Falkland Islands Tender

[Somerset Steve]

We have booked a private tour to Volunteer Point with an associate of Patrick Watts. He has told us that we must be off the ship within an hour and a half or there will not be sufficient time to get there and back. I do realise that we may not be able to land at all and that people booked on HAL tours will get preference but does any body know of a way of getting on an early tender ? We will be on the MS Veendam arriving in Port Stanley on 28/2/12. Any information or suggestions from people that have done this trip would be much appreciated.

[luvcruisn']

You can ask the cruise director, or hotel manager (not sure which one has jurisdiction) when you board if your group can get on an early tender. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't - the crew letting people board the tenders may tell you that your group has to wait. The best thing is to have all of your group in the lounge where people get their tender tickets and be all ready to go ashore, so as soon as the HAL shore excursion people are off, then your group can go. We have had instances where we can board tenders, but then one of the group has left the lounge and then we have to wait until they come back, so that we all go off together. We did wait in the lounge for the tender to the Falklands until all of the HAL groups had left, but we had enough time. We did have one more hour in port than you will have though. Hope it all works out for you - we had a great time there.

[Somerset Steve]

Hi Luvcruisn' Thanks for your reply, How long does the tender trip take, how many tenders are there and how long does it take to land all the passengers that want to go ashore ? Sorry about all the questions and thanks so much for your help. :)

 

BTW, it's only the two of us (we are not a group). Do you think this will make a difference ?

[luvcruisn']

Hi Somerset Steve. I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer to all of your questions. I think the trip took somewhere between 15-20 minutes. However, we had really nice weather that day, it could take longer if the seas are rough. People get off of the tenders fairly quickly. If you are down on the main floor area, close to the back and near the entrance of the tender, you can get off faster. The farther to the front of the tender you are, you will have to wait for all of the other rows to go off. I know that the tenders made several trips out and back - they go continuously as long as the weather stays good enough. If you are only two people I would get tender tickets but then go down to the tender area, and explain that you are on a tour, and see if you can be right at the head of the line after the HAL shore excursions leave. If you wait up in the lounge area, some other groups might get down to the tender area before you do.

[brainyblonde]

Stanley prepares for the cruise ships. Everyone in the tiny town seems to drive taxis, tour buses, and operate shops. The town appears to stop their regular business. The locals operate an inexpensive bus to and back from Bluff Cove (on cruise days). We liked the combination of Bluff Cove and walking around and out of Stanley. The bus was very efficient, no fear of being "left" stranded. A good combination of penguins and local life.

 

Enjoy!

 

Brainyblonde

[luxurysailer]

We have booked a private tour to Volunteer Point with an associate of Patrick Watts. He has told us that we must be off the ship within an hour and a half or there will not be sufficient time to get there and back.

 

Have you thoroughly considered the consequences of going on this tour and not getting back in time to catch the last tender? Dire is the word that comes to mind.

[Coolcruise02]

We don't usually do "ship" excursions, but this is one place I made an exception!!! The winds/weather is often not good and I did not want to take the risk.

 

On our excursion with the ship we ended up having to sit in the theater 45 minutes past our departure time due to high winds and difficulty tendering. (we had one of the first times) If we had scheduled an independent shore trip who knows when we would have gotten off. Things just backed up horribly after we finally left.

[sportsmum]

We're on the Veendam/Patrick too- just a month earlier. He did not want to take us to Volunteer Point because of the time frame we had.

 

They've been doing this a long time so I think if you do not have enough time they will tweak your itinerary a little and it will be just fine.

[2ptu/000]

We did this tour with Patrick with another cruise line. Patrick's vehicles go in caravan style. He will not let you be late for the ship. He gives a wonderful tour. Can't help you with getting off the ship.

[Somerset Steve]

Thanks everybody for your replies. I will let you know how we got on :)

[big green]

book a suite for priority tender tickets as a benefit.:)

 

BG

[Lynda S]

We were on the Veendam last Dec & we only had 8 hours (or maybe it was 7, can't remember off hand now). I emailed Patrick & he said it was too tight of a window for him so we went with the ship's tour to the rockhoppers instead (OMG SO cute!!! Loved them!).

 

The tender in took about 15 min as I recall (the weather was good) - but the trip back took a good 1/2 hr as a storm started up & we were rocking & rolling & losing ground - everytime we moved forward a wave pushed us back. It was so bad we had to remain seated at the gangplank on the ship & only get up one by one from the tender as two men had to help each one of us up on the plank one at a time to make sure we made it. It took a LONG time to unload our tender. Which is OK on the way back, but if that happens on the way there, that will impact your time.

 

The pull of the King penguins at Volunteer Point is strong, but I am glad we didn't do it as it is a lot of driving for a day's outing & I would have been worried about the time constantly (and we were in a suite with priority tender tickets).

 

And - those darn little rockhoppers were such a delight to see with only a half-hour drive by jeep to get there!

[Raring to go]

Used Patrick several years ago on a Princess cruise. I obsessed over getting back to the tender on time. They had us back in plenty of time. Our driver told us they had been doing this for years, and never had missed a tender.

[nelenk]

We were on the Veendam last Dec & we only had 8 hours (or maybe it was 7, can't remember off hand now). I emailed Patrick & he said it was too tight of a window for him so we went with the ship's tour to the rockhoppers instead (OMG SO cute!!! Loved them!).

 

The tender in took about 15 min as I recall (the weather was good) - but the trip back took a good 1/2 hr as a storm started up & we were rocking & rolling & losing ground - everytime we moved forward a wave pushed us back. It was so bad we had to remain seated at the gangplank on the ship & only get up one by one from the tender as two men had to help each one of us up on the plank one at a time to make sure we made it. It took a LONG time to unload our tender. Which is OK on the way back, but if that happens on the way there, that will impact your time.

 

The pull of the King penguins at Volunteer Point is strong, but I am glad we didn't do it as it is a lot of driving for a day's outing & I would have been worried about the time constantly (and we were in a suite with priority tender tickets).

 

And - those darn little rockhoppers were such a delight to see with only a half-hour drive by jeep to get there!

Question: Whats a rock hopper? Taking a cruise to the Falklands next year, 2013, thinking abt land excursions. Help!!

[bet410]

Question: Whats a rock hopper? Taking a cruise to the Falklands next year, 2013, thinking abt land excursions. Help!!

 

A rockhopper is a kind of penguin. It's distinctive because of the yellow "tufts" on it's head.

[rafinmd]

We have booked a private tour to Volunteer Point with an associate of Patrick Watts. He has told us that we must be off the ship within an hour and a half or there will not be sufficient time to get there and back. I do realise that we may not be able to land at all and that people booked on HAL tours will get preference but does any body know of a way of getting on an early tender ? We will be on the MS Veendam arriving in Port Stanley on 28/2/12. Any information or suggestions from people that have done this trip would be much appreciated.

 

It sounds like this is a special opportunity for you available no other way. If those really are the circumstances, would it be worthwhile to book a HAL tour and then just let the shorex staff on shore know you won't actually doing the tour.

 

Roy

[Somerset Steve]

Thanks again for all your replies :)

[Tampa Girl]

It sounds like this is a special opportunity for you available no other way. If those really are the circumstances, would it be worthwhile to book a HAL tour and then just let the shorex staff on shore know you won't actually doing the tour.

 

Roy

 

 

I may be misunderstanding you. Are you saying to book a HAL excursion and just not take it once you get ashore? If so, what is the advantage of this: And what happens to the money for the excursion which you have alreay paid for or been charged if you don't show up?

[rafinmd]

I may be misunderstanding you. Are you saying to book a HAL excursion and just not take it once you get ashore? If so, what is the advantage of this: And what happens to the money for the excursion which you have alreay paid for or been charged if you don't show up?

 

It sounds like this is a special opportunity for you available no other way. If those really are the circumstances, would it be worthwhile to book a HAL tour and then just let the shorex staff on shore know you won't actually doing the tour.

 

Roy

 

That is exactly what I was suggesting, and the title I gave my post is "This may be crazy". Certainly, in normal circumstances that would be crazy. The advantage to doing it is that the tours get priority for tendering. That would not normally be an advantage worth the price, but in a very unusual situation where there was a unique, time sensitive opportunity (and that was my reading of the OP's situation) then it might well be worth considering.

 

Roy

[Somerset Steve]

That is exactly what I was suggesting, and the title I gave my post is "This may be crazy". Certainly, in normal circumstances that would be crazy. The advantage to doing it is that the tours get priority for tendering. That would not normally be an advantage worth the price, but in a very unusual situation where there was a unique, time sensitive opportunity (and that was my reading of the OP's situation) then it might well be worth considering.

 

Roy

 

 

Sorry Roy, perhaps I am being thick, but what would be the advantage of paying for the tour twice ? In that case we might just as well go on the HAL tour (which is nearly twice the price of the independent tour). :confused:

[rafinmd]

Sorry Roy, perhaps I am being thick, but what would be the advantage of paying for the tour twice ? In that case we might just as well go on the HAL tour (which is nearly twice the price of the independent tour). :confused:

 

My impression was that you were looking at something HAL didn't offer. If it's for something that is available in a HAL tour, then there is no advantage.

 

Roy

[Somerset Steve]

My impression was that you were looking at something HAL didn't offer. If it's for something that is available in a HAL tour, then there is no advantage.

 

Roy

 

Roy, Thanks for clarifying, I do now understand what you were saying !!! :)