Carnival Dream, tenders, and excursions

[Halftocruz]

Hi,

 

I'm in Belize on December 14th with 6 other ships (according to Cruisett.com) I have booked an excursion with Coral Breezes that leaves at 9:00. I have heard of horror stories that Carnival will block my exit as the Carnival booked excursions take precedence over outside ones so we could miss the excursion. Has anyone had that problem? With 6 ships in port can that be a huge mess??? I might switch to a carnival excursion just for that reason but I'm unsure and need advice.

 

Any feedback would be great.

 

Thanks

Kellie

[crewsweeper]

Hi,

 

I'm in Belize on December 14th with 6 other ships (according to Cruisett.com) I have booked an excursion with Coral Breezes that leaves at 9:00. I have heard of horror stories that Carnival will block my exit as the Carnival booked excursions take precedence over outside ones so we could miss the excursion. Has anyone had that problem? With 6 ships in port can that be a huge mess??? I might switch to a carnival excursion just for that reason but I'm unsure and need advice.

 

Any feedback would be great.

 

Thanks

Kellie

 

We booked an independent excursion for Belize when on the Dream last June. Only two ships in port, but there are plenty of tender operators with all sizes of tenders. Most of the tenders that Carnival uses hold 200+ passengers.

 

The trick to getting on an early tender is to get to the non-ship excursion meet up point as early as possible. On th eDream it's in the Punchliner Comedy Club, aka, Burgundy Lounge. If the Fun Times says 7:30A for first sign up, get there at 7:15A. You'll have to wait til they open the doors but you'll be on sheet 1 or 2 with early tender number. They usually call at least 4 if not more sheets at a time. Be sure all your party is there. They will make you wait until everyone is there before letting you sign in and get a tender number. Tenders will probably start departing around 8:15-8:30A. The first non-excursion tender will probably be right behind the firs tof second ship excursion tender which will load from the forward part of the ship. CB will wait for you on the tender dock as most likely they'll have other ships' passenger on the excursion.

 

Double check that CB is using ship's time or Belize time for departure. Belize is on CST and will be 1 hour behind EST that the Dream uses. That might give you a bit of a cushion, but works against you on return time. Keep your watch on ship time.

[serene56]

when Coral Breezes gave you a time of 9am-- is that island time or ship time?

[Halftocruz]

Thanks for the feedback. I will check on the time with Coral Breeze. And thanks for the tips on where the excursion/tender boats meet. I appreciate the help.

[airlink diva]

Hi 1sttimecruz!

Like Crewsweeper stated, you need to head for the punchliner early as possible. I had booked with a local guide and was in the lounge by 7:10 a.m. The lounge was open with a crew person selling bottle water. At 7:25 a.m. the persons passing out the tender tickets were in the lounge.

They stated that they will get us off the boat soon as they can. The tender was either going to be a 100 or 250 seater.

I guess we must had the larger tender because they called zones 1,2,3,4, and 5.

I was at the local vendor's desk at 8:30 a.m.

With that many ships, I don't know if the Dream have the same number of tenders. Just get to the lounge early to get off with one of the first non ship tenders

[loves2_shop]

Thanks for the excellent responses! We are booked with Coral Breeze in December for our Carnival Dream cruise. I was also wondering how all the tendering details were going to work out. Great information~ thanks!! :)

[Extraordinaire]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

 

I especially like the info about ship time vs. island time and keeping your watch on ship time. The last thing anyone would want would be to be left behind ... or maybe not?:)

 

Also, good to know about non-ship excursion meet up points!!

[crewsweeper]

The last thing anyone would want would be to be left behind ... or maybe not?:)

 

There are a couple of posters on here who live in Belize and might put you up for a night or two, and help you get a job.:rolleyes: They won't lend you money to catch the ship at the next port:eek:

[wadethegringo]

There are a couple of posters on here who live in Belize and might put you up for a night or two, and help you get a job.:rolleyes: They won't lend you money to catch the ship at the next port:eek:

 

I got a room in San Pedro...Still a flight away from the city...:D