Millie upgrade

[ottawa24]

We are presently in a reg. balcony cabin. We have the opportunity to upgrade to Conciege. We are only considering it for the early embark & debark. Reason being when we tendered in the past it took several hours to get off. I'm wondering if we upgrade can we get off early at the ports?

 

I will appreciate any info.

lesley

[Redtravel]

numbers are not for everyone. Waiting is a ploy to spread the crowd out. Leave the ship when you want to go. Just go. Unless the ship hasn't cleared customs, you will be able to go.

[ORV]

I thought the early embark and debark perks were at the beginning and end of the trip, not for the tenders. Does anyone know for sure?

[Patrick IL.]

In CC and above you will get "priority tender" tickets in your stateroom the night before. You show these and normally you get to move forward faster.

[Christine Frances]

You will have a larger cabin in Concierge as well.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

numbers are not for everyone. Waiting is a ploy to spread the crowd out. Leave the ship when you want to go. Just go. Unless the ship hasn't cleared customs, you will be able to go.

 

That's true if the ship is docked. However, the OP is talking about tender ports. Tender tickets are required in the beginning of the tendering process. Another advantage to CC in this situation is that the priority tender tickets are delivered to your cabin; you don't have to go and search them out.

[debshomespun]

Do you get priority tender tickets if you are Elite Status in the Captains Circle? If so, where do you get the tickets? TIA.

[Lsimon]

We are presently in a reg. balcony cabin. We have the opportunity to upgrade to Conciege. We are only considering it for the early embark & debark. Reason being when we tendered in the past it took several hours to get off. I'm wondering if we upgrade can we get off early at the ports?

 

I will appreciate any info.

lesley

 

In CC and above you will get "priority tender" tickets in your stateroom the night before. You show these and normally you get to move forward faster.

 

The early embarkation and disembarkation benefit apply only to intial embarkation and final disembarkation. These are very minor for CC and definitely not worth anything extra. The embarkation perk is only a separate line for CC at check in and sometimes it might not even be any faster than the other lines. For disembarkation it is unclear if the benefit is meaningful or not as they still assign disembarkation times based on flight times.

 

At one time CC cabins received priority tender tickets but I believe this perk was eliminated years ago when then they expanded the number of CC cabins on the ships as well as adding additional classes of cabins with perks such as AQ cabins. As far as I know, today there is no priority for tendering for those in CC or AQ cabins.

 

Do you get priority tender tickets if you are Elite Status in the Captains Circle? If so, where do you get the tickets? TIA.

Yes - you'll receive this in your cabin from your cabin steward or you'll be directed to a meeting place for Elite members (possibly Micheal's club) where you'll receive the tickets.

[sandancer]

No priority tender tickets in CC this year. Elite members do get them though.

[ottawa24]

Thanks for your help. Guess I'll keep the $$$$ in my pocket. Any suggestions on how to get off early, if you are not Elite? Thanks again.

[ORV]

Thanks for your help. Guess I'll keep the $$$$ in my pocket. Any suggestions on how to get off early, if you are not Elite? Thanks again.

 

Take a tour that leaves early.

[ottawa24]

Take a tour that leaves early.

Can it be a private tour??

[Lsimon]

Thanks for your help. Guess I'll keep the $$$$ in my pocket. Any suggestions on how to get off early, if you are not Elite? Thanks again.

 

This might vary by port - what port are you concerned with or do you always want to be able to get off early?

 

Your best bet if you must get off early is to be in line early and wait.

 

Unfortunately there will be hundreds of others on the boat along with you who enjoy getting off the boat ASAP at all ports and will start lining up early. If you want to be part of that group then you can do so. There is no mechanism to bypass the line other than having Elite priority (maybe suites too but I'm not sure of that) or being on a ship's tour which will be released into the queue at a scheduled time. Note that having "priority" won't eliminate the wait but should reduce it some.

 

Personally we find it best not to be in a rush at tender ports and to plan our activities to either allow for a good wait or, better yet, to not bothering to head out until a couple hours after tendering is scheduled to start. The lines normally taper off an hour or two after the start. It's a lot more fun to sleep in a little, have a leisurely breakfast and be able to head straight onto the tender with more or less no wait after the lines have subsided.

[ottawa24]

e it some.

 

Personally we find it best not to be in a rush at tender ports and to plan our activities to either allow for a good wait or, better yet, to not bothering to head out until a couple hours after tendering is scheduled to start. The lines normally taper off an hour or two after the start. It's a lot more fun to sleep in a little, have a leisurely breakfast and be able to head straight onto the tender with more or less no wait after the lines have subsided.

 

Normally I agree with you. However the port I am concerned about is Hanoi, a tender port. From everything I have read it takes 3-4hrs to get to Hanoi:(. Since we are planning a private tour, we would like to make the most of it.

 

We are lucky as there are several cruises before ours, and hopefully we will hear how it goes for them???

 

lesley