Tendering -Port Douglas

Visiting Port Douglas on the Celebrity Solstice in March , we will be

tendering but have no information from Celebrity on how far out we will

at anchor. How long a trip in should it be. I'm trying to book a private tour with a local company, Celebrity says we arrive at 7 am, the tour operator wants to

Pick us up 8:30-8:45. This seems like a reasonable amount of time but since

I've never been in this port I have no idea. Any input from others would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,

Ed

Boston,Ma.

That time would be quite doable. It probably takes around 25 minutes or so to tender into the marina. About half the distance is in the river where the tenders have to travel at slow speed.

When Celebrity says arrive 7am, they may mean they anchor at 7am so tenders may not be available for another 30 minutes. I still believe that the time you have arranged will be fine. Enjoy.:)

That will be too early, unless he wants to hang around and wait for you.... all the tour operators that usually pick up from Port Douglas and Yorkey's Knob for private shore tours know that the time that the cruise ships advertise is not what time tendering actually starts.

Bank on around 9am to start the tendering..... usually they have a large Catamaran that will pick up from the ship and expedite the tendering process in Yorkey's Knob but at Port Douglas there is no room for the large Cats to get into the marina and drop off so they usually just use the ship's tenders. Look at around 20 mins for the tender to get into shore. Regarding time I would look at around 9.30 at the earliest.

..and the ship will concentrate on getting all of the ships tours ashore first.

That will be too early' date=' unless he wants to hang around and wait for you.... all the tour operators that usually pick up from Port Douglas and Yorkey's Knob for private shore tours know that the time that the cruise ships advertise is not what time tendering actually starts.

 

Bank on around 9am to [b']start[/b] the tendering..... usually they have a large Catamaran that will pick up from the ship and expedite the tendering process in Yorkey's Knob but at Port Douglas there is no room for the large Cats to get into the marina and drop off so they usually just use the ship's tenders. Look at around 20 mins for the tender to get into shore. Regarding time I would look at around 9.30 at the earliest.

In Port Douglas, Princess uses the big Reef Magic catamaran in addition to their tenders. I don't know if RCL use that boat as well.

Do you think tendering would start as late as 9am? I haven't been on RCL for that cruise so I am not sure and you would probably know better than me. P&O and Princess would be well underway before 8am and maybe as early as 7.30. Probably the tour operator would have an idea what time the RCL tenders start to arrive in the marina.

In Port Douglas, Princess uses the big Reef Magic catamaran in addition to their tenders. I don't know if RCL use that boat as well.

 

Do you think tendering would start as late as 9am? I haven't been on RCL for that cruise so I am not sure and you would probably know better than me. P&O and Princess would be well underway before 8am and maybe as early as 7.30. Probably the tour operator would have an idea what time the RCL tenders start to arrive in the marina.

The problem the OP has is that it is a huge ship and it takes longer to get off if they don't use the large catamarans..... the ships don't always use the big cats to get them off, so the OP can't count on it. Even so it takes over an hour to load the big cats and I always tell everyone if there is a tender loading to take people ashore or a cat loading, take the tender, even though it is slower than the cat, the cat takes so long to load then get to shore sometimes it is quicker to take the first tender or two.

Each captain is difference, I shudder if it is the Pacific Dawn as the captain is very wary of the weather and it only has to have a puff of wind and he procrastinates, a couple of weeks ago he took 1 1/2 hours to decide, which cuts into the passengers day..... the Princess ships are usually better but I have yet to see a passenger step ashore before 8.30am more than usual it is around 9.30 to 10am. Having said that Yorkey's Knob is worse than Port Douglas.

The OP will know more after the Solstice has been here next month, the first cruise will be tendering from Yorkey's Knob on 13th October. Depending on the weather and the captain and how well the crew perform we should know more regarding time.... they are supposed to be here from 9am to 5pm. They are next into Yorkey's Knob on 9th November.

The cruise that the OP is on is actually overnighting at Yorkey's Knob on the 18th and 19th March and then moving up to Port Douglas for the 20th. They should be there well and truely before 7am, so it will be purely up to the Captain when he will start letting people off. I guess what I am trying to tell the OP is that you might be lucky and get off in time for your tour to pick you up but there is always the case that because it is a new port they might be slower to get organised.

OP I wouldn't worry too much, you don't leave until 7pm so all aboard will be 6.30, plenty of time to do the tour even if you do get off later than planned.

..and the ship will concentrate on getting all of the ships tours ashore first.

Yes, that is another problem for the private tours.... but if the OP lines up and gets one of the first tender tickets, he should be ok.

If the OP are Suite guests or have loyalty status like Elite or higher, they also have priority tendering so 8.30am would be doable. Other wise, I would be pushing back to 9.30am.

Thanks for all your info!

In our case ALL of the people on this tour would be

From the ship so even if we're late I guess we can

Rearrange the plans with the tour operator.

The tour highlights are below, does anyone see any

obstacle in doing all this and being back by 5:30 ?

World Heritage Coral Coast

Daintree Rainforest

Mossman Gorge

Cape Tribulation

Daintree River Cruise

Daintree Tea House

Port Douglas Tour

We do by the way have Elite status (priority tendering).

Thanks again for your input !

Thanks for all your info!

 

In our case ALL of the people on this tour would be

From the ship so even if we're late I guess we can

Rearrange the plans with the tour operator.

 

The tour highlights are below, does anyone see any

obstacle in doing all this and being back by 5:30 ?

 

World Heritage Coral Coast

Daintree Rainforest

Mossman Gorge

Cape Tribulation

Daintree River Cruise

Daintree Tea House

Port Douglas Tour

 

We do by the way have Elite status (priority tendering).

 

Thanks again for your input !

You will be fine as long as you get away by 10am at the latest.

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The Elite status will certainly help.

Did you take this tour in Port Douglas ? We are taking this GBR cruise in March 2018. thanks Barbara

In our case ALL of the people on this tour would be

From the ship so even if we're late I guess we can

Rearrange the plans with the tour operator.

The tour highlights are below, does anyone see any

obstacle in doing all this and being back by 5:30 ?

World Heritage Coral Coast

Daintree Rainforest

Mossman Gorge

Cape Tribulation

Daintree River Cruise

Daintree Tea House

Port Douglas Tour

We do by the way have Elite status (priority tendering).

Thanks again for your input !

You do see that the question was posted last year, so the OP may not be paying attention?

We did go on this cruise with Ed. As I recall, the tender took about 20 minutes. We didn't do any of the tours, but our friends did (to Daintree forest and Mossman gorge). They were back well before 5:30. And they got wet because it rained, which I think may be common?

Good luck

ML

Visiting Port Douglas on the Celebrity Solstice in March , we will be

 

tendering but have no information from Celebrity on how far out we will

 

at anchor. How long a trip in should it be. I'm trying to book a private tour with a local company, Celebrity says we arrive at 7 am, the tour operator wants to

 

Pick us up 8:30-8:45. This seems like a reasonable amount of time but since

 

I've never been in this port I have no idea. Any input from others would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Ed

 

Boston,Ma.

Just have a look at what time Celebrity are starting their excursions from Port Douglas - this will give you their intended time of having passengers off the ship and taken ashore by tenders.

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...a new question regarding tendering in port Douglas..

I am on a Princess cruise that has Port Douglas as a stop.

Can anyone who has tendered at Port Douglas advise of the likely last tender time before sailing 

(In my limited experience last tender is usually around 30 mins before sailing... but is this also true for Port Douglas)

Usually 3/4 to 1/2 hour prior.

we were on Sea Princess last  month.  I just checked the patter and the last tender from Port Douglas was 5.30pm.  Departure was 6pm.

Twice been to Port Douglas, twice failed to get off ship.  Brought cats out but decided too rough, swells too large to get passengers off.  I will get there eventually lol.

good luck with your excursions.

We were there two weeks ago on the Majestic Princess. The ship had its 4 tenders operating and there were two local cats operating as tenders as well. It was a very long tender......45+ minutes in the tender. The problem was the dock can only hold one ship tender and one of the cats at the one time, and it took so long to off load and re load, tenders were forced to wait off shore. Lots of complaints on the ship. 

Can't recall what time the last tender was, but it was 30 minutes before the scheduled sailaway. Didn't matter......because the tendering was such a shambles, they were still coming back a long time after the scheduled sailaway.