What actually happens if I miss the ship?
It leaves. People do not quite believe this until they watch it happen from the quay.
If you were on a ship-booked excursion that ran late, the ship holds, or the line gets you to the next port. That is the whole value of booking through them.
On your own, you are on your own. Getting to the next port is your problem and your money, which is why the standing advice is to carry your passport ashore rather than leaving it in the cabin safe — you may need to cross a border to catch up.
There is a port agent for every stop, and their number is on the daily programme and on the gangway board. Photograph it before you go ashore. It costs nothing and it is the number you will want in the worst ten minutes of your holiday.
Practical version: know all-aboard, set an alarm an hour before it, and never take the last tender.
Has anyone here actually missed one? The real account beats the theory.
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