The job of a Dock Rep is to go down to the ship and hold the sign for his or her tour. We make sure the passengers for our tour get onto the correct bus. We also try to keep count of the numbers of passengers on our tours. Sometimes that is difficult, so we rely on the bus drivers, who collect a ticket from each and every passenger getting on his or her bus, to keep count. As we near the departure time of the tour, we let the Shore Ex know that we are going to go over to the bus to "check our numbers." We all have experienced the "Missing Two" situation. Doesn't matter how many guests we are expecting, it always seems like, inevitably, we are "missing two." In fact, with some Shore Ex Officers, it seems to be the running joke!
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| Erin (Snorkeling) telling Jen (Disney) that she's missing two |
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So, for a few days, I decided to photographically "record" the "Missing Two" phenomenon.
I can't tell you how frustrating it is for us all to be missing two passengers, or three passengers, four passengers, or even just one passenger. In fact, the consensus among most Doc Reps is that it's the worst when we are missing just one. One person could merely blow off the tour, whereas two or more are just inconsiderately late. Then we have to contend with the Shore Ex asking us to wait three more minutes, or four more minutes, or even up to five minutes past departure time. Now that's going to make our tour depart late, which puts a burden on our tour not to mention with the bus company. Each bus is scheduled to pick up a tour on a dock, deliver the passengers to the tour, pick up and return passengers to their ship and then make it over to another dock to start it all over again. When tours are delayed because of "Missing Two" then the whole process is a domino effect. Plus, if the passenger fails to show up for the tour, they also don't get a refund for that tour.
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| Meghan with Gordon (Sapphire Princess) |
And when you are dealing with some Captains wanting their passengers to get back from their tours to make an "All aboard" time that he has backed up 15 minutes from the originally scheduled "All aboard", well, then some of the 4 or 4 1/2 hour tours have to be cut a bit short. And now the passengers are annoyed.
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| Erin was actually missing three |
So we check our watches, give our Shore Ex a look and stand there for a couple more minutes. Sometimes we just tell the Shore Ex "sure" and then run over to the bus, give our speech to the passengers and release the bus, all the while hoping the tardy passenger doesn't show up past departure time.
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| Wesley (Island Princess) and Celecia |
I've actually experienced my "missing two" show up about 15 minutes
after the scheduled departure time and become upset that the tour left without them. On all the tickets, for all the ships, there is information stating the name of the tour and the "Meet Ashore" time, which is about 10 to 15 minutes
before the departure time.
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| Piia (Southeast Exposure Kayaks) and Natalia (Coral Princess) |
I like the Shore Ex who says, "They have been on this cruise all week, they know they have to be on time. Send your tour." (Rex, from the Golden Princess)
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| Erin and Audrey (Star Princess) |
With Ketchikan being the first stop on all North-bound ships, sometimes we get passengers who show up about an hour before the departure. They are usually out of breath and all worried that they have missed their tour. We have to smile and ask them if they remembered to set their watches
back one hour. You see, Alaska has its own time zone. We are one hour
behind Pacific time. Whoops!
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| Estella (HAPA bus coordinator) and Ian (Coral Princess) |
So if you are planning a cruise in the near future, and you are planning on booking a tour, ALWAYS remember to meet your Dock Rep, Tour Operator, etc. on the dock,
at least 20 minutes
before your tour's departure.
You don't want to be known as the.....
MISSING
TWO!
