Tender Details on the HAL Ships, Especially Vista and Signature Class

[knittinggirl]

Does anyone have any pictures of the tenders?  I'm wondering if they have a ramp, or have some type of connection for the tender like one of the passengers implied on the Zuiderdam.

[CruiserBruce]

The tendering is essentially the same for all ships. You usually have to step across a small gap when using ship's tenders. When using larger, land based tenders, like at Half Moon Cay, a ramp is typically used, that is placed and removed each time the tender ties up. I don't recall seeing that ramp for ship's tender operations.

[Heartgrove]

No, there isn't a ramp on the ship's tender to the tender embarkation platform due to the small area to work in. The rise and fall of the sea action is usually so unpredictable that a ramp would be impossible to use. I have seen wave action of up to four feet although most of the time it is between one to two feet. The leeward side is used to lessen the effect. All passengers need to follow the direction of the crew. For passengers with mobility issues, you need to trust the crew members who will assist you. I am sure for liability reasons they actually assist all passengers. 

[peaches from georgia]

I have witnessed too many pax suffer problems and accidents during tendering that I never get off the ship at a tender port anymore. Not blaming anyone, but no one can control what the sea is going to do every minute.  And when you make the decision that the sea is calm enough for you to tender safely you have no idea what it may be like when you are returning to the ship.  Whether to tender or not everyone has to decide for themselves.

Edited November 25, 2019 by peaches from georgia

[Hlitner]

The nature of transferring between vessels precludes any efficient ramp system.  Tendering is generally not a big problem for folks who have mobility and some balance.    For those that have major mobility issues, using a tender is very difficult to impossible.  And getting on from the ship is only part of the battle as you must be able to move to a seat and then get off the tender at its destination where the situation varies greatly between ports.  We have seen too many folks try to board tenders when they really would be better advised not to subject themselves to the risk.   Despite the best efforts of the trained crew we have also witnessed several nasty tender accidents (falls).  In most cases it seemed obvious that the passengers attempting to deal with the tender were not physically capable of handling anything other then a perfect scenario.  I recall a tender accident a couple of years ago when a passenger actually was killed (in Raratonga) apparently slipping between the tender and the dock while tendering from HAL's Maasdam  In 2015 another cruise ship passenger was killed while tendering off the Queen Elizabeth in Cambodia.  We have often seen passengers board tenders who could barely walk on a flat surface.  While we certainly applaud their spirit, we sometimes wonder about common sense.

 

Hank

 

 

[Pepicou]

As has already been mentioned, HAL ships do not have ramps onto their own tenders. This is because of their smaller size (compared to the large tenders in HMC) that means they are more affected by the swell so rise and fall quicker and easier and as mentioned, have much more limited space for a ramp. 

There are however a number of crew directly involved in assisting all guests into a tender. There will be 2 specifically trained  'Mobility Assist Team' members each side of you on the platform to help you into the tender, and once on board the tender there is a crew member there to help you to a seat if required.

All ships should inform any guest with known limited mobility of any anticipated difficulties before any tender days. As has been mentioned, most often the larger problem is not getting guests from the ship to the tender, but getting them safely from the tender to shore, where there is often a dock or pier that is not easy to traverse with limited mobility, and its something the ship is not able to control. 

It is a difficult balance for ships crew, to not be perceived as being discriminatory towards guests with limited mobility by saying it will not be safe for them to try to board a tender when in reality all we are concerned about is their safety. We will do everything we can to get everyone ashore, but there will be instances were we deem it too big a risk to allow some to board or disembark the tender safely.

If you do have limited mobility and are concerned about going on a tender, talk to guest services for a frank assessment of how difficult it will be for you and they will gladly give you an honest appraisal of what to expect

Typically there is about a 1 to 1 1/2 foot gap between the ships platform and tender. You can expect the tender to rise and fall with the swell slightly, even with the best of weather The crew assisting you onto the tender will tell you to wait if the swell is too large or the tender is not fully alongside the platform. PLEASE listen to their instructions, and accept their help to get you safely into the tender - there have been a number of unnecessary accidents where people have pushed past the crew telling them to wait, or have refused/been offended by the offer of a steadying arm and tried to make that step on their own.

Guests in wheelchairs are wherever possible carried by additional crew over the short gap onto the tender. Due to the additional weight, guests with scooters are typically asked if they can walk the short step on board with crews assistance, and their scooter will be loaded after them. if the combined weight of the guest and scooter is a few hundred lbs, it will of course be unreasonable and unsafe for the crew to try to attempt to carry them into the tender.

If you are still not sure, you can of course always go down to the gangway and ask to just watch the tender loading for a while (or look down from the promenade deck)to decide yourself if you feel its something you can safely manage

 

[GeezerCouple]

On the Noordam now... and we've now had one experience with HAL's tender (this is our first cruise with HAL).

 

Although I don't know the definition of "ramp" being used here, I can state that in our tender port yesterday, there was what I would call a "mini-ramp" or "platform" that went from the ship to the tender.  There was of course some motion to it, as the tender would move more than the ship would, and any motion would not be in sync anyway.

But this was *very* different from access to tenders on other lines (albeit, not too many for us), where there definitely is a "gap" of some sort that one needs to step over/across.

There was no gap for our transfer to the tender from Noordam yesterday.

This was a very pleasant surprise! 

 

Even with the "solid transition piece" to walk over, there were crew on both ends (and on both sides of each end) offering assistance if needed.

It was the easiest access to a tender we've encountered.

(We have not been on any expedition ships where it might be even more tricky; I'm comparing our recent Noordam experience to "regular ship to tender" transfers.).

 

Needless to say, neither of us has had any experience with any other HAL ships (tender or otherwise), and this was our only tender port for this cruise.

 

GC

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 11/24/2019 at 8:47 PM, Hlitner said:

The nature of transferring between vessels precludes any efficient ramp system.  Tendering is generally not a big problem for folks who have mobility and some balance.    For those that have major mobility issues, using a tender is very difficult to impossible.  And getting on from the ship is only part of the battle as you must be able to move to a seat and then get off the tender at its destination where the situation varies greatly between ports.  We have seen too many folks try to board tenders when they really would be better advised not to subject themselves to the risk.   Despite the best efforts of the trained crew we have also witnessed several nasty tender accidents (falls).  In most cases it seemed obvious that the passengers attempting to deal with the tender were not physically capable of handling anything other then a perfect scenario.  I recall a tender accident a couple of years ago when a passenger actually was killed (in Raratonga) apparently slipping between the tender and the dock while tendering from HAL's Maasdam  In 2015 another cruise ship passenger was killed while tendering off the Queen Elizabeth in Cambodia.  We have often seen passengers board tenders who could barely walk on a flat surface.  While we certainly applaud their spirit, we sometimes wonder about common sense.

 

Hank

 

 

The crew who assist passengers on and off tenders are wonderful. They watch the rise and fall of the tender and know the right moment for you to make the move. As others have said, follow their instructions. They know what they're doing! After one difficult tender transfer (I think on QE2), I sent a note to the captain complimenting the tender crew because they deserved more credit than you can give in the post-cruise survey.

 

Because of that incident on QE, Cunard now makes you show that you can handle the step. They put down a brightly colored mat where people will line up to get tender tickets, and you have to step over it to show you can handle a distance of 18 inches. It's funny to watch people who do not understand the "test." They walk around the mat, try to step exactly in the middle of it, etc. 

 

[cb at sea]

If you have mobility issues, plan on NOT tendering.  It could be possible, but it probably won't happen....so know that going in....so you won't be disappointed.

 

[Himself]

On 11/24/2019 at 7:18 PM, peaches from georgia said:

I have witnessed too many pax suffer problems and accidents during tendering that I never get off the ship at a tender port anymore. Not blaming anyone, but no one can control what the sea is going to do every minute.  And when you make the decision that the sea is calm enough for you to tender safely you have no idea what it may be like when you are returning to the ship.  Whether to tender or not everyone has to decide for themselves.

 

 

If one is on a Vista, Signature or Pinnacle Class ship HMC is easy because we use Island tenders. The "S" and  "R" class ships use ship tenders at HMC. That can be  a bit rough.  I have fond Grand Cayman to be a bit of a challenge.

[Copper10-8]

46 minutes ago, Himself said:

 

 

If one is on a Vista, Signature or Pinnacle Class ship HMC is easy because we use Island tenders. The "S" and  "R" class ships use ship tenders at HMC. That can be  a bit rough.  I have fond Grand Cayman to be a bit of a challenge.

 

Tiny correction on that one, Father. If an "S" or "R"-class ship is calling at HMC and they are the only "ship in town" that day, the three island tenders (Henry Hudson, Anne Bonny and/or Stingray (at times the Rookie instead of the Stingray) will be used to get pax to the island and back. It is only when a bigger (Vista and up) ship is there along with an  "S" or "R" ship, that the bigger ship (more pax) has priority in getting the island tenders assigned to her. And even then, the staff captains on both ship get together the night prior and usually have one of the island tenders serve the smaller ship during the morning rush 

 

1. Anne Bonny

2. Henry Hudson

3. Rookie

4. Stingray 

[Himself]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Tiny correction on that one, Father. If an "S" or "R"-class ship is calling at HMC and they are the only "ship in town" that day, the three island tenders (Henry Hudson, Anne Bonny and/or Stingray (at times the Rookie instead of the Stingray) will be used to get pax to the island and back. It is only when a bigger (Vista and up) ship is there along with an  "S" or "R" ship, that the bigger ship (more pax) has priority in getting the island tenders assigned to her. And even then, the staff captains on both ship get together the night prior and usually have one of the island tenders serve the smaller ship during the morning rush 

 

1. Anne Bonny

2. Henry Hudson

3. Rookie

4. Stingray 

Thanks for the correction John

[knittinggirl]

Is tendering easier when it's a harbor like in Bar Harbor?

 

We're trying to decide if it's safer to tender when the wind speed is under 10 miles per hour.  But it's so true, I've seen it calm when we go out to the port, then later the wind picks up.

 

We had a bad tender experience in Maui, and I noticed our upcoming cruise there has two tender ports.  Which to use seems like a pretty high percentage of ports.   I really don't understand why we must tender in Maui, because I KNOW they have a dock that NCL uses.

[cruzn single]

In answer to knittinggirl,  NCL has a dock at Kahului, whereas Lahaina is a tender port for all ships that call in Maui.  Lahaina is the better port IMHO.  

[Copper10-8]

2 hours ago, knittinggirl said:

Is tendering easier when it's a harbor like in Bar Harbor?

 

We're trying to decide if it's safer to tender when the wind speed is under 10 miles per hour.  But it's so true, I've seen it calm when we go out to the port, then later the wind picks up.

 

We had a bad tender experience in Maui, and I noticed our upcoming cruise there has two tender ports.  Which to use seems like a pretty high percentage of ports.   I really don't understand why we must tender in Maui, because I KNOW they have a dock that NCL uses.

 

There is no way of telling since tendering is totally (I sound like a valley girl) dependent on the weather and sea conditions on a given day. Captains always attempt to find a nice lee to make tendering more comfortable, but a lot has to do with wind and swell. The MAT guys and the sailor inside the tender will do their utmost to make ingress and egress (there are MAT guys on the dock shore-side also) as safe as possible. I can't reiterate enough - as has been stated here - to pay close attention to those three individuals and follow their instructions to a T!

[Heartgrove]

19 hours ago, knittinggirl said:

Is tendering easier when it's a harbor like in Bar Harbor?

 

We're trying to decide if it's safer to tender when the wind speed is under 10 miles per hour.  But it's so true, I've seen it calm when we go out to the port, then later the wind picks up.

 

We had a bad tender experience in Maui, and I noticed our upcoming cruise there has two tender ports.  Which to use seems like a pretty high percentage of ports.   I really don't understand why we must tender in Maui, because I KNOW they have a dock that NCL uses.

 

We were aboard the Veendam four years ago while on the Canada NE southbound cruise when we called at Bar Harbor. I believe that it was a Seabourn or Silversea cruise ship that actually stayed anchored overnight because she couldn't retrieve all of the passengers ashore. The seas were too rough to tender until the weather subsided the next morning. Even though it is a small bay, the weather can affect it.

 

The Zuiderdam about three years ago called on Helsingborg, Sweden and tendered the passengers ashore. The weather turned and they were unable to tender about 400 passengers back to the ship. HAL bussed the passengers to Copenhagen which was the next port. For some reason four tenders were not taken back aboard and actually sailed themselves to Copenhagen.  The same thing happened when I was in the Coast Guard while aboard a cutter. We had crew from another cutter come aboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The swells were too high for them to return to their ship so they stayed aboard until the next day.

[knittinggirl]

1 hour ago, Heartgrove said:

 

 

 

The Zuiderdam about three years ago called on Helsingborg, Sweden and tendered the passengers ashore. The weather turned and they were unable to tender about 400 passengers back to the ship. HAL bussed the passengers to Copenhagen which was the next port. For some reason four tenders were not taken back aboard and actually sailed themselves to Copenhagen.  The same thing happened when I was in the Coast Guard while aboard a cutter. We had crew from another cutter come aboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The swells were too high for them to return to their ship so they stayed aboard until the next day.

That's why we always pack our prescriptions in our away bags.

[SumoCitrus]

I used to think tendering was no big deal and that anyone concerned about it was overreacting but I have since evolved in my thinking. If you are not comfortable with boarding the tender, definitely do not do it. Hesitation and fear during the process in rough seas could really lead to disaster.

 

Last December I was on NA and a winter front was passing through Grand Cayman. The seas were fairly rough and it was very windy. We were the last tender back to the ship and on the short ride from port to ship we were wildly tossed about. It was a beautiful day otherwise. Lots of sun and widely scattered clouds, but the wind was the problem.

 

We approached the ship and from a seated position inside the tender, my view of the side of the ship and the hatch moved, I would guess, within a 10-15 foot vertical space. There would be brief moments of calm where passengers would reboard NA with the assistance of several crew members. You had to time your jump to the ship. If you fell, the likelihood of being smashed between the boats was high.

 

I remember we entered a hatch that I had never used before. It was right at the water line and we immediately walked up a steep stairs to the lowest occupied deck. The captain was personally observing this process. It was really incredible. I like that kind of thing but I can see how it would be terrifying to others.

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, Heartgrove said:

 

We were aboard the Veendam four years ago while on the Canada NE southbound cruise when we called at Bar Harbor. I believe that it was a Seabourn or Silversea cruise ship that actually stayed anchored overnight because she couldn't retrieve all of the passengers ashore. The seas were too rough to tender until the weather subsided the next morning. Even though it is a small bay, the weather can affect it.

 

The Zuiderdam about three years ago called on Helsingborg, Sweden and tendered the passengers ashore. The weather turned and they were unable to tender about 400 passengers back to the ship. HAL bussed the passengers to Copenhagen which was the next port. For some reason four tenders were not taken back aboard and actually sailed themselves to Copenhagen.  The same thing happened when I was in the Coast Guard while aboard a cutter. We had crew from another cutter come aboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The swells were too high for them to return to their ship so they stayed aboard until the next day.

 

To add to your story; On February 2nd, 2005 during a call at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, almost a thousand passengers - the equivalent to half of Stanley’s population - were stranded for the night after high winds prevented them from taking tenders back to the Amsterdam, which was moored in Port William, Stanley's outer harbor. More than half, approx. 500 of Amsterdam's pax were welcomed into the private homes of Stanley residents. Others were accommodated at the Parish Hall, the Upland Goose Hotel, and on mattresses on the floor of the Falkland Islands Defense Force drill hall. They were all picked up by Amsterdam's tenders the next morning after the winds had subsided  

 

Btw, thanks for serving Coastie!   

[CruiserBruce]

21 hours ago, knittinggirl said:

We had a bad tender experience in Maui, and I noticed our upcoming cruise there has two tender ports.  Which to use seems like a pretty high percentage of ports.   I really don't understand why we must tender in Maui, because I KNOW they have a dock that NCL uses.

The dock you refer to in Kahalui, Maui, is also the main freight dock for Maui. So it can't be tied up all week with cruise ships.

 

Yes, it can get windy as the day progresses off Lahaina. But MANY ships tender at Lahaina, and the stop is not missed often, due to conditions. That area is historically a very busy port area, going back a couple hundred years at least.

 

And Lahaina, minimum 45 minute drive from Kahalui, is definitely the better place to be.

[knittinggirl]

One of the times we tendered to Bar Harbor, we got there and found they'd cancelled ALL the boat tours.  So, why were they still allowing tenders to run?   Also, who cancels the boat tours, captain or harbor master?

 

In all our cruises, I've only seen tenders cancelled once.  And that was fog plus ice, not wind.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by knittinggirl

[3rdGenCunarder]

4 minutes ago, knittinggirl said:

One of the times we tendered to Bar Harbor, we got there and found they'd cancelled ALL the boat tours.  So, why were they still allowing tenders to run?   Also, who cancels the boat tours, captain or harbor master?

 

In all our cruises, I've only seen tenders cancelled once.  And that was fog plus ice, not wind.

 

 

 

The cancellation was probably because a majority of local operators said they didn't want to go. Or the local tour contact decided it wasn't a good idea.

 

I've missed several tender ports. I remember missing Sydney (Canada, not Australia) twice. Newport once or twice. One time the fog was so bad I couldn't see the water from Boat Deck. NOT great conditions for tendering. 

 

The ship's tenders are amazingly sea-worthy. After all, they're designed for emergency use. At one of our tender ports on QM2 in NE Australia, the conditions weren't bad in the morning, but were getting worse as the afternoon went on. Cunard had hired a local boat ( bigger than our tenders, may be a ferry) to add to the tenders to speed up the returns. I was on the last ship's tender for passengers back to the ship. It was VERY bouncy. There was an officer on board, which I haven't seen any other time. He stood there and kept watch to make sure everyone was OK. He chatted with some passengers, trying to keep people calm, but all the while he was watching. They even had the "little white bags" available! The door was zipped closed, but water could get in under the door. The woman sitting next to me looked terrified. At one point, a wave broke over us and water washed onto the floor. A woman who had placed her bag on the floor yelled, "bloody hell!" and everyone laughed. I'm sorry her stuff got wet, but it relieved a lot of tension. Later, I spoke to someone who was on the local boat at the same time and she said she was frightened for us because of the way the water was going right over the boat. 

 

[Copper10-8]

26 minutes ago, knittinggirl said:

One of the times we tendered to Bar Harbor, we got there and found they'd cancelled ALL the boat tours.  So, why were they still allowing tenders to run?   Also, who cancels the boat tours, captain or harbor master?

 

In all our cruises, I've only seen tenders cancelled once.  And that was fog plus ice, not wind.

 

 

 

The Captain has nada to do with the cancellation of local boat tours! That's up to the local tour operators of those boats and/or the port authority. He, along with his staff captain (2nd in command) is responsible for the operation of his ship's tenders. If they were still running in your example, that operation was deemed safe by the former 

[knittinggirl]

42 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

The Captain has nada to do with the cancellation of local boat tours! That's up to the local tour operators of those boats and/or the port authority. He, along with his staff captain (2nd in command) is responsible for the operation of his ship's tenders. If they were still running in your example, that operation was deemed safe by the former 

By the former, do you mean the port authority?

[Copper10-8]

14 minutes ago, knittinggirl said:

By the former, do you mean the port authority?

 

Nope, the captain (and staff captain) decide when it's deemed unsafe to operate their ship's tenders but they don't have anything to do with the operation of local tour operators