Cruises: Never be caught out by doing this major faux pas on a cruise ship holiday

“Some passengers thought the ship would wait for them if they were running late in port,” Herring wrote. 

“But let there be no mistake: the ship will leave without you. It only waits about fifteen minutes past the scheduled sailing time. If you aren’t on board, then adios.”

There can be exceptions to this strict rule however and it depends on the type of excursion.

If the trip was bought on board the cruise ship then there is slightly more flexibility.

“The exception was for any shore excursions purchased onboard,” wrote Herring. “The company that ran the shore excursions was in constant contact with the ship’s shore excursions manager, and if a tour was running late then the ship would definitely wait.

“The ship might also wait if late passengers had a way to communicate to the ship that they were running late.

“But the captain never waited for missing passengers if he had no idea when they might stroll back on to the ship.”