Don’t miss your ship.

For some reason, there seems to be more and more stories of cruise guests missing their ship when in port. I am on several cruise pages via Facebook and have heard this a lot recently where guests comment on how the ship departed leaving guests on shore because they didn’t get back in time.

Last year there was the famous you tube video going around of the couple that left their kids on the ship whilst they went on shore and then missed it as it departed from Nassua with her screaming and chasing after the ship whilst people recorded it..

Mother Misses Cruise Ship Whilst Kids Still On-Board!

Then there was the woman whom actually tried to swim after her cruise ship in Maderia, I kid you not.

Pensioner Dramatically Rescued As She SWAM After Her Cruise Ship

I read an article via the internet and one of the main causes for missing a ship is due to alcohol (see a bit further below).  Now this doesn’t really surprise me, I remember talking to guests a few years ago and they were in Naples, they met with some friends whom were on another cruise line in port the same day to have some lunch and catch up. The wine flowed and before you knew it the friends had missed their ship and as they were waiting to pay the bill, their ship sailed pass – literally. They had thought that they would be OK and that their ship would leave the same time as their friends. That must have turned out to be an expensive lunch.

Each guest is advised when boarding to change their clocks and watches to ship time. The ship will always arrive and depart on ship time and this sometimes will be different to some of the ports you visit. For example, on a cruise from Venice, we was on central European time (+1 GMT) but on one port in Greece the time difference was +2 GMT but we had to stick to the +1 hour. Any easy mistake to make, especially if you rely on your smart phone for time which most times will update automatically to the local time zone. But the ship remind you and it is ultimately your responsibility.

The ship will also have the times of time to be back on board on the daily newsletter and at each gangway, so there is no excuse.

In December just passed, we was in port in Dublin and after a fantastic day in the bars around Temple Bar and several drinks celebrating being in Dublin (any excuse there) it was time to head back to the ship. The panic was on as we couldn’t remember what time we needed to be boarded by and the taxi driver couldn’t find the dock. Thankfully one of my colleagues had the sense to bring the daily newsletter with him, this confirmed the dock the ship was berthed in and also the exact time we had to be back on board. We made it with half an hour to spare but it was close and would have been embarrassing for us cruise agents.

So, remember to keep on ships time, double check the time to be back on board, take a copy of the newsletter with you and don’t drink too much. If you miss your ship it will be at your own expense to get to the next port of call as a ship will not wait for anyone.

Don’t be the next  ‘star’ of you tube…

Dawn x