10 Disastrous Mistakes That Cruise Ship Passengers Make

Travelers with limited vacation time often schedule flights to coincide with embarkation day. That’s a gamble that cruise ship passengers frequently lose, even with just a short flight delay or other bump in the road.

Marcelino Bautista and his wife know this all too well. When they touched down in Anchorage just an hour before NCL’s Jewel was scheduled to embark, they breathed a sigh of relief. But then they learned that the cruise ship was departing from Seward, Alaska – nearly three hours away by car.

Had they flown in the day before, this cruise mishap would have been a minor inconvenience. Not so, with just a one-hour buffer worked into their itinerary. The couple missed a portion of that dream cruise and learned an awful lesson about the dangers of flying on the same day as embarkation.

Failing to purchase travel insurance can be an astronomically expensive mistake for a cruise ship passenger. Without travel insurance, if an unexpected event forces a traveler to cancel their cruise, they’ll be on the hook to pay the penalties, sometimes at a 100 percent rate. In other words: no cruise and no refund.

Beyond cancellation protection, travel insurance also covers medical treatment for passengers in the event of sickness or injury. Many travelers don’t realize until it’s too late that their domestic health insurance doesn’t cover them abroad.

In some cases, the cruise line might even offload a passenger in a foreign country for treatment and leave them behind. Medical evacuation back home can easily reach the high five-figure range. The financial devastation that can result from a medical emergency abroad can easily be avoided by having a comprehensive travel insurance policy in place.

Cruise ship passengers are responsible for knowing (and possessing) the official documents required to board the ship. Still, unaware cruisers routinely show up at the pier without the correct identification to sail.

Next, the cruise line staff hands the rejected customer a denied boarding card that indicates no refund will be issued. Then, the stunned would-be passenger is unceremoniously ushered out of the terminal area.

To board a closed-loop cruise (one that begins and ends in the same U.S. port), passengers must prove citizenship and identity. A passport proves both and is always recommended above any other forms of ID. Cruising with an original birth certificate and a driver’s license is possible, but this will be problematic if you need to fly home in an emergency. You can never fly internationally with that documentation combo.

With the introduction of the Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) came mass cruise passenger confusion about this new identification. The EDL functions like a passport card and proves its holder’s identity and citizenship. A U.S. citizen can use it alone to take a closed-loop cruise. Unfortunately, the EDL looks a lot like a Real ID. And a Real ID isn’t sufficient identification by itself to cruise. It only proves identity, not citizenship.

Diane Depalma and her new husband were denied boarding their honeymoon cruise aboard Carnival’s Legend after mistaking their Real IDs for EDLs. Without their birth certificates to prove citizenship, Carnival rejected the distraught newlyweds. Instead of the Bahamas, the dejected couple was soon cruising in their car back home to Pennsylvania.

If you’re pregnant or trying to become pregnant at the same time you’re planning a cruise, take note of the 24-week rule of all major cruise lines. Women can cruise right up until they reach their 24th week of pregnancy. After that, they will be denied boarding.

Allen Nicholson and his wife Lyndsey had no idea about the 24-week rule when they booked a babymoon on NCL’s Getaway. While the couple was attempting to board the ship, a curious cruise line employee asked Lyndsey how far along she was. Having no inkling of the consequences of her answer, she cheerfully replied, “24 weeks,” and the couple’s babymoon suddenly ended in tears at the pier.

You might be eager to return to cruising after giving birth to your bundle of joy. But hold on because no major cruise line allows babies under six months to sail.

If you’re a die-hard cruiser wondering if there is any flexibility with your baby’s first cruise, there isn’t. Some travelers have fudged their baby’s birth date on their cruise booking information, only to be foiled at check-in.

Remember your infant’s actual birth date will be revealed on their birth certificate or passport. If your baby is denied boarding because they are too young to cruise, you won’t be getting a refund and, of course, you won’t be taking the trip either.

Before you board your cruise, it’s critical that you put your mobile phone on Airplane Mode. If you don’t, you, like Cesar Resendiz and many other passengers just like him, will be in for a shockingly expensive surprise.

Resendiz boarded Carnival’s Venezia and connected to the cruise line’s Wifi. He and his wife then embarked on a relaxing week-long Caribbean cruise to celebrate their anniversary. But when they returned, a shocking message from their mobile service provider, Spectrum, greeted them. Resendiz’s phone had been connecting to international cell towers everywhere during the cruise. Spectrum informed the astonished customers that they owed a $2,349 bill.

Did you know that you could be removed from your cruise mid-journey if it turns out you don’t have the required documents for all destinations on the itinerary?

William Coates and his wife discovered this during a cruise aboard Holland America’s Westerdam. After successfully beginning the cruise in Tokyo and sailing to South Korea, the cruise line told the couple to gather their belongings and disembark permanently. It turns out the Coates had failed to obtain visas for the ship’s next destination, and no one caught the mistake until mid-cruise. The couple was forced to find their own way home, and HAL did not provide any refund for the aborted cruise.

It’s shocking how often cruise passengers hop off the ship for a port day without reconfirming the return time.

Cruise itineraries frequently change. Cruise passenger Natalie Durflinger wished she’d been aware of that before her shore excursion from MSC’s Divina in Cozumel. Having no idea that the ship’s “All Aboard” time had changed, she was relaxing and dining al fresco near the pier when Divina weighed anchor and sailed away in front of her disbelieving eyes.

Unfortunately, there was no way for her to catch up to the ship at the next port. Her cruise ended prematurely in a decidedly unpleasant way.

Nearly all the mistakes that the cruise passengers who contacted me for help at Consumer Rescue could have been avoided if only the passenger had read their cruise contract first. That document is quite lengthy, but it contains valuable information that the cruise line wants you to know so that you avoid making mistakes that can cost you money and end with a ruined vacation.