Cruise passengers who all miss their boarding time may be left stranded and forced to make their own travel plans.
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- The phenomenon of “peer runners,” or cruise passengers rushing back to ships, gained widespread attention through videos on social media.
- Booking a shore excursion through a cruise company is a safer option as the ship will be on standby if your tour is delayed.
Meredith Williams is a veteran cruiser who sails about seven or eight times each year. But even she has felt like missing the boat from time to time.
The 38-year-old had booked an excursion to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in the Philippines during a December 2024 cruise through a third-party provider, but it was sold out with the cruise line. The site is about a two-hour drive away and was crowded with other visitors, causing delays.
“And then I started getting really worried and I was talking to my guide and I was like, ‘Hey, do we have time to do this?'” Because it’s a two-hour drive there and back, and what if there’s traffic? What to do if your tire goes flat? ” she recalled in an interview with USA TODAY. “All the worst-case scenarios go through my head.”
She and about seven other passengers returned to the Norwegian Cruise Line ship about 30 minutes late after queuing behind another ship on the way out. Williams recorded a video on her YouTube channel of her frantic drive and brisk return as other guests watched from their balconies.
“My watch records my heart rate all day long and I think it’s because of how anxious and stressed I was that I was exercising,” she said in the video. Travel Cart Tours and Services, which provides the tour, did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment. Norwegian had no comment.
Philadelphia residents are not alone. Many videos of pier runners (guests rushing to get back to the cruise ship before it departs) have gone viral on social media, and gathering on the outside deck to watch the stragglers has become a form of entertainment.
However, a delayed return could have serious implications for both cruise lines and travelers. Here’s what you need to know:
“That’s always the case.”
Joanna Kusar, a travel agent and owner of Portside Travel Consultants, said she has seen pier runners since she started taking cruises in the late 1980s.
“I always saw people coming in at the last minute,” she says. “The funny thing is, you wait for the announcement. That was the big thing. You start announcing people’s names to see if they’re participating. So, that was the usual thing.”
At the time, the spectacle was relatively contained in cruise passenger circles, Kusar said. “It wasn’t as popular as it is now because of TikTok and social media,” she pointed out.
The video has been the subject of debate. “Some people think it’s hysterical, and some people say, ‘Oh no, you shouldn’t criticize them. You shouldn’t film them,'” she says. “Then the rest of us say, ‘The onus is on you. If you’re going to run for the pier, people will gather on the balcony.'”
Kusar and Williams also said some of the footage appears to be staged.
“I feel like it used to be just a fun thing for people on cruises, but now people want the flexibility of social media,” Kusar added. “They want to be able to film it and post it.”
What happens if I miss my cruise?
Cruise ships operate on tight schedules, and passengers can be stranded if they fail to board the ship by the allotted boarding time.
“There are often very strict rules and it’s very expensive to berth,” Kusar said. Other ships may also come in.
Before departure, the cruise line will collect the lost guest’s passport and other travel documents from the stateroom (if not taken ashore) and submit them to the port authority. That way, passengers can arrive at their next port or home depending on the time remaining on their voyage.
In such cases, passengers are usually responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Travel insurance is also usually not very helpful.
“Typically, trip delay/missed connection coverage is the result of a missed cruise/tour departure due to a general airline delay, such as an airline delay or cancellation for a covered reason,” Megan Walch, InsureMyTrip’s product director, previously told USA TODAY. “Tour operators who are unable to return to the cruise in time are typically not covered by insurance.”
How to avoid becoming a pier runner
There are several steps travelers can take to avoid eloping off the pier and ending up in a viral video.
Cruise ships will post all embarkation times in a daily planner delivered to your stateroom or to the cruise line’s app. Kuther recommends guests set reminders on their phones and keep their time zones in mind.
“Three times,” Kusar said. “There’s your local time, there’s the local time of the port you’re in, and then there’s the ship’s time. You always, always have to follow the ship’s time.”
Travelers should keep in mind that the latter two are not always the same.
Booking shore excursions through a cruise company can be more expensive, but it’s also often a safer way to avoid delays on your return. Not only does the ship record the guest’s location, but the operator ensures that the guest returns on time.
However, third-party vendors may also offer guarantees to get guests back to the ship on time or to the next port of call at no additional charge.
When booking individually, Williams recommends using reputable airlines. Reviews from other travelers and social media posts can be helpful when doing your research.
However, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst. Williams always brings a cell phone charger, a copy of her passport, and, for water excursions, a waterproof pouch to hold her cell phone, cash, credit cards, and other belongings.
If a traveler takes medication and cannot go more than 24 hours without it, Williams recommends bringing at least two days’ worth of extra medication.
Kuther suggests everyone return to the ship 30 minutes to an hour before boarding time. “Anything can happen,” she said.
A few years before her trip to the Philippines, Williams was stuck in traffic in Bermuda on her way back from a short trip she had booked on Norwegian Airlines, arriving 45 minutes after her full flight time. She worries she would have been left behind if she hadn’t gone on a cruise-line-sponsored trip.
“But instead they waited, and the moment we all got back on the ship, the gangway went up and we were off.”
This article has been updated to update the headline.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. Please contact us at ndiller@usatoday.com.
