Did the ship decided to depart early?
Were detained by some kind of documented medical emergency?
Were you on a ship sponsored tour group?

If none of the above then you will just have to take your lumps for not getting back to the ship on time.

Nexttimebeontime,othersarewaiting.

When I was on Princess they used their "A-Pass" system. When you first board it snaps a video picture of your face and retains it inside the computer. The photo can be accessed with your cruise credit card, which is your room key, which is your boarding pass. Then when you leave the ship you place your card in the machine and it lets them know you're out. When you comeback you place it in the machine again and they check you against the picture they took of you on the first day. It doesn't take as much time as you would think but it still takes a bit longer than just walking on.

I hope you enjoyed the rest of your cruise.

I'm the sort of person that would turn up 4 or 5 hours early for something as important as my vacation. If my watch was an hour wrong, my margin would absorb that. In fact I'm the sort of person that often turns up the night before and stays in a hotel near the port. It's much cheaper than missing the boat.

On the subject of swipe cards, knowing exactly how many passengers are missing is probably not particularly useful - as I'm sure that on a big ship there are always a few who do not turn up for departure.

I'm always early for everthing - I can't help it. In fact I'm always too early? Are you an always 'cutting it fine' person, or was it just a one off?

[This message has been edited by filmfiu (edited 05-27-2000).]

Thanks for sharing the details of your ordeal....what a helpless feeling that must have been. I bet nothing can beat the feeling of seeing your ship docked at the next port of call. What a relief. I am sure that what you wrote here doesn't do justice to what it really must have felt like to go through.

I feel for your terrible experience Filmfui.
We learn things everyday, don't we?

On my last cruise I was standing in a very long line at the baggage check in at the airport. A young man came up to me and asked
me "Is this for real? I have a flight in 30 minutes."

I just shook my head.
What in the world was he arriving at the airport 30 minutes before his flight? I know it's not the "in" thing to do anymore, but we arrive early everywhere we go when we can help it.

Because I'm a travel writer, I get interested in stuff like this. It cost one couple $200, another couple $300 for this "service". How many people are wandering around with that kind of cash? Do the fast boat guys take credit cards? And how fascinating that they just "happen" to be there. Next trip, I got to talking to the fast boat guys. They said that they get a LOT of business from the Dockyard because people underestimate how long it takes to get there from Hamilton and don't check the ferry/bus schedules. The guys do take credit cards. What a business !!

I guess there aren't any fast boat guys on Coz. Or you didn't find them. Would have been a lot cheaper.

Sorry for such an awful experience. Did you check into a charter flight from Coz to Grand Cayman? Might have been cheaper.

However a few years ago we decided to catch the 'tube' (subway train) to Heathrow Airport (London)for our flight to Paris. We knew the train journey would take 1.5 to 2 hours maximum - so we allowed 5 hours!

I realise that worrying about it won't help the situation for me.What is making me feel worse is that I am booked on one of the last flights out of Toronto so if that one is cancelled I will probably have to wait until morning and then it will be too late for me to catch the ship due to the time changes.

In the case of being put onto another airline,does anyone know if you have to pay any extra or does the new airline honour your ticket?

I may be a savvy sailor but I don't really know too much about the workings of an airline.

It depends upon the airline. Many will try to get you on another flight at no additional expense, but even if they do it's all potluck because it depends on when the flight goes, if it goes directly to where you want to go or will it take you halfway around the world, so forth and so on. You get the drift. What it comes right down to is that it's a gamble.

If you want absolute assurance, I would recommend what I said I do when I cruise: try to get there at least a day earlier. You just might still have time to make that arrangement, but it will cost a bit (consider it insurance for peace-of-mind). See if you can book a hotel in London (or wherever you final land destination is). Then call Air Canada and see if you can switch to the previous day's flight (they'll probably charge for that - most do, at least $50 [American]). That way, if everything works out, you can spend an evening relaxing in your hotel and be nice and refreshed in the morning. If the worst case scenario happens - the flight is canceled - they hopefully can get you on another one on another airline, and you might even get to London late, but still in plenty of time not to miss boarding.