Missing the ship, how often?

[MPS516]

Our last cruise in February they blew the horn a couple of times, paged 3 families, blew the horn again, pulled the forward gangway off and singled up all lines. We watched a port cart race down the pier with all but 1 family and after 30 minutes the Port Manager who had been standing by the gangway repeatedly looking at his watch and telling the officer they were going to have to get going, told the fork lift to remove the gangway and that was it. We were at Nassau and the good news was we never did see the missing people come running down the pier to watch us leave. We were however worried that they may have had some medical or other issue. Turned out they were from 2 tables over in the dining room and the servers were talking about them having been left behind and that they would not be able to catch up with us in Key West. The following night we heard there stateroom had been packed and would be offloaded in Miami where we got off the ship.

 

[C6PT7]

Great point IMO, and is one of the reasons I have doubts that the Castaway Cay Challenge will continue to be offered. We were zooming towards the Cay and docked around midnight to give us every chance of being there for the Challenge. It was bumpy and much less pleasant than usual.

So zooming to the cay to get docked around midnight is a good enough excuse to spend extra $'s on fuel for a 5k run?

 

[brianvdb]

An important note... the time you want to set you watch to is "ship's time"... not necessarily "local time." They are nearly always the same time, but every once in a while the ship may be ahead or behind local time by an hour. They do a pretty good job of announcing this anomaly when it occurs... but it's always good to make sure your cell phone hasn't auto-set itself to the wrong time.

 

[SuperDry]

I wonder what would happen if someone were left behind on Castaway Cay. In ports like Nassau, there is an airport to get tickets to fly home easily.

Although it would be nearly impossible to happen for reasons already stated, if you did by chance get left behind at CC, the most likely thing that would happen is that you'd board one of the ferries that transports non-resident workers between CC and Great Abaco Island, about 30 minutes away. Or, since it would be nearly impossible to get left behind on CC without doing it deliberately, you might make the trip on a Royal Bahamas Police boat. Once on Great Abaco, you could take a bus or taxi to the airport at Marsh Harbour, which both American Airlines and US Airways serve daily from Miami non-stop, assuming you have your passport. If you didn't have your passport, you'd probably have to fly to Nassau (without ID on a Bahamas domestic flight) to apply for one from the US Embassy.

 

[tvguy]

Although it would be nearly impossible to happen for reasons already stated, if you did by chance get left behind at CC, the most likely thing that would happen is that you'd board one of the ferries that transports non-resident workers between CC and Great Abaco Island, about 30 minutes away. Or, since it would be nearly impossible to get left behind on CC without doing it deliberately, you might make the trip on a Royal Bahamas Police boat. Once on Great Abaco, you could take a bus or taxi to the airport at Marsh Harbour, which both American Airlines and US Airways serve daily from Miami non-stop, assuming you have your passport. If you didn't have your passport, you'd probably have to fly to Nassau (without ID on a Bahamas domestic flight) to apply for one from the US Embassy.

They know who left the ship, and who returned. They would know if someone had not gotten back on board, and could begin searching for them on Castaway Cay. I have to wonder if there is some sort of paging system on Castaway Cay that they only use in emergencies. Of they could drive the Island with a shuttle and a bull horn.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

In late January, a certain passenger was called and called throughout the ship during our visit to Nassau. We were late leaving but apparently the passenger turned up at the ship late.

 

[NYIceQueen]

This is one of my biggest fears - which is why we're going to book only the shorter or "really early" excursions. My family tends to "lollygag" especially DD and DH, and I'm the type that if I'm not at the airport 2 hours early I think we're running late. I want to relax, not worry about being left behind at the dock LOL

I youtube'd a bunch of those...OMG some of them are hilarious, though...but I'd be mortified if it was me.

Other than a medical emergency, freak storm/tornado, or a ship-organized excursion that runs late or breaks down, there really is no reason to be so late that you'd miss the ship if you plan accordingly.