how soon can you tender to hmc?

[girlsjustwannacruise]

so if our itinerary says that we arrive to HMC at 8 am, how soon will the tender tickets be available to obtain in the theater?

 

they keep changing it, it was 10 am arrival, now 8.

 

hard to plan excursions when they keep changing, however i do understand that excursions get priority tendering?

 

if we dont book an excursion, can we get tender tickets same time as everyone else? just trying to plan. want to take advantage of all our limited time.

 

also, if we depart at 5pm, do we really only have till 4 on the island?

[golfadj]

All excursions are thru Carnival since it is owned by Carnival Corp.

 

I would say you can get off about an hour after you get there if no excursion.

 

Should be on tender 30 minutes before sailing time.

[girlsjustwannacruise]

Thanks stu! u always have great answers :D

[golfadj]

anytime

[seannyice81]

If you're ready, fairly fast.

 

We didn't have an excursion or VIP booking, yet we wound up on the 2nd tender.

 

Its coming back that can be an issue. Either come back early or take your time and come back on one of the last tenders. Otherwise, you'll be waiting in a loooooooong line.

[zqvol]

If you are on the island from 8 - 4 you will be exhausted when you get back to the ship. All day in the sun and heat will wear you out even if you do nothing. Of course on HMC other than sitting in the sun there is not much to do anyway.

[WinnipegCruiser]

They are big, don't have far to go and are pretty fast. The line ups move pretty quick.

 

 

We were scheduled to get on the first tender at 9:30AM.

 

[misguidedangel]

The first people off are the cabanas and people with excursions within a couple of hours. The early bird gets the earliest tender tickets. One line will be for early tender tickets, so if the tendering starts at 8am, be prepared to be waiting in line for tender tickets by 7am at least because at 8am there will hundreds of people waiting...

 

I have always had a cabana, so I am up and ready/waiting in the lounge when the tendering starts. The Liberty starts the tendering at 9am and by 930 I will be on the island and walking to my cabana, in this cruises case coming up, our group snagged the Grand Cabana. *BG*

[NewKansasKruiser]

Destiny took THREE HOURS to get everyone off at Half Moon Cay. If you want to enjoy it without stress of hurrying to the theater, waiting a couple hours and getting lucky and scoring an early tender boat, then buy and excursion. With buying one, you go straight to the bottom of the ship and get off first. BUY ONE! :) We were there 2 weeks ago and tendering is a mess. Then it takes 3 hours to get everyone back, so leaving at 5 some had to start boarding as early as 1:30 to catch the last tender boat at 4:30. We went to the theater early, waiting around, got boat #1 tickets and were on it right away, but it does take lots of effort that way.

 

so if our itinerary says that we arrive to HMC at 8 am, how soon will the tender tickets be available to obtain in the theater?

 

they keep changing it, it was 10 am arrival, now 8.

 

hard to plan excursions when they keep changing, however i do understand that excursions get priority tendering?

 

if we dont book an excursion, can we get tender tickets same time as everyone else? just trying to plan. want to take advantage of all our limited time.

 

also, if we depart at 5pm, do we really only have till 4 on the island?

[blondietink]

So, how does it work if you are Platinum or have priority status through booking the FTTF program?

[girlsjustwannacruise]

Oh my goodness

3 hrs? Really?

[CrimsonTideGal]

Just got off the Fascination this morning. We had a cabana and was on the first tendor. We were told to meet in a different lounge and got priority. You do not get it on the way back or for being platinum.

We left our cabana at 3:30 and didn't get back on the ship till 5:15. I even saw a girl pass out from the heat. They were even passing out water and cold wash rags.

When I go back I will not even attempt to get in that line till 4:30. The ship will not leave you on this island.

[Momma1980]

Just got off the Fascination this morning. We had a cabana and was on the first tendor. We were told to meet in a different lounge and got priority. You do not get it on the way back or for being platinum.

We left our cabana at 3:30 and didn't get back on the ship till 5:15. I even saw a girl pass out from the heat. They were even passing out water and cold wash rags.

When I go back I will not even attempt to get in that line till 4:30. The ship will not leave you on this island.

 

Good information... Thank you!

Would you share which cabana you chose and if you were happy with the location?

[NewKansasKruiser]

Yes, REALLY! Noonan (the CD) announced on the speaker and at several events the prior day that tendering would take 3 hours and to be patient. Excursions, cabanas off on the #1 tender. The rest go to the paladium and line up early and get a sticker. We went very early (1.5 hours? 2 hours? can't exactly remember) and scored the #1 tender boat. But once you have the sticker you have to STAY in the theater so when they call the # you go with the group. We were over there for hours enjoying the private beach watching the tender go back and forth for 3 hours. Buy a cheap excursions (14.95 for a nature walk is the cheapest) or buy the upgrade for $50 if that is offered to you. Or do like we did, go VERY early, skip breakfast and worry. :)

 

Oh my goodness

3 hrs? Really?

[NewKansasKruiser]

If you want the busier spot, chose a low #. #1 is closest to the tender boats, closest to the kidding playground. #9 is maybe the closest to the free (excellent!) lunch. The higher the #, the further down the beach from the tendering and also way less people down that far. We swam by #10 and it was great! The lunch is awesome...grilled (okay..well done!) hamburgers, jerk chicken, lots of salads and mounds of fruit! Also a really good dessert of brownies, cookies and cake!

 

Good information... Thank you!

Would you share which cabana you chose and if you were happy with the location?

[girlscruise2011]

Good information... Thank you!

Would you share which cabana you chose and if you were happy with the location?

 

In May I had #11 and I loved it. Far enough to be away from the crowd but close enough to not have to walk to far to get to the restrooms or lunch.

 

Destiny took THREE HOURS to get everyone off at Half Moon Cay. If you want to enjoy it without stress of hurrying to the theater, waiting a couple hours and getting lucky and scoring an early tender boat, then buy and excursion. With buying one, you go straight to the bottom of the ship and get off first. BUY ONE! :) We were there 2 weeks ago and tendering is a mess. Then it takes 3 hours to get everyone back, so leaving at 5 some had to start boarding as early as 1:30 to catch the last tender boat at 4:30. We went to the theater early, waiting around, got boat #1 tickets and were on it right away, but it does take lots of effort that way.

 

When I was there in May, tendering was a mess :mad:. Even with a cabana booked I was on the third tender. The people in front of me had an excursion at 10:30am and we were on the tender about 10:20am. We were in line at 9am as per the Excursion ticket said. At one point, they announced that anyone with an excursion after 10:30am to come back in 1/2 hr and of course, nobody moved out of line. :eek:

 

Not sure if it was just the Destiny or if this is the norm at HMC but it wasn't fun to wait in line for over an hour with 100s of others in the hallway with excursions but once we got to our Cabana, it was all worth while :D

[dst]

So, how does it work if you are Platinum or have priority status through booking the FTTF program?

 

 

Platinum can go directly to the front of the line, you can go the the Pursers desk and they will escort you or give you a priority tender ticket.

 

On the way back you can show your platinum card and get on the next tender; folks get upset about it though........

[dst]

Good information... Thank you!

Would you share which cabana you chose and if you were happy with the location?

 

 

We always pick number 15 because it is the last one :) depends on how far removed you want to be, if you have kids that will want the water toys or close to the restrooms you will want the lower numbered cabanas

 

I'd say 12-15 are the most remote

[Crazy4Koko]

never had a problem getting early tender..we went down early to theater and got a tender #2 ticket.. sat in the nice cool theater until they called tender #2...

 

As for getting back? I can't see it being three hours, as it's only about an 8 minute trip, but I suppose it can happen. Even when we got into the line that was backed up to the beach walkway we were only in line for about 20 minutes.

[NewKansasKruiser]

From what I heard/read, they have a new CD on the ship since you sailed and also new ways of doing things on the Destiny. We were there 2 weeks ago and it was a real mess. Really our only thing as we came home that we thought needed some improvements. After giving out the stickers for the first 5 tenders, Noonan announced on the speaker that NO more tender stickers would be given out in the Paladium. Switched it up mid game and decided to give the stickers out up at the lobby/guest services area. He kept announcing to go have breakfast, enjoy the ship, be patient, etc. but there are always those that wake up and expect to walk straight off the ship. Didn't happen. :) HMC is SO awesome, it is a shame to spend 3 hours on the ship looking at it and wanting to be there. Our return trip wasn't bad as we ended up taking a snorkel excursion at the last minute and didn't tender back until it was almost time to leave. They will NOT leave you at HMC! The last tenders are the leftover food, the trash and the employees that worked on the island. And BTW, the snorkeling was awesome at HMC...I highly recommend it even for "scardy cats" like me. I didn't want to do it but did it just because husband wanted to. It was really awesome. I just floated around with my "water lung" AKA blow up life jacket they give you and looked at hundreds of beautiful fish on the reefs below me. Very fun and relaxing!

 

never had a problem getting early tender..we went down early to theater and got a tender #2 ticket.. sat in the nice cool theater until they called tender #2...

 

As for getting back? I can't see it being three hours, as it's only about an 8 minute trip, but I suppose it can happen. Even when we got into the line that was backed up to the beach walkway we were only in line for about 20 minutes.

[Momma1980]

Thank you for the information:)

Can't wait to spend a day in a HMC cabana!

[Crazy4Koko]

From what I heard/read, they have a new CD on the ship since you sailed and also new ways of doing things on the Destiny. We were there 2 weeks ago and it was a real mess. Really our only thing as we came home that we thought needed some improvements. After giving out the stickers for the first 5 tenders, Noonan announced on the speaker that NO more tender stickers would be given out in the Paladium. Switched it up mid game and decided to give the stickers out up at the lobby/guest services area. He kept announcing to go have breakfast, enjoy the ship, be patient, etc. but there are always those that wake up and expect to walk straight off the ship. Didn't happen. :) HMC is SO awesome, it is a shame to spend 3 hours on the ship looking at it and wanting to be there. Our return trip wasn't bad as we ended up taking a snorkel excursion at the last minute and didn't tender back until it was almost time to leave. They will NOT leave you at HMC! The last tenders are the leftover food, the trash and the employees that worked on the island. And BTW, the snorkeling was awesome at HMC...I highly recommend it even for "scardy cats" like me. I didn't want to do it but did it just because husband wanted to. It was really awesome. I just floated around with my "water lung" AKA blow up life jacket they give you and looked at hundreds of beautiful fish on the reefs below me. Very fun and relaxing!

 

 

WOW!! Noonan was awesome in September.. wonder why the change?? If it ain't broke..don't fix it, you know?? :)

 

I tried snorkeling off the beach...total waste..nice to know the snorkel excursion was worth it!

[girlsjustwannacruise]

NOW THEY CHANGED IT AGAIN! lol. now its 9 am arrival. ;0) it sounds to me like i shouldnt even be in a rush if i dont have an excursion. We arrive at 9am so maybe i should just get up around 9, have breakfast, and head over for tickets around 10:00 or 11:00?? what do you all think??

but gosh, i wonder if the lines are any better to get tickets if you wait an hour or two?

 

oohhh.. another thought-

say i go stand in line... can i get tickets for my hubby and 2 children? or is that just unfair to others? i dont want to be rude, but i was thinking if this is okay, others may be doing it as well.

[NewKansasKruiser]

If I were you, I would go to the Paladium about an hour before the tenders start. Have your whole party walk in, get a tender ticket number for each, then go have breakfast, do something on the ship (mini golf, table tennis, swim, etc..), then go towards the tenders later (depending on the # you get..if it is low, go quicker, if it is a high number give them a few hours). The way they did ours, each person had to pick up a sticker.

 

NOW THEY CHANGED IT AGAIN! lol. now its 9 am arrival. ;0) it sounds to me like i shouldnt even be in a rush if i dont have an excursion. We arrive at 9am so maybe i should just get up around 9, have breakfast, and head over for tickets around 10:00 or 11:00?? what do you all think??

but gosh, i wonder if the lines are any better to get tickets if you wait an hour or two?

 

oohhh.. another thought-

say i go stand in line... can i get tickets for my hubby and 2 children? or is that just unfair to others? i dont want to be rude, but i was thinking if this is okay, others may be doing it as well.

[Biffer1997]

was just at HMC this past week on Fascination and they announced the tender ticket numbers on loudspeaker throughout ship so if its like that, you would have no problem going to have breakfast and still hear announcement