How to get on first tender?

[#1TravelMom]

We would like to do cavetubing with an independent company. They have instructed us to get on the 1st tender. We will be on Carnival Valor. How can we make sure to get on 1st tender?

[crewsweeper]

We would like to do cavetubing with an independent company. They have instructed us to get on the 1st tender. We will be on Carnival Valor. How can we make sure to get on 1st tender?

Listen to the tender announcements made the day prior and read the Fun Times. They will be allowing Carnival/ship excursions to board first, but if you are in line early, very early-15 minutes or earlier, than they say you need to be there if you're on a Carnival excursion, you may be able to snag an early boarding ticket/number. The independent vendor is trying to get everyone as early as possible so the excursion can run on time. So get some confirmation as to departure time from the vendor and try to get off as quickly as you can.

[black forest]

Hi,

we were in the same situation 2 years ago. We went to the meeting place about 20 minutes to 8 am. We got the number for the first tender. Then we waited pretty long, I think it was after 9 am when we went to the first tender. In Belize city we had to wait for more guests for the tour. They came with the second and third tender. So in the end I think it was about 10.30 or 11 am when we left the city for cave tubing. Due to this experience I have booked our next excursion in Belize through Carnival.

[Charles4515]

We would like to do cavetubing with an independent company. They have instructed us to get on the 1st tender. We will be on Carnival Valor. How can we make sure to get on 1st tender?

 

In the Fun Times they will tell you what time to go to the Eagle Lounge in the morning to get tender tickets. I went about 15 minutes before the time shown and thay had started giving out the tickets before the published start time. I was in group 4 and made the first tender. I think group 1 to 5 made the first one.

[Charles4515]

Hi,

we were in the same situation 2 years ago. We went to the meeting place about 20 minutes to 8 am. We got the number for the first tender. Then we waited pretty long, I think it was after 9 am when we went to the first tender. In Belize city we had to wait for more guests for the tour. They came with the second and third tender. So in the end I think it was about 10.30 or 11 am when we left the city for cave tubing. Due to this experience I have booked our next excursion in Belize through Carnival.

 

Yes, they are going to wait for all to show but some of our group booked cave tubing thru Carnival and others thru and independent. From their descriptions the ones who took the independent tour got a bettr excursion at about 75% of the price of the Carnival excursion.

[seahunters2000]

Yes, they are going to wait for all to show but some of our group booked cave tubing thru Carnival and others thru and independent. From their descriptions the ones who took the independent tour got a bettr excursion at about 75% of the price of the Carnival excursion.

 

We never book through the ship, because that is usaully the case. You pay more & get less. Getting on the first tender is another story. It can be tough because they do take all cruise ship booked tours first.

[mdrobtx]

TravelMom, here is an excerpt from my review of Carnival Legend.

We were taking a flight from Belize City to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye for our excursion.

Here is our experience:

 

First the tender ticket process with Carnival. They start handing out tender tickets between 7:30 and 8am in the Follies theater. I arrived about 7:15 as we needed to get off the ship as soon as possible to catch our flight. The Carnival reps showed up about 7:30 and informed me that it would be about 20 minutes till they handed out the stickers. I was the only guest in the Follies. They let me stay and closed the doors and the other guests started lining up outside. A few realized they could go to the balcony seats on deck 3 and walk down the stairs inside the theater so they got in early and the Carnival reps let them stay. At 7:35 the Carnival rep asked me whether I was on a ship sponsored tour and I relpied “no”. He gave me a sticker with a number 4 on it. This is a numerical value only and does NOT represent when you will get off the ship. They will start with a number (4 in this case) and then go in numerical order after that. So it does not mean you will be the 4th group getting off. We went up to the cabin and got our snorkel gear together and headed back to the Follies theater at 8am where all persons wanting to go to shore or on tours have to depart from. After reading the previous reviews I figured we had a long wait. We were scheduled on a 9:30 flight (ships time) so we had an hour and a half to get off the ship and make it to the municiple airport. WOW!! They started calling the Carnival sponsored tours just after 8am. Then immediately called number 4 for all persons who wanted to go to shore on their own. COOL, we were off the ship about 8:25am. The tender took 15 minutes exactly.

We made our flight easily.

 

Hope this helps.

[yvette3339]

We did this a couple of years ago and got the same instruction. The only thing that you can do is get the the departure tender station ASAP. We had plenty of time and even had a drink before departing with cavetubing.com. It was a great trip.