It’s the video that has sparked controversy amongst cruisers and non-cruisers.
Last week, a video emerged of a couple missing their ship in the Bahamas, and they are captured chasing one of the world’s largest ships, Symphony of the Seas after it left port without them.
The Royal Caribbean ship waited for the couple, who were 45 minutes late getting back to their cruise.
They were filmed by onlookers as they chased the ship, yelling at the crew and begging them to lower the gangway.
But cruise lines have strict policies and departure times and often, the ships are charged extra if they are delayed in port. Every day, the cruise lines provide information on their daily itineraries, with the time that guests must reboard the ship.
While some readers have been sympathetic towards the couple, many have also said that the pair should have just followed the rules.
One of our readers, Denise replied to our story and said, “Really it serves them right and teaches them a lesson for future cruises. Expecting to hold up +4000 other passengers. You’re told what time to be back and there is a sign as you leave the ship clearly stating the time you need to be back and departure time that is usually 30 mins later.
“They don’t sail then either if someone is missing. Announcements are made over the ship public address system paging those missing and I been on ships that have waited anything from 30 mins more to an hour. If people just expect that the ship will wait for them they are very wrong. You will often find that every port someone is late its often the same people.”
While she makes a point, some other readers like Beverley said we can’t be too quick to judge.
“We don’t know why this happened. Maybe a traffic hold-up? We can’t comment on it, unless we know how it occurred. A long time cruiser myself and I have never missed a departure, but I have seen people rush on at the last minute due to a tourist mini bus breakdown, and another time due to something similar. So let us not be to ready to criticise this couple.”
And some, had some quite amusing stories to relay.
“Many years ago on the Fairstar we waited for well over an hour after our scheduled 10pm departure from Suva, Fiji. A crew member was late back from a night out on the town. We were all very merry and singing up on deck when eventually a cab pulled up at the dock with the missing crew member who was assisted aboard. We all cheered as the ship got under way immediately,” said reader Mark Smyth.
“Turned out to be our Italian captain who was late back. He had shown throughout the cruise he was quite accustomed to having as much fun as the guests. This is a true story from 1984. Fortunately, I haven’t come across another captain like him.”
We’ve compiled together some of the most devastating videos of people just missing their cruise ship. These guys weren’t as lucky as the Fairstar’s Italian captain.
Video created by Jemima Skelley
You all know the rules of a cruise liner its as important as not losing your passport DO NOT BE LATE BACK TO YPUR SHIP .
We were very late, 2.5 hours, one time with a bus breakdown in Bali. There were 6 buses travelling together and one broke down, so we sat on the side of the road for, seems like hours, waiting to find out what was the best to do. In the end, they put one bus load of people onto the remaining 5 buses and headed off back to the ship. Thank goodness it was an organised tour through the ship, they were waiting for us and everyone was cheering.
We were very late, 2.5 hours, one time with a bus breakdown in Bali. There were 6 buses travelling together and one broke down, so we sat on the side of the road for, seems like hours, waiting to find out what was the best to do. In the end, they put one bus load of people onto the remaining 5 buses and headed off back to the ship. Thank goodness it was an organised tour through the ship, they were waiting for us and everyone was cheering.
They are given instructions and ample warning of boarding times. No excuses!
I find ir amazing as it is normally the same people are late back. Now yes it states if you are on a ships excursion they will wait for you. So others save $10 and do their own thing then complain when the ship is not there because their bus broke down etc. cruise ships run to a schedule besides getting charged extra port charges they also have to put on more speed to make the next port on time and that is more fuel and expense to them. Now if 99 % can get back on time I have no symphothy for them, miss it once and I bet they are never late back a second time.
Whilst we understand that it is a passenger’s responsibility to reboard on time after visiting a port (or suffer the consequences) we do sympathise when circumstances take over and find it rather cynical that the on board sales team often allude to the fact that if you take a shore excursion with them the ship will never leave without you.
In 2012 we took a fabulous cruise with Seabourn out of Portugal and despite having all our contact details available we were not notified that the embarkation details had changed. We arrived more than half an hour within the boarding time frame but were advised to go to another dock. The taxi driver was unable to drop us directly on the correct dock and we had to wait for a swing bridge to cross a channel (with our luggage) and finally boarded the ship through a hold and maybe up to 5 minutes past boarding time – through no fault of ours. The ship left on time but we were severely chastised, made to feel foolish and were given no apologies! Six years later we still remember and at least we loved the rest of the cruise …..