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If there’s one thing you can say about every cruise line out there, it’s that they’re prompt. If they say they’re going to leave a port at whatever time, you can bet your bottom dollar that, barring emergencies, they’re going to leave on time.

So if a passenger or passengers is/are running late, does that count as an “emergency” to get the ship to wait for you? Well, it’s complicated.

Excursions through the cruise company

Cruise lines typically have excursions available at their ports of call. They’re generally offered by independent contractors and can run the gamut from alcohol tastings (rum in the Caribbean, wine in Europe) to hiking to boating to rides to see certain local sights. When we were on our first Virgin Voyages cruise (July, 2022), we had a day in Bimini. We had full use of their beach club, but I’m not much of a beach or pool person. So I went a fishing excursion (here’s my review) that was a whole lot of fun.

With a few exceptions, excursions that are sold through the cruise lines tend to cost more. After all, it’s the private companies offering the excursion, and then the cruise line adds on their own fees on top of that.

BUT (and this is a big “but”) if your cruise line sponsored excursion causes you to be late for your return to the ship – even later than when the ship is scheduled to leave – the ship will wait for you (or make special arrangements, at no cost to you).

Excursions done privately

But not everyone decides to buy a spot on an excursion sponsored by the cruise line. Maybe all the slots were sold out. Maybe the cruise line didn’t offer any excursions that interested the passenger. Or maybe they didn’t want to pay that much for whatever excursion it was.

There are local companies near ports who offer excursions on their own. There are also local tour guides, as well as big, international companies, such as Viator, who sell excursions – and for significantly less than what the cruise line sells their excursions for.

The one problem? If you buy an excursion that’s NOT from the cruise line and are late, chances are the ship will not wait for you. CNN reported on such a case last Spring:

Richard and Claudene Gordon of Salt Lake City, Utah, were on a Mediterranean cruise aboard Norwegian Viva with family and friends and looking forward to celebrating Richard’s 85th birthday later this week.

While the ship was docked in Motril, Spain, on Monday, the pair took an independent excursion by themselves to the historic city of Granada, not organized by the cruise line. On their return, their bus was delayed for an hour by a rain storm, Richard Gordon told CNN by phone.

The pair missed the ship’s all-aboard time of 5.30 p.m. local time, for a sail away at approximately 6 p.m. Gordon said that at around 5.45 p.m. he spoke to a relative on board who raised the alarm that they were nearby and running late, but the relative was told by Norwegian Cruise Line staff that as the ship needed to sail on time, nothing could be done.

According to the Gordons, they arrived at the dock by taxi at 6.10 p.m., while the ship sailed away with Claudene’s medication, Richard’s eyeglasses and both their spare hearing aid batteries and phone chargers on board.

You see videos like this all the time.

Will they ever wait for you if you’re late and not on one of their excursions?

Again, it’s complicated.

First, just to clarify, you don’t even have to be on an excursion. You could just be walking around, maybe drinking a lot, and lose track of time. Or maybe you took a local bus and there’s massive traffic on the way back. It doesn’t matter.

Anyway, officially, no. And some ships might never wait for you if you’re late. But it can happen.

Back in April 2022, Rob Hempstead, then the Captain of Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, was asked about this very topic during a Q&A session.

Hempstead said the most stressful part of a cruise for the crew is getting out of the ports on time, he said, “Because the faster we go, the more fuel we have to burn.”

He admitted that sometimes passengers get back to the ship late and are therefore left behind.

But Hempstead clarified that if you spent the day on your own, or went with a non-sanctioned tour or excursion, there are some things you can do to avoid being left behind.

If you’re behind schedule and aren’t going to make it back to the ship on time, call the ship agent (sometimes called the port agent – they’re the person who represents the cruise line at the port) to let the cruise know that you’re running late, said Hempstead. He continued that on Royal Caribbean cruises, this number can be found at the bottom of Cruise Compass, a daily flyer all passengers receive in their stateroom each day detailing the day’s activities.

Once the ship knows how late you’re going to be, Hempstead said, they can determine if they can wait for you or not.

If you’re not on a Royal Caribbean ship, the port agent’s contact information should be on your cruise documents (similar to how Royal Caribbean lists it) or through the cruise line’s customer service number.

The bottom line is, if you’re not using an excursion that the cruise company sold you, you better make DARN sure you get back on time. We make it our business to get back to the ship at least 2 hours before the final time announced to be aboard, juuuuust to play it safe.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary