I was on a Med cruise on Princess and 6 of us were on a private excursion to Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano. We had a great day of touring but it was an Italian holiday and traffic kept building during the day, so we turned back early, giving ourselves 2-3 hours for the 30 mile drive back to the ship. Unfortunately, a horrible traffic accident (with deaths) caused a back up of all traffic in the entire region. We tried everything, but were stuck. It took us nearly 5 hours to get back to the ship. The owner of our tour company had called Princess to let them know we were on our way and several Princess buses were ahead of us just a few miles. The ship was supposed to depart around 6 pm but waited until 8 pm for all the Princess tours. We arrived at 8:15 pm.
It's a sinking feeling to see a big black hole (in the dark) at the dock where there should be a brightly lit ship. The port agent was there (every cruise line has one in every port) and she helped us check in with the police (we were technically in the country illegally at that point) and to find a hotel. The next day we bought one way tickets to Athens to catch up with the ship, which was at sea for the day. The owner of the tour company drove us from Naples to Rome for free and arranged a driver in Athens to pick us up that evening, deliver us to an Athens hotel, then take us to the ship the following morning (all complimentary). We got a letter from the police (in Italian and English) saying there was a horrible accident that wasn't our fault that caused our delay and Olympic airlines let us fly (after 9/11) without passports (which we purposely left on the ship to avoid losing them to pickpockets). It all worked out fine in the end and it cost each person about $495 for the airfare and 2 nights hotel. Luckily, we had travel insurance which covered expenses up to $500 pp and the company paid up immediately, once I submitted my receipts and documentation.
Princess had announced our 6 names over and over on the loudspeaker when we didn't show up at the ship the first night and they emailed a ton of company executives about the situation, so they were on top of it. Everyone we had met on the ship knew we were missing and cheered us when they saw we had finally returned. Our adventure really was just one of those things you couldn't have avoided (without just sticking to the ship's excursions) and these things happen.
Definitely always plan to return to the ship well prior to the back on board, sail away time. It's helpful to also have the name/number of the port agent, which should be noted on the Navigator (but I'm not certain as my first
Disney cruise is still months away) AND travel insurance.
So, we are ones who experienced a cruiser's nightmare and survived to tell the story. We can laugh about it now, but it was stressful while living through it for two days.