Family Misses Ship in St. Thomas

[Fawn]

The assumption the party was late may be the wrong one.

Maybe the Captain was told everyone was on board, so they left a little early. When they found out they were mistaken, they had to go back and get the family to avoid "bad publicity" or worse...lawsuit!

 

[ducklite]

Can you imagine the panic those parents must have felt when they got to the dock and the ship was gone?!?!

Oy!

Anne

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Originally posted by Fawn
Maybe the Captain was told everyone was on board, so they left a little early.

From everything I've been told speaking to both ships' officers and harbor officials, the ship's captain cannot just decide to leave early on his own. Piloting a 1000-foot ship out of a harbor is not an easy proposition, and must be coordinated with the harbor master. Think what would happen if an airline pilot decided to try to leave early? OK, so that's kind of an extreme example, but harbor control works similarly to air traffic control.

This is an interesting story. Usually, the cruise lines have to be pretty rigid in this, but they couldn't very well have left an 8 year-old to fend for his/herself. One of the Magic's first officers once told me that it's fairly common for people to be brought out to the ship by the harbor pilot's launch (on one cruise I was on, it happened at both Key West and St. Thomas), and that it isn't really uncommon for someone to miss the ship. He also said that they usually do not go back for them.

 

[Michelle]

ChiTownZee, they would not stop allowing people to leave their kids in the clubs on port days because that would mean that parents could not go off on shore excursions (many excursions do not allow young children), and DCL would never make a restrictive policy like that. One of their selling points is their very extensive children's programming and they would not create a policy that is counter to that. They do let parents know the limitations of the pagers while in port and it is up to the parents to decide if they want to leave kids on the ship while going ashore or not.

 

[opsomyo]

Thanks guys, after listening to this thread, I have decided to purchase a watch.
I don't even own one! Icertainly don't want to be left with my DD5, alone, watching the ship sail out of port.
I am not sure what we are doing in Nassau, I think spending the day on th ship mostly, but I had not eveen thought about a watch. I think it is interesting parents leave their kids on the ship to do excursions & shopping. Mine are 2 & 5. I have a hard time judging what older ones can do but I am nervous just leaving my 5 yr old while I go lay by the pool. At first I didn;t think I would leave her at all. After reading the boards, I have decided she will proboly be safe. I know Disney has to be careful to avoid lawsuits etc but I have never left her with someone other than family. I know I couldn't get off the ship with her still on it. I would be too afraid I would miss it & she would be by herself, how terrible.

 

[SC Minnie]

I think if you try to be on board at LEAST an hour before the ship is scheduled to leave you should be OK.

opsomyo- DD7 BEGGED to stay in the club while we went shopping in St Thomas. We went shopping with us in ST Maarten and discovered it was not her thing. I was glad she stayed on board while we went into town in St Thomas - the streets were very crowded. We were only gone about 2 hours and she was fine.

I would wait and see how your children do in the clubs and then decide whats best for you and them.

 

[pal2pluto]

Apparently this happens often. When we cruised in January, I stood on deck 4 to watch us pull out of St. Thomas. At the time to leave, we still were in dock, and an announcement came over the system asking for a particular family to make themselves known if they were aboard. About 10 minutes later, a family came running up the dock to the ship. They boarded and we left. Another 10 minutes and a small boat came along side us and let someone else on! It amazes me!

 

[MFan]

Does anyone know if the late parents who got back onboard the ship with the help of Harbor Master's launch gets fined?

I think DCL should fine them for their "ignorance" and/or "arrogance". The fines can go toward some good cause.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Originally posted by MFan
Does anyone know if the late parents who got back onboard the ship with the help of Harbor Master's launch gets fined?

My wife asked this very question to one of the ship's officers after we watched the harbor pilot launch take a family of four out to the Magic in Key West. He laughed and said that if it were up to him, they'd do it, but he doesn't think that it's good business to "fine" your customers, so sadly, the answer is no.

I'll bet that if you cost the cruise line some $15,000 they'll politely suggest that you not cruise with them again....

 

[inkkognito]

I found it really annoying during the Western that several families were paged numerous times when it was time to leave at every port. At two of the ports, it was while we were trying to sleep. The announcement was piped right into the staterooms, so it kept waking us up. It's a shame that a majority of guests must be inconvenienced because of a few rude people. I saw leave 'em there! Just make sure that they sign an ironclad contract...such a thing must be possible, as the Paradise is still kicking off people who are caught smoking.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Eglantine Price]

my husband and I cruised around the Hawaiin islands for our honeymoon. The criuse line stated on all their signposts at disembark locations " You must return to the ship one hour before we are scheduled to leave port" They went to great lengths to allow you rent and return cars on the boat, make contact with the shore for reservations etc. They made it abundently clear that late ment , left on shore. It was completely up to you to catch the boat at the next port and that you would encure all costs to get you there. All the shore excursions scheduled through the boat, my husband and I took got us back in plenty of time to make sailing. So much that we had time to have a drink in the ships bar before sailing. I think if disney is getting the folks back to close to sailing time they need to change the excursion list. Part of paying the extra cost of shore excursion organized through the boat is the assurance that someone else is watching the clock while you relax and vacation.

 

[mmouse37]

Eglantine Price....love your screenname!!! Bednobs & Broomsticks, right?

You are very correct about being back to ship on time. Most cruise lines make you incur the cost if you miss the ship.

MJ

 

[ruvidu]

These must be the same people who decide to forgo the Lifeboat drills. You then stand on a hot deck with a life jacket wrapped around your neck while they keep calling their names.
We figure they are the same people who at home park in the fire lanes at a store, leave their shopping carts in a parking space, smoke in No Smoking areas and feel it's OK to park in the handicap spaces since nobodys there.
That's my soap box time.

 

[WDWLVR]

Ruvidu,

I totally agree with you. Those are also the same people that go into a 15 or less aisle at the supermarket when they clearly have twice that in their cart. They feel the rules are for everyone but them.

 

[Cruise]

The sad thing is that this is really a catch-22 for Disney now. Of course they can't leave a child onboard without any other family members. However, if word of this gets out, people with no regard for others will start to think "It's okay if we're a few minutes late. They won't leave us because Junior is alone in the club right now."

What Disney should have done is gone back to St. Thomas and then put the child OFF with his parents

Julie

 

[TeamMMouse]

We just got back from this cruise, and yes, it's true we did go back to pick up some people who didn't make it at St Thomas. we we were out of the port for about an hour and then turned back. At Bingo, one of the crew members said that that the parents missed the boat and kids were still on board in Oceaneers. Evidently, these circumstances caused them to go back. It did cause us about an hour delay on arrival at Castaway Cay, altho they made up some of the time. Also, heard (completely rumor) that Disney incurred additional $50,000 in expense, and that this family had to pay $15,000 themselves. We saw the couple on the dock when we went back to pick them up. The guy was flexing his muscles and taking video of the returning ship...so didn't seem too remorseful! It was two adults (male and female) and a child in stroller. However, if anyone else has more info that was on the cruise with us, please let us know. That was the gossip from crew members and other passengers.

 

[mmouse37]

Taking video to show his friends that he made the Disney ship come back and get him.....makes me ill. If I had caused a ship a delay with thousands of other passengers onboard I would be hanging my head in shame and trying to be as inconspicous as possible!!!

He will get back home and gloat....probably sue Disney for leaving them behind and causing trauma to his child left onboard!!!!


MJ

 

[JimB.]

At the "Navigators Series" talk on thursday, the day after St. Thomas, the Captain stated that the cost for the turnaround was baout $15,000, not $50k as earlier stated. He also indicated indirectly that the family involved would not be assessed for the money ("I wish we could" was the quote).

Also, the little turnaround put us into Castway Cay about an hour late on Friday. They ran the ship at max speed and made up about 1 of the 2 hours lost.

Additionally, on a personal note, I though the crew was very professional throughout the entire incident, and demonstrated some really nifty seamanship getting the ship in and out of port as quickly as they did. Kind of tough to get 80,000+ tons to move where you need it, but they did a wonderful job of nosing the bow into the dock, getting the people on board, and getting turned around and "out of Dodge".

 

[Eglantine Price]

Thanks MJ Bedknobs it is, I think I would wish for, at the very least, the cover of darkness.
I think these are the type that leave their kids in the car (with it running) out front of the grocery store, And then scream hystericaly when their car full of laughing children careens out of control through the parking lot .

 

[Lavne]

I was on the 6/15 cruise where this happened. I was out on the veradah enjoying the sunshine and watching the outlying islands go by, when all the sudden the sun was on the other side of the ship. Didn't think much of it, just figured the ship was changing direction. Then DH came out and said that the captain made an announcement, something to the effect of people being left behind and DCL being such nice guys that they were going back for them. I thought that was quite odd, as I was under the impression that there was no going back.

I stayed out on the veradah and watched as we returned to port. We got just outside of the harbor area and had to idle a bit as the Carnival ship parked that was also in St. Thomas that day pulled out. Then the Magic pulled in to the harbor with a short gangway (Deck 1, I assume) open. As we got closer, we could see it was a man, woman, and small (my guess is 2yo or less) child we were going back for. I don't recall the man videoing the ship's return, but he did drop down on his knees at one point in thankfulness.

The ship actually just pulled up alongside the dock and lowered the gangway to parallel with the water. The family was in the bed of a small pickup truck, and they sort of jumped from the pickup's tailgate to the gangway (no more than a foot apart, if that). As soon as they were on board, the ship headed back out. By then it was just past 6:30, and I'm pretty sure we had originally left just after 4:30, so the whole adventure put us about 2 hours off schedule.

Waiting in line to get Capt. Henry signature the next day, I heard some stuff from a guy who had attended the officer's Q&A, and some that was probably more along the lines of rumor. What I believe to be true was that the reason the ship went back was that the family had left a child in the Oceaneer's Lab (9yo?), and that Disney cannot take the responsibility for a minor child, so they had to go back for the parents. What may or may not have been true was that although the Magic crew was aware of the no-shows, they didn't make the connection to the child being left on board. They became aware when the child made a fuss about her family not having returned. Also, I heard that the family was out on their own, and got stuck in some kind of traffic situation trying to return, making them late.

I never did hear anything regarding why we went all the way back to port instead of having them come out to the ship, at least part of the way. Nor did I hear anything of what that return trip cost DCL.

The next night (sea day) at the show, cruise director Jim did say that it had put us 2 hours behind schedule, but that the Captain had made up about an hour. We weren't able to go ashore on Castaway Cay until somewhere around 10:30, so I guess that other hour never got made up. I heard a few people grumble about their time there being cut short.