I found out more about Jost Van Dyke! I called DCL

So this is excellent news! I thought the transfer was too short and started too early (7:30am) I'm ok with early start but what is the rush to he done at 12 when ship doesn't leave until 5:45? And the other looked too long (I sound like goldilocks lol) So the update I got by calling and having the DCL person call someone who works with port adventures -is that 5 is the last possible tender back to the dock but there are tenders that leave throughout the afternoon! I'm so happy and will now book the Jost Van Dyke beach day ;) thanks for your patience anyone who kept reading my frantic posts.

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Be sure that he is talking about the tender from the excursion.

Tortola is both a dock and a tender port. I don't know which your ship is scheduled to do on your cruise. If you are tendering, he could be talking about multiple tenders from the tender port to the ship, not from the beach where the excursion is located.

My understanding is that there are 2 spots for the large ships to dock. Any line who reserved a spot after those are taken will be tendering to shore.

Oh ok good point. Who would I Need to ask to speak to if I call back?

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Oh ok good point. Who would I Need to ask to speak to if I call back?

 

 

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No one. Shoreside is notoriously stupid and knows very little of what happens on board. There is a web site that lists what ships are scheduled to dock and/or tender at which ports. Sorry, I don't know the url. You might try a search and learn whether your ship is scheduled to tender or to dock.

At tender ports, the tenders initially run as fast as they can. Mid-day, they run about every 30 minutes or when they are fairly full. Toward the end of the day they are more frequent again to get everyone back on board. So it is basically a "need based" system.

I think your real question is whether you can opt to stay longer at the beach than the time listed for the excursion and if you do that, will you have a way to get back to the ship. In many ports you would be responsible for finding and paying for your own way back to the dock or the tender terminal. From there, you could walk onto the ship or take the tender at no charge.

There may be a way to get from the beach to the ship area...but it may not be included with the excursion if not on their time. On the other hand, we've done excursions in Europe where we were given a tender ticket to use after our excursion; no one said we had to stay with our guide/group and we did not. WORST guide ever, so we ditched George and looked around on our own, then took an earlier tender back to the island where the Magic was docked and spent some time there.

I replied to your thread asking for reviews of the JVD transfer with a way to find a link to a review I found.

They only mention the morning excursion, so I think the tendering shoreside mentioned is the to and from the beach during the set excursion times.

There is no mention of tendering on the DCL website, and it appears the Fantasy will be the only ship on one stop and on the others will be docking with the Norwegian Escape, or the Serenade of the Seas.

ex techie

It looks like it does dock vs tender so hopefully she was correct. This port adventures sells out from what I have read and so it makes sense to me

That they may need to make more trips to get everyone back on time and so the last boat gets you back around 5 but others can go sooner.

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I called DCL and they are so great and informative except about port adventure details. The person I spoke to even said we have so little information and he has talked to his supervisor about it but for some reason they don't get any details. He suggested I call BVI tourism office and I did. I got someone from their but working in their NYC office and she was a pleasure to speak to! She said there are tender boats that come and go on Jost van dyke. She agreed that if am scared of winding roads on hills to avoid the cane garden beach and do what we are doing. She said the boats over are

Not a crazy bumpy ride but more mild and esp good in April weather wise.

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