Missing the ship from excursions

[Deb T.]

I forget which 2007 DCL Med cruise port, but it was one where we had to tender. A couple missed the ship (their names were called repeatedly over the intercom). We were over an hour out to sea when we noticed the ship had slowed almost to a stop so we walked around deck 4 to see if we could figure out why. We saw a small boat approach and watched as two women climbed aboard, shopping bags in hand!

 

[flowsoul]

Yes, we've been on several DCL cruises where people didn't make it back in time. My father was on a Princess cruise where someone missed the last tender and then had to independently pay the/a tender operator to get him to the ship. My father watched as he was loaded on board the ship as they pulled out of the port through the same door that the harbor pilot uses to leave the ship. He spoke to him later and was told that it cost him $1,000 to get the tender operator to do that. He was lucky. It is a not-uncommon occurrence and why they tell you over and over about getting back on time. Crew members probably see it nearly every day.

Wow, that cost a lot! People should really just be mindful of the time. I'd rather get back on time than be totally stressed and pay that huge amount.

 

[Dug720]

I don't agree with the PP that it makes no difference to Disney why you're late. I think they really do try to accommodate people within reason if it's possible & for good cause. On our Fantasy cruise, a major winter storm was snarling air traffic in the northeast. We sailed away from Port Canaveral hours behind schedule because, as the captain said, they wanted to wait for passengers whose flights were delayed due to the storm.

Odds are there were a fair number who had booked their air through Disney ergo Disney knew where they were in process. Those who booked on their own but arrived before the final flight with Disney booked people just lucked out.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Odds are there were a fair number who had booked their air through Disney ergo Disney knew where they were in process. Those who booked on their own but arrived before the final flight with Disney booked people just lucked out.

Certainly possible. That is one good reason to buy air via DCL. Even that won't guarantee they'll wait, but imo it will improve the chance of them waiting.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Something to keep in mind is most excursion companies will do everything in their power to get people back on time. Otherwise they wouldn’t stay in business. But sometimes things happen out of their control that will keep people from getting back to the ship on time.

 

[soniam]

The "calling people's names" reminds me of when we were back late on our last Celebrity cruise from one of their excursions. When we got back to the ship, guests that we had met, our dining room servers, and our butler were all like "OMG, we thought you missed the boat". Then we were whisked away by the suite concierge, who said they had been waiting for us, to the helipad deck to drink champagne as we left port. Others seemed stressed about it, but we were fine. Although, the other suite guests on the helipad were having a good time with the slight delay, because they got extra champagne and hors d'oeuvres.

 

[littleaussie]

This thread reminds me of our mishap when we were stopped at Antigua in 2018. My 2 teen girls and I spent the day on a non-Disney excursion.

We were enjoying a sailing tour with about 20 other Disney Cruise guests and several families had the same castaway cay backpack.

I asked my 12 year old to put our lanyards in our backpack and of course, it was the wrong one.

The excursion ended and we all left the tour boat and my family shopped along the pier for a bit.

Once we got to the port entrance, reached in the bags and. . . No lanyards.

I panicked. Was convinced we’d never get back on the ship. Approached the port ladies with tears explaining we had no keys or IDs. They said we would have to stay on the island. All I could think about was my 2 year old on board with my parents and I would never see him again.

All joking of course. They escorted us right up to the ship and handed us over to Disney and the crew took over to get us on board again and up to guest services.

Our lanyards were waiting for us on the ship.

Scary 15 minutes though, not knowing what to expect. I can’t imagine the shock of missing the boat.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Looking at all of these posts, I'm not sure anyone has answered the OP question about what actually happens if you miss the boat or if anyone had actual "missed the boat" experiences. While all of this is great advice about how to not miss your return time, does anyone have a story of them actually missing the boat and what happened?

If it's a DCL excursion, they WILL wait for you, if possible. They have left DCL excursions in Alaska because it was a flight excursion and weather moved in and they could not take off. In that case, it is up to DCL to find you lodging/food/transportation to catch the ship at the next port (if possible). If you miss the ship because you are on a private excursion, drunk in a bar, shopping, etc, then all of that is up to you. That's what I would classify as a vacation nightmare and why I am super-paranoid about getting back to the ship way early. And like I said in another post, they sometimes wait for a while for people who are late, but that is totally Captain's discretion, along with the people who run the port because ships can get huge fines for overstaying their port times.

 

[darnheather]

This thread reminds me of our mishap when we were stopped at Antigua in 2018. My 2 teen girls and I spent the day on a non-Disney excursion.

We were enjoying a boat excursion with about 20 other Disney Cruise guests and several families had the same castaway cay backpack.

I asked my 12 year old to put our lanyards in our backpack and of course, it was the wrong one.

The excursion ended and we all disembarked and shopped along the pier for a bit.

Once we got to the port entrance, reached in the bags and. . . No lanyards.

I panicked. Was convinced we’d never get back on the ship. Approached the port ladies with tears explaining we had no keys or IDs. They said we would have to stay on the island. All I could think about was my 2 year old on board with my parents and I would never see him again.

All joking of course. They escorted us right up to the ship and handed us over to Disney and the crew took over to get us on board again and up to guest services.

Our lanyards were waiting for us on the ship.

Scary 15 minutes though, not knowing what to expect. I can’t imagine the shock of missing the boat.

How did you get off the ship without scanning your KTTWC?

 

[littleaussie]

I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear.

We disembarked The Wonder with all our lanyards.

Once we were on our our excursion on a sailing tour, my daughter stuck our lanyards in another cruise family’s backpack.

 

[Kebby]

We were on the feb repo from San Juan to PC and someone missed the boat in St Thomas. The captain waited 35 mins, and we then pulled away as they ran down the dock. They will leave you. They had gone in their stateroom, packed all their things and left them on the dock.

 

[Minnie368]

OP here. Just wanted to report back that we did our own excursion in Jamaica and wouldn’t do it any other way now. We researched trip advisor exhaustively and settled on Courtney Taylor Tours. We were at the meeting place in port at 7:30am and on our private van on the way to Blue Hole within 15 minutes. Had an awesome guide and driver. Also went river tubing and had a great lunch and were back in the secure port by 2:30 with all aboard time at 5:30, so no worries at all. Had a wonderful experience and totally missed the crowds. The main reason for posting my questions was to see if there were any real stories of people who missed the ship for reasons like traffic, car accidents, things they couldn’t control, etc. I know there are people who lose track of time, forget meeting times, drink too much, etc, but I am able to control that and see that it doesn’t happen. What I found was I could not find a story anywhere (not that it has never happened, but must not be at all common) of someone who did everything right- along with their family/friends they were sailing with- who missed the ship. These tour groups are very responsible and if you pick a reputable company they know what they’re doing. Thanks for all the input I found here!

 

[starvenger]

Glad to hear everything went well! I take it that you'd recommend the tour company?

 

[Minnie368]

Glad to hear everything went well! I take it that you'd recommend the tour company?

Yes absolutely. Our guide was Samantha and driver was Bob.