Passenger Shares Stressful Reality of Almost Missing Cruise Ship

Time may fly when you are having fun, but for cruise passengers paying attention to the time is extremely important!

Recently, TikToker Ali Smith (@alismithhhh) found herself trying to fit too many activities into her day during a stop in Vietnam, causing her and her friend Sam to almost miss their ship.

The beauty and travel influencer posted a two-minute video to her 413.4k followers on April 22, 2025, showing just how easy it was to lose track of time.

The video now has 141k views and starts with a clip of the duo running, with Ali clearly saying, “Oh, we might not make it back to the port!”

Then, the influencer decided to highlight how the day became so chaotic by backtracking to the beginning of the experience.

Ali was on Royal Caribbean’s 4,905-passenger Anthem of the Seas, which stopped in Ho Chi Minh City on April 15, 2025.

The ship was set to arrive at 7 a.m. and depart at 8 p.m., but passengers were expected to be back onboard at the latest between 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Assuming they had enough time, Ali and Sam took a one-and-a-half-hour car ride into the city and spent the day shopping and trying the local cuisine.

When it got to be 4:30 p.m., instead of choosing to head back to the ship, the pair went to more locations and did some additional shopping.

This is where the stress began to set in, as it became a reality that they may not make it back to the ship on time.

According to their GPS, the drive was now going to take almost two hours to get back to the port, which was time that they did not have.

Thankfully, Ali was able to help her driver out and found a faster route that avoided standstill traffic caused by an accident blocking the road.

Ali and Sam finally made it onto a bus back to the vessel and were not the only passengers just arriving, so there was a sense of relief.

In the end, they made it with just enough time to spare, but Ali shared that all of the extra activities were not worth the stress of being late.

“In hindsight, this was a very bad decision,” Ali said, adding, “we will never cut it that close again.”

Viewers took to the comments with mixed opinions about the influencer’s decisions, as many suggested that they should stick to the cruise line’s excursions to avoid being late.

“Private car is your first problem. Cruise excursions only,” one person commented.

“Oh gosh I was expecting worse!!! Thank god you guys made it and weren’t last!” added another.

While Ali and Sam may not have been the last guests to return to the ship, they learned just how important it is to be on time instead of being late.

Goodbye Historical Asain Cities, Hello Rainy Pacific Northwest

As mentioned above, Ali is currently on the 168,666 gross ton Anthem of the Seas — which is now on its final cruise around Asia before it heads to the Pacific Northwest in the United States for the springtime.

The current cruise the vessel is doing is a 12-night itinerary that departed from Singapore on April 13, 2025. The first stop was the one in Ali’s video, being Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 15.

Following that, the ship also stopped in Hong Kong and Keelung in China, Jeju Island in Korea, and will be disembarking on April 25 in Tokyo, Japan.

Later that same day, the vessel will depart on a repositioning cruise, making three stops in Japan before heading to Seattle, Washington, on May 9.

Anthem of the Seas will be sailing out of Seattle until late September of 2025, after which it will be heading to Australia for rest of 2025 and will remain there until the start of the spring 2026 cruising season.

Whether she knew it or not, Ali went on this Royal Caribbean ship’s last cruise in this region for quite some time — making it that much more special, even if it was a little stressful.