One English literature lecturer I had at university was fond of the phrase “Don’t shit on Shakespeare.”
03.02.2025 - 18:49 / insider.com
I've traveled all over the world on ships, from small river cruises to mega-ships with thousands of passengers.
For years, I'd heard horror stories of passengers getting left behind, but I never expected it would happen to me.
However, in November 2023, my cruise ship left me behind on one of the stops.
My sister and I were on a river cruise around Thanksgiving and had just stopped in Nuremberg, Germany. We were on a fantastic excursion that we'd booked directly through our cruise line: a bus tour with about 18 other passengers.
When it ended, our bus began heading back to the ship, and we got caught in a major traffic jam. We didn't get back to port until about 30 minutes after the ship was scheduled to leave.
As we arrived, we saw our ship sailing away. I was shocked: Didn't the crew realize 20 of us hadn't checked in from one of the cruise line's own excursions?
Many passengers panicked, but one pulled out a copy of the ship's itinerary and called the phone number on it to tell the reception desk what had happened.
Luckily, the ship wasn't very far from the dock and hadn't meant to leave without us. It turned around and picked us up.
If that passenger hadn't had the ship's reception number readily available and thought to call, we might have been left behind for much longer or had to find our own way to the next port.
I was surprised the ship left without us because when you're on a cruise-organized shore excursion, it is supposed to wait for you to get back, even if you're running late.
It's one of the biggest perks of booking directly through a cruise — the ships don't wait for passengers who miss the departure time if they are on a third-party excursion or on their own.
Once we got back on board, we learned a bit more about how we got left behind. In a way, it was a perfect storm of missteps.
Cruise ships typically require passengers to scan personal ID badges when entering and exiting the boat so they always know who's on board. However, earlier that day, our cruise company organized for our entire ship to board a new one as our current one was unable to pass under a certain bridge.
Our tour group hadn't yet been able to check into the ship to get our new badges, which caused some confusion.
Plus, a few miles before we hit traffic en route to the dock, the local tour guide hired by the cruise line got off our bus for an unknown reason, leaving us with only the driver.
This meant our cruise-appointed guide wasn't aware we'd been delayed and did not notify the ship.
Fortunately, the ship was able to come back for us because we'd been on one of its excursions, and it was still close by.
I'm grateful we booked our excursion directly through the cruise line and will continue to do so moving
One English literature lecturer I had at university was fond of the phrase “Don’t shit on Shakespeare.”
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This essay is a part of Companion Fare, a series of personal stories about traveling with loved ones.
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