Cruising is such a wonderful, fun and awesome experience. We anxiously wait to get on these beautiful cruise ships to take us on a voyage from place to place all in one vacation. It’s all awesome until we encounter pier runners. Pier runners are those who we call. “Late to the ship or those who miss the ship entirely”. Oops. 99.9% of the time cruise ships do not wait for late passengers arriving to the ship port.
cruise lines tell us to be at the ship an hour or half an hour before sail out to the next port. They mean business. Time is very precise aboard cruise ships. They need to follow strict guidelines on times.
Did you know that if a cruise ship stays a bit longer in port, they have to pay extra and a fine to the port?
Did you know that if a cruise ship waits for late passengers, the itinerary could be affected? Which means the ship has to make time to get to another port or they have to get to a port later than the initial time and that is not good for other passengers and crew.
Missing the ship is very costly to those passengers who chose to not respect the time to be back onboard. The late passengers are responsible to pay for transfer to the next port of call, they must pay extra for food, and other things. If you kept your passport or your other documents onboard the ship, you are basically in a lot of trouble and it can be a huge hassle to go through the port and transfer authorities.
Some cruisers who are pier runners are lucky when the gangway has not been stowed into the ship and they just make it. All you have to do is just look at the time and not go too far away from cruise ports so you know when to come back. Cruise ships will sail out and its tough luck.
There is no excuse to be late to the ship unless there is a legitimate reason as to why, but most of the time its excuses. Don’t blame it on souvenir shopping or going through shops and you lost track of time, don’t blame it on anything else. It is your responsibility to be on time and be on the ship way in advanced.
It is all time management. Make sure that you allocate yourself enough time. Leave the ship as soon as you are able to when they clear customs and local authorities. Then you can have enough time. Each port has their own times and own regulations. It is important to follow them.
If you are part of a shore excursion or something organized by the cruise line and the ship crew to go with you, then they won’t penalize you for being late, because sometimes traffic or another reason can delay a cruise ship for being late coming back.
When you go out on your own, it is your responsibility.
So, should late passengers to cruise ships be fined?
I believe that they should. cruise lines should fine individuals who choose to disobey and disrespect time. They should be held liable if the itinerary, time to sail out is affected and if a cruise line is fined from the port authorities.
Also passengers once onboard should be dealt with by officers. Repeats should have them be barred from leaving the ship from the next port.
I just have no sympathy for late people and who miss the ship. It is just common courtesy and respect for other passengers and crew waiting to go on with their itinerary and voyage. It is not fair that thousands of passengers onboard a cruise have to wait for just very few people. That is horrible. Nobody has that entitlement.
You may have seen videos on YouTube about pier runners and missing the ship. Just watch those videos. You wouldn’t want to be in that position. It is embarassing and very humiliating. Don’t put yourself in that situation.
What do you think?
Talin Orfali Ghazarian 