Are tender ports still going to be visited?

[Pet]

In the light of restrictions that will need to be observed once cruises get under way again, has anyone heard whether ports of call which involve tendering operations are likely to be dropped from itineraries  for the foreseeable future? Ships' tenders are normally filled to capacity for a 20 to 30 minute journey ashore so if social distancing is in place in will take a very long time to complete such operations. Think places like Santorini and some popular Caribbean ports.   

[pinotlover]

Masks will probably be mandatory and capacity reduced somewhat. This borders on those believing they’ll shutdown the elevators!

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Masks will probably be mandatory and capacity reduced somewhat. This borders on those believing they’ll shutdown the elevators!

So, the whole tendering process is likely to take longer, both to and from the ship. Also, the notion of ‘social distancing’ or ‘physical separation’ will be kind of elastic.  At least with the elevators some people can simply choose to use the stairs.  Tendering is alittle different; kind of tough to swim ashore.

[Flatbush Flyer]

59 minutes ago, Pet said:

In the light of restrictions that will need to be observed once cruises get under way again, has anyone heard whether ports of call which involve tendering operations are likely to be dropped from itineraries  for the foreseeable future? Ships' tenders are normally filled to capacity for a 20 to 30 minute journey ashore so if social distancing is in place in will take a very long time to complete such operations. Think places like Santorini and some popular Caribbean ports.   

Last time I checked, Santorini required, at least, some ships to use local tenders. We've visited other ports (e.g., in the Indian Ocean) where local tenders are often used.

So, I would expect an addition of local "socially tendered" tenders to handle the overflow from "socially distanced" ship tenders.

[StanandJim]

52 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Tendering is a little different; kind of tough to swim ashore.

The Tenders are only chock a block for the first few trips out.

 

Having visited most of these ports before, we tend to head to the Tenders later in the morning at which time they are virtually our private yachts.

 

[pinotlover]

Currently the larger question for O is, what is the minimum number of passengers the ships can have and still economically sail? Based on current bookings, how many crew must they contract for to handle the reduced bookings? Will one butler, maybe two, be enough for the entire ship? How many servers and room attendants do they need?  The very least of their problems for late 2020 and early 2021 sailings currently is having too many on a tender! For many of the earlier cruises, the problem is three reduced capacity tenders may empty the ship! By the time cruising has ramped back up, for the OP to be a problem, hopefully a vaccine or treatment will be available. 

[d9704011]

56 minutes ago, StanandJim said:

The Tenders are only chock a block for the first few trips out.

 

Having visited most of these ports before, we tend to head to the Tenders later in the morning at which time they are virtually our private yachts.

 

Great... what about coming back?  I suppose you could leave the ship at 1000 or so and come back at 1100 to avoid the crowd.

 

I guess you can tell that I’m not in a hurry to get back to cruising!

Edited June 19, 2020 by d9704011

[pinotlover]

8 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

 

I guess you can tell that I’m not in a hurry to get back to cruising!

Thanks for making my point above!

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Thanks for making my point above!

You’re welcome although I don’t know what your point was.  If it’s something like all the more room for those of us who want to get back to cruising even with the restrictions, then you’re pretty much bang on.

[LHT28]

no one really knows  what the new normal will be in cruising

 They  always did  a head count   not sure what the limit was  maybe 100 max  but  if they are going to reduce  number of pax  onboard  it may be a lot less allowed on the tenders if they even have tender ports .

 

 It must be  a nightmare for the cruise lines   seeing what ports will even allow ships

JMO

[Noxequifans]

Some cruisers book private excursions on shore. With limited tender capacity, seems it may be difficult to be assured of the time for pick-up at the dock.

[ORV]

14 hours ago, Noxequifans said:

Some cruisers book private excursions on shore. With limited tender capacity, seems it may be difficult to be assured of the time for pick-up at the dock.

Hasn't it always kind of been that way? 

[Noxequifans]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

Hasn't it always kind of been that way? 

True to some extent but the chance for an on-time dock meeting will be significantly diminished. 

[pinotlover]

There is always the option of just running more tenders than past practices! 1 tender of 100 = 2 tenders of 50 each! Wear your masks on the tenders!

[d9704011]

41 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

There is always the option of just running more tenders than past practices! 1 tender of 100 = 2 tenders of 50 each! Wear your masks on the tenders!

Still gonna be excruciatingly slow.  Can only manage one tender at a time.  Yes, I know, why not do one each P&S?  Well, that may or may not be feasible depending on the anchorage and which way the wind may be blowing.

[LHT28]

48 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Still gonna be excruciatingly slow.  Can only manage one tender at a time.  Yes, I know, why not do one each P&S?  Well, that may or may not be feasible depending on the anchorage and which way the wind may be blowing.

usually they  run 2 or 3 tenders  maybe will do the same even with less pax  or maybe skip the tender ports  altogether

 

[d9704011]

8 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

usually they  run 2 or 3 tenders  maybe will do the same even with less pax  or maybe skip the tender ports  altogether

 

I’m thinking they’ll skip all the tender ports (except maybe the ‘private islands’) as long as there exists any serious effort to maintain physical separation of pax.  Additionally, I don’t see a resumption of cruising if there is a necessity for physical separation... at least out of USA.

[pinotlover]

3 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I’m thinking they’ll skip all the tender ports (except maybe the ‘private islands’) as long as there exists any serious effort to maintain physical separation of pax.  Additionally, I don’t see a resumption of cruising if there is a necessity for physical separation... at least out of USA.

Interesting enough, one of the cruise line CEOs said in an interview that US ports may be the last to reopen because of a multitude of issues. Look for cruises nor embarking in the US!

[pinotlover]

Some of Oceania’s passengers are cruisers. They could care less where the ship goes, they just want to be on it.

 

Some of Oceania’s passengers are travelers that choose the cruise based on its ports of call.

 

Some of Oceania’s passengers are a blend of the two.

 

If Oceania started cutting out important tendering ports, they start losing the middle group. I don’t believe that will happen. We’ll see extended anchorage calls and more tenders before the elimination of ports, imo.

[Shawnino]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Some of Oceania’s passengers are cruisers. They could care less where the ship goes, they just want to be on it.

 

Some of Oceania’s passengers are travelers that choose the cruise based on its ports of call.

 

Some of Oceania’s passengers are a blend of the two.

 

If Oceania started cutting out important tendering ports, they start losing the middle group. I don’t believe that will happen. We’ll see extended anchorage calls and more tenders before the elimination of ports, imo.

 

This.

Just as many travelers are done with the mega-ships, many can take or leave the mega-ports. Why dock in Naples when you can start in Sorrento? (etc)

[Sea42]

16 hours ago, pinotlover said:

We’ll see extended anchorage calls and more tenders before the elimination of ports, imo.

That would be wonderful if it meant more overnight stays in ports!

[pinotlover]

Consider all the ports cruises currently go where the next port of call is a 2-3 hour sail. The ship departs, goes out and does the putz for hours, and then heads to the next port. Anchorage time doesn’t cost much compared to dock time. The only downside to a couple hour extended anchorage, for Oceania, is the casino can’t open up until they get far enough off shore. Where there is a will, there is a Way!

Edited June 22, 2020 by pinotlover

[KirkNC]

I would say if the virus makes it unsafe to tender then it’s also unsafe to cruise.

[deadzone1003]

1 hour ago, KirkNC said:

I would say if the virus makes it unsafe to tender then it’s also unsafe to cruise.

I believe the point the Op was trying to make is under expected new protocols such as social distancing, will it be practical to go to tender ports?  Of course, on most ships, you can have more than 1 tendering area, usually a port side as well as a starboard side.  If it is a little windy, you probably can use only 1 side. On R-class ships, I believe there is only a port and starboard side.  On the O-class ships, I assume there is a port and starboard side, but is there an area towards the stern of the ship which can also be used as tender area? 

[KirkNC]

13 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

I believe the point the Op was trying to make is under expected new protocols such as social distancing, will it be practical to go to tender ports?  Of course, on most ships, you can have more than 1 tendering area, usually a port side as well as a starboard side.  If it is a little windy, you probably can use only 1 side. On R-class ships, I believe there is only a port and starboard side.  On the O-class ships, I assume there is a port and starboard side, but is there an area towards the stern of the ship which can also be used as tender area? 

I understand the OP’s intent and my answer is the same.  If O has to cancel tender ports because of threats from the virus then it’s too risky to sail.