How long does it really take to tender in Cabo?

Like the title asks, how long does it take to get on the tender to shore.

We are Crusing with princess and I keep hearing about all these wait times to get to shore?

I dont want to book an excursion in Cabo, I just want to get off the boat and go to Medano beach. What time would I make it to shore if we wanted to get off around 7 ? Is there a better time to attempt leaving the boat? Should we try leaving around 8or 9? Thoughts?

I still just don't understand why they are only there from 7-2 :mad: :confused:

Thank you

And if anyone can remember, what time does the last boat tender back to shore? Thanks

We were just there on the Ruby Princess & 1:30 is what I remember, as to time it was & is easy & easier to go early with less than 10mins. To the pier. The leaving at 2:00 is aa must in order to return to L.A. Harbor by 6:00a.m. On Saturday.

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There are some basic "truths" to tendering...which apply in Cabo and just about everywhere. It takes several hours to get everyone off a large cruise ship...and that is just a truth! Cruise lines, including Princess, have a basic pecking order to tendering. Those who take cruise line excursions get priority and will usually go off the ship as a group. There are others in high frequent cruiser status who also get tender priority as do some in suites. For the remainder, it is first come first serve where you will have to go to a specified lounge and get a "tender ticket" and wait for your color/number to be called.

As to how long this all takes, it is impacted (in a major way) by the current weather/wind/sea conditions. One basic rule is that the "early bird" often gets an early tender. So being among the first to get a tender ticket can get you ashore 1-2 hours before others who follow.

As to returning to the ship, the basic rule is that the last tender is scheduled to leave the pier 30 minutes prior to sailing time. This information will be provided in your daily schedule (which you get the previous evening) and there will also be a large sign, near the tender station onboard, that will tell you the time of the last tender.

Hank

Like the title asks, how long does it take to get on the tender to shore.

What time would I make it to shore if we wanted to get off around 7 ? Is there a better time to attempt leaving the boat?

I still just don't understand why they are only there from 7-2 :mad: :confused:

Thank you

According to those who were on the RUBY last week, they start giving out tender tickets at 7AM.

(This, of course, does not mean the first tender is guaranteed to leave at 7AM...but you can start lining up in the assigned Dining/Waiting room.)

The last tender from shore back to the ship is listed as 1:30, so if you are on a private tour or sightseeing on your own, you should plan to be in the tender line at 1:00.

The tender ride itself is less than 15 minutes in optimal weather.

I'm figuring that if all goes well, our time on shore in Cabo will be from 8AM-1PM.

We've done this itinerary numerous times. We also had no problem getting on the first tender in the olden days when we had no status. However, keep in mind that at 8 am, a lot of things aren't even open in Cabo, so although you could easily grab a bite to eat, the shops didn't even open until around 10:00 am. Princess has always had the 7 am to 2 pm time slot on their 7-day cruises. They have the 8-5 time slot on their 10-day cruises, which affords much more flexibility. Also, consider yourself fortunate if you even get to go there, as we've not been able to tender there on at least 3 occasions due to inclement weather which churned up the waves making it impossible to tender.

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Yep, I missed Cabo the last time we took this cruise due to weather.

Do you think we'd be better off going down at 7 to try and leave

Or do you think we should wait until like 9 to leave the ship? Do you think the wait times to tender will be shorter at 9?

Like I mentioned above, I have no plans on booking an excursion for this stop

And we are only at Platinum status so I don't think we get priority disembarkation.

Thanks all :D

Or does anyone know if platinum does get a priority? That would be cool :D

Or does anyone know if platinum does get a priority? That would be cool :D

No, they don't.

If you wait until 9:00, you will be standing in line with several hundred of your new cruise buddies [emoji78][emoji16]. If history repeats itself, most everyone has the same idea. Extra early or extra late are the two times that won't have extensive lines, in my opinion.

Keep in mind, the tenders fit an awful lot of people, so even if there are lines, they might move more quickly than you think [emoji259]

Oh, I just read the part about getting to Medano beach. If it were me, I would plan on am arrival time to !Medano by 9:00 am, so plan on taking an 8:15-8:30 tender and then you can either walk (it was about a half hour walk) or simply take a water taxi after you disembark the tender. that would be plenty of time at Medano Beach if you arrived at 8:30-9:00 and depart no later than 12:30

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==

Yep, I missed Cabo the last time we took this cruise due to weather.

 

Do you think we'd be better off going down at 7 to try and leave

 

Or do you think we should wait until like 9 to leave the ship? Do you think the wait times to tender will be shorter at 9?

 

Like I mentioned above, I have no plans on booking an excursion for this stop

 

And we are only at Platinum status so I don't think we get priority disembarkation.

 

Thanks all :D

You might want to consider what you would do, if you did get ashore in Cabo around 7:30 am. At that time in Mexico, you could certainly stop in some cafes/restaurants for breakfast (which you probably already had onboard). Perhaps you might want to go shopping, but very few places are open at 7:30 or even at 8. Here in Mexico, most places start to open around 9. You might consider trying to get an early tender and then finding a place ashore to enjoy a very slow cup of coffee :).

I live in Puerto Vallarta where I watched the HAL Amsterdam cruising into our port, this morning, around 7am (before the sun was even up). I found myself wondering, what in the world these folks could do at 7am (I was on my daily morning walk). And then I passed Diamonds International....where the lights were on and they were likely having a sales meeting about how to best deal with the "sheep" from the cruise ship. On days without cruise ships we seldom see any lights at DI until at least 9am.

Hank

We were in Cabo on a Princess Cruise this past November. The tendering process was well organised and we were off in 15 minutes or so.

As others have mentioned, it's always good to get off the ship early and make sure that you're back before the ship leaves.

Cabo was beastly hot in November and there wasn't much shade available around the harbor. That's another good reason to catch an early tender!

http://cruiseports.ca/mexico/cabo-san-lucas.html

How bad will things be if Princess isn't arriving until 1:00? I'm worried about spending the entire afternoon waiting in a tender line.

Without having priority tendering, we try to arrive at the tendering muster area about two hours after tendering starts, rarely wait long. Your whole party has to be there to get tickets.

How bad will things be if Princess isn't arriving until 1:00? I'm worried about spending the entire afternoon waiting in a tender line.

Your worry is somewhat justified...although you are probably talking 1-2 hour waits...rather then the "entire afternoon." One easy (but expensive) way to avoid the lines is to book a cruise ship excursion. Otherwise, as others have said, get your tender ticket early...which unfortunately is what many others will try to do.

Hank

On 1/16/2017 at 7:54 AM, Hlitner said:

There are some basic "truths" to tendering...which apply in Cabo and just about everywhere. It takes several hours to get everyone off a large cruise ship...and that is just a truth! Cruise lines, including Princess, have a basic pecking order to tendering. Those who take cruise line excursions get priority and will usually go off the ship as a group. There are others in high frequent cruiser status who also get tender priority as do some in suites. For the remainder, it is first come first serve where you will have to go to a specified lounge and get a "tender ticket" and wait for your color/number to be called.

 

As to how long this all takes, it is impacted (in a major way) by the current weather/wind/sea conditions. One basic rule is that the "early bird" often gets an early tender. So being among the first to get a tender ticket can get you ashore 1-2 hours before others who follow.

 

As to returning to the ship, the basic rule is that the last tender is scheduled to leave the pier 30 minutes prior to sailing time. This information will be provided in your daily schedule (which you get the previous evening) and there will also be a large sign, near the tender station onboard, that will tell you the time of the last tender.

 

Hank

Speaking about those with excursions getting priority, is this only for excursions from the cruise line or does this also include excursions from Shore Excursions Group which seems to be offered by the online cruise booking sites?   Do city tour excursions start very soon after the first tender or is there some time before the excursions will start as we haven't booked the excursions yet as there is no start time listed. 

57 minutes ago, Almighty188 said:

 

Speaking about those with excursions getting priority, is this only for excursions from the cruise line or does this also include excursions from Shore Excursions Group which seems to be offered by the online cruise booking sites?   Do city tour excursions start very soon after the first tender or is there some time before the excursions will start as we haven't booked the excursions yet as there is no start time listed. 

On all the cruise lines upon which we have cruised(15) the only excursion priority is given to those excursions booked through the onboard tour desk (which would include the one's you book pre cruise).  What you see on the cruise agency sites are excursions sold by a third party company.  The cruise agencies get a commission.   Those excursions have no more priority on a ship then any other private tour or DIY.

Also keep in mind that others also get priority which does vary by cruise line.  Some of the other priority groups include frequent cruisers (with status in the frequent cruisers club), the more expensive suites, the Yacht Club (if on MSC), etc.  

The private tour companies are used to dealing with ships and tender delays.  They will sometimes urge cruisers to try and get off as soon as possible.   The downside to private tours in tender ports is that the tour bus/van cannot start until all those who have booked are ashore.  

Hank

18 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

On all the cruise lines upon which we have cruised(15) the only excursion priority is given to those excursions booked through the onboard tour desk (which would include the one's you book pre cruise).  What you see on the cruise agency sites are excursions sold by a third party company.  The cruise agencies get a commission.   Those excursions have no more priority on a ship then any other private tour or DIY.

 

Also keep in mind that others also get priority which does vary by cruise line.  Some of the other priority groups include frequent cruisers (with status in the frequent cruisers club), the more expensive suites, the Yacht Club (if on MSC), etc.  

 

The private tour companies are used to dealing with ships and tender delays.  They will sometimes urge cruisers to try and get off as soon as possible.   The downside to private tours in tender ports is that the tour bus/van cannot start until all those who have booked are ashore.  

Interesting.  It seems the third party ones actually has a booking time, like the City Tour with Glass Boat can be either 8:00AM or 10:00AM for example while the one from Princess Cruises don't list the start time.  Since it seems like if the ship is scheduled to arrive at 7:00AM, won't the chances of not making it to the excursion at 8:00AM actually be pretty high?  

It seems like Princess Cruises doesn't even have a city tour or a glass boat tour of the city as theirs is a land tour and they visit a Glass Blowing Factory for example.  So it seems like the third party company might offer a better excursion.  Do elderly and disabled get any priority when it comes to tenders?  

I just hope the private tour companies actually return people back to the ship before it sails since they also have that return to ship guarantee.  

 

On 1/16/2017 at 4:25 AM, puggleperson said:

Like the title asks, how long does it take to get on the tender to shore.

We are Crusing with princess and I keep hearing about all these wait times to get to shore?

I dont want to book an excursion in Cabo, I just want to get off the boat and go to Medano beach. What time would I make it to shore if we wanted to get off around 7 ? Is there a better time to attempt leaving the boat? Should we try leaving around 8or 9? Thoughts?

I still just don't understand why they are only there from 7-2 :mad: 😕

Thank you

Wait for 2 hours after the first tender.  You will be able to walk right onto the boat.  We love Princess but Carnival stays in port for more hours.  I think 2.

1 hour ago, XRunner7 said:

Wait for 2 hours after the first tender.  You will be able to walk right onto the boat.  We love Princess but Carnival stays in port for more hours.  I think 2.

 

Doesn't the hours depend more on the specific cruise ship as Princess Grand Princess is 7AM-5PM for example.   I was talking to one of the third party shore excursion companies, shorelineexcursioneer.com in live chat and they said that people on non-cruiseline excursions are usually able to get off the tender 45 minutes to 1 hour after the arrival time of the ship, not sure how accurate that is.  How long does Carnival stay in the port?

Just one reason we are booking an excursion in Cabo.   The Pirate Ship is the same price, regardless if you book on website or through Princess.  It also leaves one hour after we stop to tender, so i know we will get off first.

Another reason to book excursions through the cruise line, if there are any issues during the tour, the boat won't leave you.  If you use a 3rd party, you are on your own.  And i've been there, with Celebrity, on my phone speaking to their 800 hotline in PV, , they said you better hurry or meet us at the next stop, which was Acapulco (this was 12 years ago when it was safer).  Don't be those people on the last tender, we actually watch from our balcony, even on port, for the late people, its a fun tradition, as its happen to me and my family a few times, we like cheering these folks back on the boat!

It really depends on the excursions available.  Third Party Companies like Shore Excursions Group has a Cabo City Tour that is really a combo tour that includes the Glass Bottom Boat tour followed by a land tour in a van/bus that Princess doesn't have.  If they had the same thing, then it's a different story.  So for us next month, the ship arrives at 7AM and departs at 5PM.  That SEG tour is 4 hours and there are two departure times at 8:00AM and 10:00AM.  The 10:00AM would still get back at 2:00PM and we wouldn't need to rushing off the ship as soon as it arrives into the port.  We are doing a excursion to say we actually have been to a certain city as we are doing a sightseeing type of tour since all the other excursions are more just adventures that you can pretty much do at any other port as it's more of a activity instead of actually being in places the city is known for to really say you've been there even though it was more of a overview but better than nothing.  Does the ship really wait for people when the cruiseline tours are late and it's already departure time?  Since ships actually travel very slow so if they depart late, they will probably be late for the next arrival since unlike airplanes, they can't just increase the speed to catch up with time as the top speed is 25.9mph even for the Grand Princess.  The third party websites also has the same guarantee:
"Guaranteed Return to Ship
We have never had a customer miss their ship. Our team possesses over 80 years of combined cruise line experience and we are not aware of a single case in which a customer on an independent tour missed a ship. In the extremely unlikely event that you miss your ship due to the late arrival of one of our tours, we will arrange and pay for your accommodations, meals, and transportation to the next port of call, and we will pay you an additional $500 USD per customer for the inconvenience."

since I always thought the local tour operators are aware what time the ships depart so they put in safety measures to prevent the people on the tour from missing their ship.  And this 3rd party provider is used by the Costco, Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz which are all public traded companies so if the guarantee isn't honored, these companies also will have a hard earned reputation to fix.  It seems like if you booked directly with the local tour operators, then your risk would be higher as it would be hard to go after them.  I think as long as you plan it well like if your ship leaves at 5:00PM, you want your tour to end at 3:00PM at the latest since you would only have a problem if you were more than 1.5 hours late.  I'm curious, what actually happens to the things in your cabin if Cabo was your last port of call and you didn't get back on the ship with the next port is actually the port where people get off the ship with their belongings and the end of the cruise.     

As for the Pirate Ship Excursion, it's actually $80 from Princess and $63 or less if you book it elsewhere so it is not the same price.  

Thanks for the pointers everyone.  Seems like I'm going to stick with doing a cruise line excursion just to play it safe since the risk of the ship leaving without me is still a high risk even if the excursion is better from the third party provider as you never knew what kind of problems and delays you can run into.  This site explains pretty much how it works except they never said what would happen to your belongings in the cabin if you are not on the ship when everyone else is disembarking aka the end of the cruise:
https://cruisefever.net/03231-what-happens-when-you-miss-your-ship/