Grand tender Question??

[Stevesan]

We tendered at Grand Cayman December 8 with six ships in port. Our ship, Veendam, anchored at 8AM. We went to the Rubens lounge for tender tix @ 9AM and waited no more than ten minutes to board a tender and another ten to load up. There are new tender piers at GC which makes the approach and departure much more efficient. At no time did we see a "line up" of tenders waiting at the piers.

If Grand is experiencing delays, it has nothing to do with "clearances" or lines of tender boats, but is possibly due to Princess's policy of using local tenders.

As evident by my signature, we sailed Grand last March and have booked again for March 11, 2006. Rebooking is my comment on the overall performance of the ship and crew. We enjoyed our previous journey on Grand immensely. The food, staff, and facilities were first rate. However, each person has their own experience. While awaiting final disembarkation, the couple at an adjoining table on Lido complained that this had been absolutely their worst cruise ever and they intended to write Princess to vent their displeasure.

 

The best thing a newcomer can do is visit the reviews page to see how many of the ratings for Grand out of Galveston were well above average.

[Chuck&Toni]

Given that, I think it is a little bit of a stretch to say that there are "major" problems on board the ship based solely upon what you say you have experienced. Continually repeating your conclusions to the point where others are beginning to doubt their future cruise plans is a bit presumptive, too. I appreciate you reporting what happened. I just don't think that the situation justifies a call to arms and telephone campaign.

 

Spongerob,

 

I agree with you - a call to arms may be a bit much. BUT---- There were great tender problems on the Grand last week.

 

Our first port - Costa Maya - was the only port where we docked. All went well leaving and returning to the ship.

 

Our second port - Belize City - We had booked a ship's excursion that called for a 7 AM meeting in the theatre. We arose at 5:45 to make the meeting time - then waited forever in the theater before being called for our tender. Once on shore, we stood in line for an hour waiting to get on a bus to head for the excursion. It was 9:45 before we boarded the bus.

 

Our third port - Grand Cayman - We booked a ship's excursion there also. The wait in the theatre was much shorter and the tender ride to shore was OK. But once we arrived at the dock and got in the line for our excursion, the guy holding up the sign stated that our excursion had already left, due to our late arrival. A bit of a surprise. He hastily arranged for a different bus and a different boat (the excursion was a trip to the sting ray sand bar). But when the bus arrived, it wasn't big enough for the entire group. Some of the folks were turned away. Lots of bummed out people. But the replacement trip turned out to be a great time for those who fit on the bus.

 

Our fourth port - Cozumel - another ship's excursion for us. This time the issue was opposite. We were told to meet at the theatre at 12. We arrived at 11:50 and the theatre had been emptied. A member of the crew gave us instructions to hurry down to the deck where the tender was to board, radioed ahead to tell them to wait on the group of "stragglers." Once on the tender, we were taken to shore quickly. Had to wait about 30 minutes for the excursion operator to get everything together and board the bus. After that, the excursion went very well.

 

Not sure what the real issue is, but my perception is that there is a combination of miscues going on between the crew of the Grand, the port tender operators, and the excursion operators. Being the second week on this itinerary for the ship, I guess they haven't had time to "get in a groove." We purposefully booked our excursions through the ship in order to avoid the type of problems we had in Belize and Gr Cayman.

 

There was a tendering problem last week on the Grand. On a more positive note, we very much enjoyed the cruise. Food was great, entertainment was great, weather was great (except for the last day as we returned toward Texas,) and except for the excursion miscues I mentioned, we enjoyed our time on shore.

 

Regards.

 

Chuck

[BigTimeCruiser]

Tendering Recap--December 14th Grand Cayman

Tender Tickets were issued in the Vista Lounge today. The line from the Vista Lounge ran down the starboard side of the ship through the Photo Department, began forming at 10:00am. On the door of the Vista Lounge was a sign which read.."Tickets available no earlier than 11:00am". However you are welcome to line up here." By 10:40am the line was past the Wheelhouse Bar. And, by 11:00am, the line was beyond midship. It was announced that one person could pickup tickets if you had a group.

Tours were assembling in the Princess Theater for tendering.

At 11:05am, we dropped anchor in the harbor at Grand Cayman. Five ships were already in port and tendering (Trimph, Jewel, Galaxy, Navigator of the Sea, and The World).

At 11:20am, the Cruise Director announced that tendering would begin in 25 minutes.

At 11:32am, they began calling the first ticket numbers, 1-70.

• 11:40am 70-170
  
• 11:45am Up to 320
  
• 11:55am Up to 420
  
• 12:01pm Up to 520
  
• 12:07pm Up to 620
  
• 12:15pm Up to 750
  
• 1:00pm Up to 1075
  
• 1:10pm Up to 1200
  
• 1:25pm Observed that 2 Grand Princess tenders were holding near the pier, unable to unload because of heavy tender traffic.
  
• 1:30pm Observed 3 Grand Princess tenders holding near the pier.
  
• 1:40pm Observed 4 Grand Princess tenders holding near the pier.
  
• 1:45pm Up to 1350
  
• 1:48pm Up to 1500
  
• 1:50pm Up to 1650
  
• 2:00pm Tender Tickets no longer required

In my opinion, it is nearly impossible to get the large amounts of passengers to shore much faster than today. Due to the large number of cruise ships and limited pier space, tender traffic jams did occur today and probably will occur in the future here at Grand Cayman. It should be noted, that by 1:30pm today, many passengers onboard that had high ticket numbers gave up on going ashore. Some were yelling from Deck 7 down to the tendering crew members to get things moving, not realizing that there wasn't adequate mooring space at the pier to handle all the tenders. :(