Tendor Question

[travelhelp]

We are a group of 8 (on Brilliance) who will be doing a private tour in Villefranche which has a tendor procedure. Firstly, how do we determine when we will be on the dock to meet our tour since the RCI tour people will probably get off first and secondly can one of us pick up all 8 tickets. Thirdly, when and how are they distributed?

[Hlitner]

It is really impossible to accurately predict when you will get a shore since tender operations are affected by arrival time, weather, and sea conditions. On RCI they have a "pecking" order for tender preference. Cruise line sponsored excursions go as groups and always get priority as do the frequent RCI cruisers in the higher repeater categories (i.e. Diamond, Diamond Plus. etc). The remainder of the independent passengers are told to report to a specific public lounge in the morning where they are given a tender ticket (either numbered or specific colors) and then they must wait in the lounge. The staff calls for groups by their tender ticket number (or color) and they are then taken downstairs to the tender dock. It can easily take 1 1/2 hours from the beginning of tender operations until most have been tendered ashore. The private tour companies that are used to dealing with cruise ships are aware of the situation and will wait. For independent passengers we would probably suggest having a tour company arrive about an hour after the ship is scheduled to drop anchor.... If you have a cell phone that works in Europe it is a good idea to exchange cell numbers with the tour operator..

 

Hank

[travelhelp]

Thanks so much. Very helpful. Do you know if one person can get all 8 vouchers we need.

[NH Cruiser]

If you are a Diamond member, how do you get the tickets for an earlier tender? Do Diamond members wait in a specific area for a tender announcement?

[Hlitner]

Regarding one person getting 8 tender tickets, although each ship and cruise director does things sligtly different, they usually annouce that your entire group should be present in the lounge. That being said, we have seen plenty of folks come into the lounge and just ask for x number of tender tickets. But, they only call the ticket numbers inside the appointed lounge which means you all must be waiting there when you get called. As to Diamond member priorities, again this seems to vary by ship. In the olden days when Diamond could use the Concierge Lounge we used to get our tickets from the Concierge at least 1 day in advance. These priority tickets could be used anytime during tender operations. We have been on other cruises when they simply delivered priorty tender tickets to the cabin. Since procedures can vary it probably is wise to simply ask the Crown and Anchor rep when you get aboard. You can also post this question on the RCI board and probably get an answer from someone who has recently been on your particular ship. As to where Diamond members wait, that also seems to vary. We have been on some cruises when they told us to just go down to the tender departure area whenever we were ready and on other ships they told us to report to a specific lounge. Diamond and Diamond Plus usually find a letter in their cabin on embarkation day which details all the benefits for the cruise. This letter will often have the tender info.

 

Hank

[NH Cruiser]

Thank you for the quick response. We'll check it out when we board the Brilliance. Our only tender port is the day after we board in Barcelona, so not a lot of time to figure out the process!

[newlifeca]

We tendered in Villefrance when sailing aboard RCL's Voyager of the Sea. Maybe we missed something, but we didn't have to wait to take the tender, the tenders were running constantly, and we just hopped on the next one and got to the port under 10 minutes. They had a small parade of tender's operating which shuttled passengers for the ship to the dock.

[NH Cruiser]

Thanks . . . I'm assuming you didn't require tender tickets?