I was on the Sea Princess a couple of weeks ago and one of our ports of call was Caracas Venezuela..3 of our passengers never made it back to the ship on time and naturally the ship sailed and left them behind....I've wondered about them off and on..feeling quite sorry for them..I guess I&quot;ll never know what happened to these people..but that brings up the question..if it ever happened..what can they do..given that they probably don't have their travel documents with them? Hopefully they had a credit card but not necessarily..is there someone in every port who would look out for them? <BR><BR>Camelia

Camelia - every cruise line has a representative in every port they stop at. Its stated in the ship's daily newsletter (in this case the Princess Patter) and its wise to take this ashore with you. If not, I'm sure the port authorities know the information. They would surely have boarded a plane and caught up in Greneda.

This is a terrbile thing to happen.Now in another post,the guy asked what if he missed the boat in Miami going to KeyWest?Paul's answer was for him to contact the &quot;PortAgent&quot;.Would that be the cruise line's agent or somebody at the port office?Also, if thses guys in Caracas lsft all their pasports/money/etc, how could they board a flight to anywhere????

That's what I was wondering..normally when you get off the ship you are encouraged NOT to bring any documents with you..I would assume that their only form of ID would be their shipboard card...this is one of the reasons that I feel safer taking th ships tours sometimes..I know that they are expensive and that I could probably get a better deal somewhere else..but the security of knowing that they'll wait for you is worth it at times..we ourselves were still on the bus at 5:50 p.m. and the ship sailed at 6:00..but we weren't worried..there were three other busses behind us!<BR><BR>Camelia

Another good thing to bring with you from the ship is a copy of your documents - not the original, but a copy. As for credit cards, I always bring one credit card no matter what I'm doing - mostly to allow my wife to buy something - but also peace of mind. I usually bring the one that I have called and reduced my line to credit to under $500.

Certainly no one will be denied leaving a country unless a felony has been committed. There is a U.S. Embassy in all foreign ports (except those that are under seige).<BR><BR>Passports and documents are lost, or more than likely stolen, quite often in foreign countries.<BR><BR>Best to make a copy of all your IDs and jot down credit card numbers and phone numbers before you travel and put them in a separate area than the originals.<BR><BR>If you are on a cruise the embassy will simply call the ship to get your information.<BR><BR>The only problem I can forsee one having in a foreign country is a person traveling without insurance and the hospital or doctor will not help unless payment is assured.<BR><BR>Most people on medicare believe they are covered in foreign countries for doctors and hospitals but Medicare A and the $50/mo. supplement B will not cover. One must purchase an additional supplement (letters C thru J) and that only covers the first 80% and no ambulance or medical evacuation coverage. This is where a small travel/accident policy will cover a person for a small premium charge.<BR><BR>Paul

Hi, we met one of the ships agents, and this was the question we ask him, his reply was. The agent will most likly be at the dock when the ship is leaving and they know who is missing. When you show up at the dock, the agent will make arangements for you and will ADVANCE the necessary funds to help you meet up with the ship. So the best thing would be to take the agents phone # just in case. But if you are on a ship tour no problem, they must wait for you.

How might this apply to the NCL Star--if you miss the departure from Hawaii, there isn't any other way to get to Fanning Island is there? Would you just make your way to Maui and pick it up there? Not that bad an idea!!