, etc.