How early is "all aboard", really?

Every cruise has one unbreakable rule, and it isn't in the daily programme's small print: be back before all-aboard, or the ship leaves without you. It sounds dramatic, and occasionally it is — there's a whole genre of online video devoted to passengers sprinting down a pier as the gangway lifts. The good news is that missing your ship is entirely avoidable once you understand how the timings actually work.

All-aboard is not departure

If your ship departs at 5:00pm, "all aboard" is typically 30 to 60 minutes earlier — so 4:00 or 4:30. That buffer is when the crew needs everyone accounted for to do their headcount, clear the gangway and prepare to sail. The departure time is for the ship. The all-aboard time is for you. Treat the earlier one as your real deadline.

The trap that catches people: ship time

Here's the one that gets seasoned cruisers, let alone first-timers. Ships sometimes stay on "ship time" even when the port is in a different time zone. Sail into a port that's an hour behind, and the town clocks, your phone and the ship's clocks can all disagree. People set their day by a café clock, stroll back "in good time," and find the gangway gone.

The fix is simple: run your whole day on ship time. Note it as you leave, ignore local clocks, and if in doubt, ask a crew member at the gangway on the way out — they'll tell you the exact all-aboard time and which clock it's on.

How much buffer to leave

A comfortable rule of thumb:

• Walking-distance ports: back at the gangway 30 minutes before all-aboard.

• A bus or short taxi away: leave an hour's buffer.

• Anything inland, or a tender port: build in more, and always factor the last tender, which runs before all-aboard.

Traffic, a slow lunch, a queue for the cable car — the small delays stack up. Buffer is cheap; missing the ship is not.

Independent vs ship excursions: who waits for you

This is the real reason people book the ship's own tours. If you're on a ship-organised excursion that runs late, the vessel waits — it's their tour, their responsibility. If you're exploring independently and you're late, it sails. That's the trade-off in one sentence: independence is freedom, the excursion is insurance.

If the worst happens

Miss the ship and it's not the end of the world, just an expensive inconvenience. The port agent — whose number is on the daily programme and often posted at the gangway — is your first call; they help you reach the next port at your own cost. This is exactly why travel insurance and carrying your passport (not leaving it in the cabin) matter on port days.

The golden rule, one more time

Know your all-aboard time, run on ship time, leave a buffer, and keep the port agent's number in your pocket. Do that and you'll never be the person in the video. Every port guide here lists the practical timings — how far the town is, how long the tender takes — so you can plan your day backwards from that one deadline that really counts.