Priority boarding status for tenders

This is probably a silly inquiry as most of mine are. Just wondering if signing onto a Princess excursion gives any sort of priority at a tendered port for disembarking? On our BI cruise the first port is tendered and the time in port is very short. My husband wants to either skip any excursions or take a Princess sponsored one if there is a chance we won't be at the end of the queue. No status whatsoever as this is only our second cruise ever. (And probably will be our last). Lol. Thanks for any input.

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Princess excursions have priority on the first tenders. You'll probably be directed to meet in the Princess theater with others on your tour. When there's space on the tender, you'll be led there and board. Relatively painless. If you do book a Princess tour, the time to meet is usually the time everyone should be there so there isn't a delay. I usually go 10-15 minutes before the tour meeting time.

Thanks Pam. I just signed on for a guernsey Princess tour. [emoji16]

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By booking thorough princess you will also make sure that the ship doesn't sail without you even if there is some sort of delay on the excursion that makes you late getting back to the pier.

Good luck with your Guernsey tour but be aware that this is a commonly missed port when the winds pick up. Had plans on our cruise and never made landfall

What has been posted above is true for tours that are at the start of the day as yours will be.

But when tours start in late morning or in the afternoon, they will often meet on shore. In those cases, there is no priority for taking the tender to shore, so allow enough time to make it to shore by the start of your tour.

By the way, there is no priority to return to the ship via tender. Everyone just gets on the end of the existing line.

Thanks Pam. I just signed on for a guernsey Princess tour. [emoji16]

By booking thorough princess you will also make sure that the ship doesn't sail without you even if there is some sort of delay on the excursion that makes you late getting back to the pier.

Reliable independent operators get you back to the pier in plenty of time :). The "ship doesn't sail without you" line is a PR ploy by the cruise line to scare people into taking their tours - usually with many more people than independent tours, often shorter, often more expensive.

Thanks Pam. I just signed on for a guernsey Princess tour. [emoji16]

Will also be on BI cruise in Sept.. Our docking schedule in Guernsey is 6am-2pm. We will be taking the 6 hour Sark Island Tour from Princess so we are not concerned on tendering priorities even if schedule is tight.

We were on a Med cruise. They were waiting and waiting for the group to show up to get the first tender. Apparently it was a big group. Screw that. My DH and another couple went down to where they were loading. We got on the first tender and were taken ashore. The "group" was still trying to get themselves together. We were like an hour ahead of this group because they weren't showing up on time.

Do I feel bad cutting? Nope!

Reliable independent operators get you back to the pier in plenty of time :). The "ship doesn't sail without you" line is a PR ploy by the cruise line to scare people into taking their tours - usually with many more people than independent tours, often shorter, often more expensive.

Of course it's used in advertising, because it's a valid potential concern.

Not a few of us who post here have had instances where the ship DID have to wait for us or someone we know because of the delayed return of a ship's excursion group. For me it was on my very first ever cruise, to the Panama Canal, and the excursion was over an hour late returning to the ship because of a traffic accident issue on the highway between Panama City and the port on the Caribbean side. Being a first time cruiser, I was very relieved to see that ship sitting at the pier. I had visions of being stranded in Panama!!

Hi Pam. I did read the guernsy literary and potato peel pie. Enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to seeing the island places.

Weezde -Yep I'm aware that it is a port sometimes passed. Therefore Princess won't charge us.

Caribill - an also aware no tender priority on the return. I was just worried about getting off ship in time to make the tour and not hold anyone up.

Thanks for everyone's comments

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Reliable independent operators get you back to the pier in plenty of time :). The "ship doesn't sail without you" line is a PR ploy by the cruise line to scare people into taking their tours - usually with many more people than independent tours, often shorter, often more expensive.

It's not a PR ploy. If the ship sails, Princess will get you to the next port, even if it means flying, and provides hotels, food, etc. They will take care of you. I've seen it several times.

Agree fully. Not an empty scare tactic. If you don't get back Princess will take care of you at no expense.

Unless you NEED to be 1st off...don't rush! Even if it's a "short" port day, you'll have plenty of time ashore. Only the 1st 2 tenders are usually "priority"...so about 30 mins after the 1st tender, you'll hop on and go!

Unless you NEED to be 1st off...don't rush! Even if it's a "short" port day, you'll have plenty of time ashore. Only the 1st 2 tenders are usually "priority"...so about 30 mins after the 1st tender, you'll hop on and go!

Not all the time. I've read about some people taking hours to get off some ships.

Not all the time. I've read about some people taking hours to get off some ships.

I'm curious as to what causes some ships to have it take hours for passengers to disembark? I've heard people say it happens, but no clue as to what has caused it.

I've only traveled on Alaskan, Hawaiian, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and California Coastal cruises and never experienced a "long debarkation" for the tenders. I think max we've had to wait is 20 minutes? Granted, I have not cruised the world, but what and where has these delays?

Just curious, as we've never experienced that. I would want to be prepared for that, should it happen in certain ports. or is it emergency situations that cause the problem? No idea. :)

I'm curious as to what causes some ships to have it take hours for passengers to disembark? I've heard people say it happens, but no clue as to what has caused it.

 

I've only traveled on Alaskan, Hawaiian, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and California Coastal cruises and never experienced a "long debarkation" for the tenders. I think max we've had to wait is 20 minutes? Granted, I have not cruised the world, but what and where has these delays?

Just curious, as we've never experienced that. I would want to be prepared for that, should it happen in certain ports. or is it emergency situations that cause the problem? No idea. :)

You've got me. We always get off early & never had a problem but when a ship gets to a port around lunch time people are awake & ready to go. That's when the crowd can build- so I'm told.

We've been on a Panama Canal trip where it wan't a tender port & still they had to get people to line up down the length of the ship to get off.

It went fast though.

You've got me. We always get off early & never had a problem but when a ship gets to a port around lunch time people are awake & ready to go. That's when the crowd can build- so I'm told.

 

We've been on a Panama Canal trip where it wan't a tender port & still they had to get people to line up down the length of the ship to get off.

 

It went fast though.

We've always had morning arrivals

Sometimes we just get off the ship for lunch [emoji4]

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I've seen delayed tender lines--sometimes with waits longer than two hours. On a HAL cruise, it was due to the ship loading some passengers directly onto an excursion boat in Bar Harbor. All the tenders discontinued service while that happened. We were not in a hurry, but were surprised that we still had a considerable wait a couple of hours after tendering started. Princess Cays is another port where there always seems to be long lines for tenders.

 

I've only traveled on Alaskan, Hawaiian, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and California Coastal cruises and never experienced a "long debarkation" for the tenders. I think max we've had to wait is 20 minutes? Granted, I have not cruised the world, but what and where has these delays?

Just curious, as we've never experienced that. I would want to be prepared for that, should it happen in certain ports. or is it emergency situations that cause the problem? No idea. :)

Often it has to do with the number of tenders that can be operated at one time.

Some tender docks only have space for one tender. Others can handle two or three or more.

So if there is only space for one tender at the dock, there might be only four tenders being used:

1 loading at the ship

1 heading to shore

1 unloading on shore

1 heading back to the ship

Also, if multiple ships are tendering, congestion at the dock can increase the amount of time it takes to get all passengers to shore.

And sometimes port authorities limit the number of tenders a ship can use.

We were on one cruise which stopped at Devil's Island (actually Royale Island). The ship held about 1200 passengers. Tendering was so slow that some passengers were just arriving at the island at the time tendering back to the ship was supposed to be ending.

Of course as Princess (and other cruise lines) build larger and larger ships, when tendering is required then it takes longer to get 3000+ passengers to shore than it takes to get 1200 to shore.

I've seen delayed tender lines--sometimes with waits longer than two hours. On a HAL cruise, it was due to the ship loading some passengers directly onto an excursion boat in Bar Harbor. All the tenders discontinued service while that happened. We were not in a hurry, but were surprised that we still had a considerable wait a couple of hours after tendering started. Princess Cays is another port where there always seems to be long lines for tenders.

The wind & wave action has a lot to do with the tender wait. The rougher the water, the longer to load & unload passengers. It can slow down the whole process considerably.

I have to say that we are all Elite in the family except the kids (and I'm working on that). Without thinking we took the elevator down to the tender. We were a group of about 10 (grandma, grandpa, two sets of parents) kids etc. It isn't like we could take the strollers any other way. Yes, we cut the line. Do I feel guilty. Sort of? My goal wasn't to cut the line but how else were we to get the strollers down the several sets of stairs? No one, and I mean no one, wanted to let us is so finely we just stepped in front of the people and let the strollers etc in.

My 12 YO DGS will be on his 7th 10 day cruise this year and my 9 YO DGD will be on her 4th.

I kind of feel bad about cutting in, but on the other hand, how else could we get our strollers down to the tender? We weren't trying to be the first off - we were about an hour into it.

The wind & wave action has a lot to do with the tender wait. The rougher the water, the longer to load & unload passengers. It can slow down the whole process considerably.

OMG! The best one was when the water were really rough and there was on older couple ahead of us. It was like 12 feet down and 12 feet up. The wife was nervous so the husband pushed her on board the tender. Literally a 12 foot drop. Holy crap! It was scary. They actually stopped taking people once they got her off. No one tendered that day. I hope she was okay but I'll never forget that one.

Then, of course, we did a tender on Christmas Island. The port was so delicate that they had 3 guys from the island actually steering through the coral and the tenders were no more than half full. Luckily we were on the first one off.

I kind of feel bad about cutting in, but on the other hand, how else could we get our strollers down to the tender? We weren't trying to be the first off - we were about an hour into it.