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Tendering Tips at Grand Cayman

Laphroig

By Laphroig,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Laphroig

Laphroig

Posted
Posted

We are first timers and will be tendering at Grand Cayman next week.

I pre-booked a shore excursion through an independent, NOT through Carnival.

 

I have read that passengers who have excursions through Carnival are tendered to shore first. I am now concerned that we will not get to shore in time for our excursion which leaves at 9:30am.

 

To add to the excitement we are travelling with our 2 small children.

 

Does anyone have any tips on how we can get on a tender and get to shore in a reasonable amount of time without stressing out over missing our shore excursion?

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serene56

serene56

Posted
Posted (edited)

if you booked the cruiselines excursion you will be meeting in the show lounge where you all will be departing together-

your tickets will be in your cabin and will tell you the time to meet

.tendering takes about 5 minutes

Tendering-- at grand cayman=-- a boat comes to the ship and takes passengers to the port

Edited by serene56
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bamaphotopro

bamaphotopro

Posted
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I will go ahead and show my ignorance....what is tendering? :o

 

Tendering is when the cruise ship anchors away from shore, and smaller 'tender' boats carry you to the pier. This happens when the port of call is not setup to dock cruise ships at the pier.

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dprg644

dprg644

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Maybe I am using the wrong term but What I mean is when the ship anchors off shore and passengers need to take the 'tender' (large water taxi) to the port to get on shore.

 

You are using the correct term. A tender boat is just that, a smaller boat which is used like a water taxi. I also booked on my own and just went down as soon as they allowed you to and got a tender ticket. We were on shore in plenty of time.

tender_cayman2.jpg

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dprg644

dprg644

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Tender ticket??? We never got / had / needed one. We just presented our Sail & Sign, and 'walked the plank'. ;)

 

 

Well is has been a couple years since we went to the Cayman's but I thought they gave us a number ticket to board the tender boat but then again old age may have me confused:confused::confused:. In any case I know we were off and on shore on the second or third tender boat with our first excursion being at 9:30.

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dprg644

dprg644

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Well is has been a couple years since we went to the Cayman's but I thought they gave us a number ticket to board the tender boat but then again old age may have me confused:confused::confused:. In any case I know we were off and on shore on the second or third tender boat with our first excursion being at 9:30.

 

I thought I might be going crazy so I searched the tendet ticket thingy in Grand Cayman and found Host Mach who also showed getting a tendet ticket. :confused::confused:

 

 

 

I had a very early excursion on the Atlantis Submarine in Grand Cayman sailing on the Conquest... needed to be on shore by 8 AM...

 

I told one of the staff that I needed an early off and he handed me a ticket for the second tender...

 

At the excursion talk we were all told to report to the Toulouse Lautrec Lounge to get tender tickets... no biggie!

 

:)

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truchattycathy

truchattycathy

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Both times I went to Grand Cayman we had no problem.

 

First time we just went to 0 and got in line with everyone else.

 

Second time, they announced the nite before to meet on the main deck to get a ticket if you had not booked thru Carnival. We went down to get a ticket and they said just go to 0 and get in line, you don't need a ticket.

 

Either way you should be fine. Your excursion will wait for you.

 

Don't worry about it, just enjoy Grand Cayman. It is my favorite port to date.

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TheMurr

TheMurr

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One thing to check is your ship time versus island time. Not sure when you are cruising but switching to daylight savings time will/make a difference. A quick email to your tour operator to confirm ship's time vs island time is all that is needed (we used Nativeway and they explained it all to us).

 

From past experience we usually rush to get ashore only to find we are one hour early. Good chance to run accross the road to BBD rum.

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rigldbrg

rigldbrg

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I thought I might be going crazy so I searched the tendet ticket thingy in Grand Cayman and found Host Mach who also showed getting a tendet ticket. :confused::confused:

 

I tendered in GC last week, and no ticket necessary. This is a really simple process and not worth sweating. Depending on the size of the boat tendering, they hold between 75-150 people. As a result, they get people off the ship really quickly. We had 3,400 people on board, got in line late, and it still only took us 5 minutes to get on a tender. Carnival does a really nice job with this.

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RollerCoasterLover

RollerCoasterLover

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I'm curious as we have an early excursion here as well. Do all the ships tender in Grand Cayman? We will be on the Destiny. I have not been to Grand Cayman in quite some time, so pardon the rookie question.

 

Yes, all ships tender in Cayman. This is because the shoreline/pier doesn't have deep enough waters for the cruise liners. But like what they said earlier, it is nothing to fret about. Very easy and fast. Don't feel bad for questions, that's what we are here for! ;)

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joebat1

joebat1

Posted
Posted
We are first timers and will be tendering at Grand Cayman next week.

I pre-booked a shore excursion through an independent, NOT through Carnival.

 

I have read that passengers who have excursions through Carnival are tendered to shore first. I am now concerned that we will not get to shore in time for our excursion which leaves at 9:30am.

 

To add to the excitement we are travelling with our 2 small children.

 

Does anyone have any tips on how we can get on a tender and get to shore in a reasonable amount of time without stressing out over missing our shore excursion?

 

The best tip I can give you is to keep your arms & hands inside the tender. And keep the kids away from the railings. The tender pilot will warn you.

We were tendering back the the SS Norway, and the seas were quite heavy. The staff warned everyone constantly about keeping arms and hands inside the tender. A huge wave slammed the tender up against the Norway and a man let out a blood curling scream as his 4 fingers was cut off when the tender hit the ship with a great thug. Not a pretty sight, as a mild panic set in with those around him, the crew trying to get to him, and although it seemed like an hour, it was an eternity getting the man off the tender in the high swells. It still brings tears to my eyes today.

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  • 6 years later...
SATexasPilot

SATexasPilot

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Did I see correctly that the tender time from ship to dock at Grand Cayman is only five (5) minutes? I hope that is the case. Because of the terrible previous tender experiences in Belize and then a tender/taxi experience in Cozumel to the mainland, we would probably just stay on the ship. Five minutes seems much more civilized.

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kona_wahine

kona_wahine

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Did I see correctly that the tender time from ship to dock at Grand Cayman is only five (5) minutes? I hope that is the case. Because of the terrible previous tender experiences in Belize and then a tender/taxi experience in Cozumel to the mainland, we would probably just stay on the ship. Five minutes seems much more civilized.

 

We were just there last week. Yes, 5 minutes if that. And yes, Belize you are way farther out. We went down to the meeting place at 7:15 as the funtimes stated to do. We were scheduled off at 8:00. There may have been 30 of us there at 8:00. Mike, our cruise director guided us down and we were on the 2nd tender. (Breeze was our ship) we were the only ship in port that day. It was very easy. Now getting back in there was a line and it probably took us half hour.

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dave_k58

dave_k58

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We had an excursion with Captain Marvin's on GC and it was scheduled for 8:30. We went down to the meeting place as soon as allowed and were in port and at Captain Marvin's in plenty of time. I think we skipped breakfast or had room service or something that day.

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